Mechanical pencil by Pilot

[MarcoA63]

Good day y'all! This was my fathers pencil. Leads can be brought out by pressing the yellow button at the back or by shaking the whole thing. On the barrel it says 'something' then 0.5 then H-1010

The problem I have is that when I press the button to extract the lead it runs through it's internal retainer mechanism. I don't think it is worth repairing it although I don't know why it behaves like this. Leads not of the correct size? If not 0.5 what could they be 0.4? If I insert them from the hole where they should be coming out of they go in nicely. Ideas?

 

I discovered that it is a 'Pilot The Shaker H-1010'early version  🙂

[Mechanical]

3 hours ago, MarcoA63 said:

when I press the button to extract the lead it runs through it's internal retainer mechanism.

 

By this, do you mean that the lead is simply released?  If so that could be by design -- so you can clear broken leads from the feed.

 

Does the shake-advance work properly?

[MarcoA63]

@Mechanical if I push the button to advance the lead this just 'flushes' through the point. I don't recall it doing this ever. The shaker is working fine. Out of curiosity I disassembled the pencil and passed a plastic shim between the three prongs that hold the lead in its place while writing. I think it may have solved the 'flushing' of the lead. When I press the button the lead moves through as it is supposed to without dropping out. Probably it was all the remnants of the leads used in time that were acting like a lubricant. I'll do some crosswords in the meantime and see how it performs.  Thank you

[mr T.]

On 11/18/2025 at 5:09 PM, MarcoA63 said:

Leads not of the correct size? If not 0.5 what could they be 0.4

These pencils were only sold as 0.5 and 0.7.

 

8 hours ago, MarcoA63 said:

@Mechanical I think it may have solved the 'flushing' of the lead. When I press the button the lead moves through as it is supposed to without dropping out. Probably it was all the remnants of the leads used in time that were acting like a lubricant. I'll do some crosswords in the meantime and see how it performs.

It seems you are not the only user of the H1010 with this problem. Found on Reddit a member that had also problems like this. More about this issue can be found here. The issue has probably something to do with wear and tear of the metal parts on the mechanism. Pictures from a full teardown of this pencil can be found here.

[MarcoA63]

@mr T. THank you for the links. I had seen them and read about them too. Unfortunately the use of the shim hasn't worked it's magic. The lead just flushes out when pressing for its advancement. A bit of a pain. Too bad because my pencil is of the first series as shown on the comparison photo at the link you posted, my version is the one on the right. Shaking it, most often than not, extracts the lead properly but it still depends on how hard it is shaken. Might chuck it away.

[psimpson130]

HAd a couple of these I used when flying as an USAF navigator. Had a decent lead that wouldn't break easily. Probably have one of them around here someplace. 

 

When I retired my last pen and pencil set was a Zebra with rubber coated barrels. Always had a firm grip and wouldn't slip out of your hand when the skin got real dry.

[Makar Tools]

If the mechanism in the tip is clean and not worn, the spring may be too weak and not clamping properly.
I had a similar experience with a pencil I was making from titanium and used a Smidt mechanism.