Despite not having a screwdriver slot indicating where to begin, the Locus 3way turns out to be built pretty much like the other rotation selector multipens. After having removed the grip and refills, just grab the black rear part and unscrew (it may require some force the first time, although I didn’t see threadlocker residue, it’s just very tight). The mechanism then slides out from the front. You can just pull the black selector (it’s clipped) to remove the individual component sliders (be careful not to lose the springs).
The clip can also be unscrewed but that’s unnecessary. It has a standard M2 thread, should you want to remove it you can plug the hole with a small screw.
For some reason the pen holder didn’t want to come off on mine. Maybe it would have with some persuasion but I didn’t want to risk breaking it so you can only see the pencil and eraser components. You’re not missing much, it’s a simple brass tube to hold a D1 refill, the other two are much more interesting. An observation I expected since noticing that the eraser guide was 0.5 mm: the eraser clutch is indeed identical to the pencil clutch, just located higher in the mechanism.
Neither one of the three is extremely noisy, but indeed the LT3 is almost silent. I don’t know if it is because of different materials or because the mechanism is soaked in thick grease.
The SHARBO X is pretty quiet due to the lack of hard detents. I didn’t like it at first, especially no detent in retracted position, but I’ve gotten used to it. The Surari solves that problem, but it’s not as attractive as the SHARBO X.
That’s a different mechanism entirely if I’ve looked up the correct one. How is it achieved with the Surari? Snap locking without snapping sound? How do you avoid it when it’s based on a plastic pusher locking into a recessed space
I don’t know. I’ve not been able to fully disassemble it because I don’t know the trick involved that isn’t destructive. But the mechanism is just as quiet as a Sharbo X. The difference is a detent in both extension and retraction. There’s no “click” or “snap” noise detectable by the human ear beyond 1" away–just a tactile feel.
I should also point out that plastic gearing in a mechanism is fine as long as most of it is plastic-on-plastic and it’s a very resilient polymer composition. It should last a lifetime.
Thank you, before I buy the wrong one, you’re speaking of this one, right? I’ll try to disassemble it and write back as soon as I know it. (could take a couple months)
Oh nice, thanks for that work. From my experience, The feeling of rotating Metaphys and L104 is exactly the same. I haven’t disassembled Metaphys before, SharboX and L104 both have an obvious slot and can be easily taken apart.
I think for brands like these, especially smaller ones, using generic parts or mechanism is fine, as long as they’re using nice quality ones (or matching the price). In this sense, Metaphys does what it should do, it feels good when rotating it.
I certainly didn’t mean to imply that the Metaphys was cheap in any way.
On a side note, here’s something that I find remarkable: there’s a notch in the body to prevent the mechanism from rotating and when you attach the rearmost (black) part it stops rotating just as the clip lines up with the notch. Quite impressive in itself but it gets better: I have two Locus 3way and if you exchange this part it doesn’t work (in my case the clip stops about 30° off the correct position). So I think it means that parts are tuned for each pen (or at least each batch), probalbly with shims although I don’t see where they are. The design being the main selling point, it makes sense that this would be controlled carefully but still, I appreciate the level of care.
I know a similar issue was mentioned in an earlier thread. I haven’t replied yet because describing the structure in detail and taking photos separately to illustrate it seemed a bit troublesome for me. However, I’ve now realized that drawing a schematic diagram can solve the problem quickly. (Also you can refer to the actual photos in the above reply)
The three on the left are all side views, and the one on the far right is a top view. As far as I know (includes at least most of recently produced mid/high end multipens), the three models on the right are the only ones that adopt a certain structure to achieve some kind of ‘detent’ function for rotating type multipens. I’ll add a little more information and my opinion for reference down below.
In terms of how noticeable this feature feels in actual use, I’d say Surari >> Legno > Ridge (But this in itself does not mean that one is better than the other, which one is better depends on which feature you value more)
Zebra Surari: It feels exactly like it has 6 positions. I don’t like it very much because the excessive number of positions interferes with the smooth rotation, and (perhaps more importantly) its appearance is completely unattractive to me.
Pilot Ridge: I LARGELY exaggerated the bend angle on purpose. Out of the three, I like this one best. Unless you slow down and carefully feel it when rotating, you won’t even notice it during everyday use. But at the same time, just that subtle resistance is enough to help me, without extra attention, stop the refill roughly centered between the two positions when retracting it. (That is to say, you still need to consciously stop rotating it yourself. It’s not like the other two, which when you rotating with normal force, it actively stops you when you switch to that position)
Pilot Legno: It feels like there are 3 extra little positions, with only 1/4 torque. The positions marked 123 indicate that you have rotated the pen to the positions where the refill is extended. The position marked 0 indicates that you have rotated the pen exactly halfway between two positions, which is where the refill is fully retracted.
Interesting. Are these just guesses or did you take them all apart?
Also, I didn’t know the Pilot Legno but by the pictures it seems to be a simple tab mechanism. Anyway, if you wouldn’t mind explaining the last drawing…
Yes, and luckily the three pens mentioned above happen to be directly disassemblable. I made some simplifications. Like in fact, that part (the one that pairs with the pin) of Surari is integrated with its external sleeve. I’ve updated the reply
And btw, all SharboX series pens can be easily disassembled. The Pilot n+1 Ridge/Legno/Heritage is disassemblable, but there’re also 3 or 4 color Ridge/Legno ballpen which can not be taken apart.
This forum is great, I just wanted to share my experience with the Metaphys and I learned a ton in the process
While we’re at it, does anyone know how to take apart gravity selector multipens? I’m mostly thinking about the ubiquitous slim Ohto (Blooom, MS02, MF20, etc.) but I guess most brands are built similarly.
