Thanks for giving these wonderful pens some attention! I love, love, love them! Nothing beats them for precision in drawing, drafting, etc. They can be very finicky if you don’t treat them right though. Here are my tips having used them a bunch: 1. ALWAYS regularly clean out the nib or write out a few lines once a week to prevent ink from drying in the nib. If the ink dries up in the nib it can easily spell death for your technical pen or at least a very tedious cleaning session. 2. NEVER take it on an airplane. It WILL leak and the ink is very permanent and almost impossible to clean off of pen cases, etc. 3. NEVER EVER disassemble the nib unit. The very fine metal wire inside is nearly impossible to place back in the nib without bending it. And if the wire is bent your pen goes in the garbage.

They are technical pens, used by architects, engineers and of course artists. The difference is they should be used upright, unlike fountain pens.. I have used Rapidiographs for years . The really fine line ones are tricky to keep working.. they are fun to use.. I mostly use fountain pens now to draw..Urban Sketching mostly. Thanks for reviewing these..

I love technical pens. Clean them regularly, the ink has shellac and pigment in it and is a pain to clean if it drys out. An ultrasonic cleaner can really help. I have saved my Koor-i-noor nibs with a soak in diluted simple green. You can use fountain pen ink in a technical pen some artists prefer it because it is so easy to clean. With speed changes you can get slight line variation and texture.

I used these pens a lot in my architectural study. Simply the best. My advise is to use high quality paper to write on it, because the fibres of the paper gets stuck in the penpoint. The best is using calque paper

Hadn't seen one of those since middle school! We used them for geometry drawing as they fit in Rotring compasses. I believe the ink is just their own type of India ink.

I used to use Koh-I-Noor Rapidographs for work. The nibs are also replaceable but those, too, are remarkably expensive. It's actually not a ball. There is a very fine wire extending down through the tube. You Must be very careful because you can bend the wire and it will no longer work, thus the really expensive replacement tips.

I met them years ago in an old market, and bought them to experiment with conversion into....lining tools! How little I knew back then. Now I have a vintage lining tool by cyclo, plus, after coming to terms with the cost, one by the American company Beuglar---- brilliant tool, even used it to decorate my bay windows! If you develop a fetish for lining, check out the Bob Moore lining tool. I'm over it now (!) Thanks Kerry, good review of a lesser known writing instrument

I got the same set as you, was sick and tired of throwing away fine liners, I only really use them for doodling. Love them though.

I've been contemplating getting me a technical pen such as the isograph. thank you for this review Kerry. I draw a lot.

I use fountain pens to draw cartoons, and in my view, after spending half my life in a quest for the "perfect pen" :^), there is no better drawing pen than a fountain pen with a bit of flex, like the Penguin for example. But it's great that you are open to experiment with the Rotring technical pens. (Robert Crumb sometimes draws with a rapidograph.) Just be sure not to leave them around, inked but unused, for too long -- and have fun!!!

I came to fountain pens via a roundabout route, but my love of Pilot was first established by my use of their technical pens. They tookba beating, living in my toolbag or my pocket, but were good for design after design, and equally good for making notes, or calculations. I don't have any any more, and I don't like disposable pens, but some to like these Rotrings appeal (although I have no idea what I would use them for now). Thanks for a cool video, and for the refill one too.

As some have said, you are mistaken on the ink delivery system. The ink travels down a very fine wire through the nib tube. There is no ball. They are meant to write upright and be placed along a straight edge or template. The nib tube keeps the ink from bleeding under the edge of the template via capillary action. I use the rapidographs regularly for architectural drafting, and like their ink system better than the rotrings.

I have one of its ancestors, the Rotring Tintenkuli. In general the same design but it's a piston filler. You can write with it at a slight angle but it's designed to be used upright and for drawing and stencil characters but not for writing cursive. Since the feed tube is smaller than the typical feed of a fountain pen they are more prone to clogging when left uncapped for some time. For drawing characters etc. you might also take a look at the Zebra nibs. Very flexible and there are guides how to put them onto a Jinhao pen. But since those nibs are dip pen nibs they seem to have a tendency to rust quickly when permanently inked.

The sizes are millimetre. So your .2 is two tenths of a millimetre. It doesn't have a ball on the end, although it looks like it, it's actually a very thin wire that extends about 1/2 inch back inside the nib.

Awesome video but know that these are architect pens. These are definitely awesome pens for drawing but a point to note is that the design of the 'nib' and it's steel barrel down to the tip is to be able to draw the pen down the edge of either a ruler or a protractor and make consistent lines. All you have to do is put it against a steel ruler and you will find that it fits perfectly and that steel against steel makes less ware compared to plastic. Again, awesome pens but just wanted to expand on the design and practicality... Cheers!

Thanks for the review, Kerry, it reminded me of doing technical drawings with Rapidographs in high school and at university. I don't think it was mentioned in the review, the .2, .3, etc. sizes are nib widths in millimeters.

..those will also write over white-out....used those often in HS..

I prefer the Rapidographs. Same basic function, different ink system. Love drawing with them. Finest I use is the .25 though... ;)

Hi Kerry! Looking at the older videos, I notice that you talk about a tea and a pen. Have you retired that format? I don't particularly mind either way, just curious!

Technical Pens =)

Rotring Isopgraphs have high quality. Outside to technicall drawing, they have two bad points in my opinion on no technical drawing: they needs a more vertical handle use. And soooo bad for longer time inked within use. Specially carefully to finest nibs with this (0,3, 0,2 and 0.1), they clogg very easy. But, you can TOTALLY dissasemble them to clean them. ’

Hi

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