Any Mac users here? Remember the ‘cheese grater’ PowerMac G5 tower? Yeah, now we got the designer pen to go with it: the Sakura craft_lab 009. Released in 2024, it took me a fair bit of budgeting and shopping around before I commmitted to purchasing both the ‘Asteroid Silver’ and ‘Nebula Black’ versions.
As can be seen, these pens feature full length perforations that both allow for a nicely tactile grip anywhere on the body, while also showing off a colored accent inside the metal shell. I don’t think these are easily disassembled, or else I’d be sure to fiddle around with the colored cores.
Other notes… the clip continues the signature slotted design from earlier models and it is of course a nicely dampened twist deploy mechanism. I guess I was attracted to the 009 because the punched array of holes reminded me so much of the uber hard to find Sakura Archi Y series. Seeing them side by side is quite a feast for the senses!
At first I’d thought the milling at the front meant it would twist at the cone. Anyway, one thing I really like about this is that the clip doesn’t touch the body when you rotate it. Small things matter
OK, here’s what I managed to do with the Kayou automatic unit… after shaving down the diameter of the tail-end, I manage to add a small spacer (for length) so that the Kayou acts like a pen refill — fully retractable and writes immediately when extended and put to paper.
Here’s the original unit in the pen(cil) body. The clicker only extends the tip like a ballpoint and DOES NOT impinge on the clutch at all. It is fully automatic and self-contained unit as seen in the middle. It is also easily disassembled: the tail knob is friction fitted with 2 tabs, and it just needs a firm twist to pull apart. Inside is a long white ‘guide sleeve’ that helps to align a single 9cm long lead core straight down into the clutch. The auto clutch unit is plastic and only works ‘one way’. The tip is spring loaded and is the only way to advance the lead.
A quick comparison of the original and modified units. I used a power drill to hold the unit securely and grind it against sandpaper. I guess that makes it a lathe? Ha.
Huge thanks to @amjacobs7 for introducing me to the Kayoy mod when we met in person. He generously gave me one to play with, but work has been crazy, so it took me until now to finally sit down and enjoy the fun of figuring it out.
And thanks to drifand for taking the first leap. Turns out it’s actually a pretty easy conversion once you get through the sanding.
The Sakura Craft Lab 009 has a surprisingly sophisticated internal mechanism. About 6.2 cm in from the tip there’s a small guide ring that keeps the refill stable. That’s also the part that causes most mods to bind. Keep your extension slim enough to clear that ring, and everything runs buttery smooth.
The biggest frustration with the Craft Lab series was always that they only came as ballpoints. That’s why the 004 was the only one I’d ever bought. Well… not anymore.
Now that I’ve finally cracked the non-click conversion, I’ve got a whole pile of ballpoints sitting on my desk just waiting to become mechanical pencils.
Fascinating. I’d never seen anything like this before – an automatic feed pencil cartridge! So, the question I have is… if the rear plunger is only used to extend and retract the pencil tip and lead is automatically fed… how do you retract the lead when finished?
This is actually a limitation of the Kayou mechanism.
Because it uses a one-way automatic lead advance system, it can only push the lead forward. When the lead is used up, you have to use the original ballpoint-style twist mechanism to retract and protect the tip.
For a more detailed look at the mechanism, you can refer to this post:
The Kayou mechanism is a very interesting design. Its G2 format makes it especially unique, because it opens up the possibility of converting many existing ballpoint pen bodies into mechanical pencils.
The only downside is that the Kayou mechanism is slightly thicker in diameter than a standard G2 ballpoint refill.（＋0.52mm）
That means we still can’t completely escape the sanding process when adapting it into different pen bodies. The G2 format gives us a lot of possibilities, but some careful fitting is still part of the fun.
Refilling the lead means you need to open up the mod and load a new lead again. (Yes, it only holds one lead at a time… but come on, look at how sexy this thing is! )
I had a feeling this would be the case. At least with tip retraction, you can protect the lead that’s already extended. What of the Yayou mechanism advancement trigger? Is it possible to accidentally cause more lead to extend that desired and result in possible lead breakage?
Definitely. Once the cartridge is sanded down, you’re done. And that cartridge can be reused for any G2 compatible pen. And I agree, fitment is the fun of it. I had a total blast trying to adapt a couple of different pen refills for the vintage Pilot Hi-Tecpoint metal bodied pens that used a proprietary cartridge.
Ah… that’s the rub. I know with most automatic feed pencils, when the lead is up, you have to manually queue up the next lead. With the Yayou… not fully automatic, so you have to extract and insert new lead. Not a big deal with pencils you don’t daily write with, but still–a bit annoying. Can the cartridge store multiple leads inside, or does using it require you to carry a spare lead container when on the go?
Just one. And it has to be their own length 80 or 90 mm, or you need a thin rod to push a regular length lead up into the front where the mechanism is.
I carried my modified Craft Lab 009 with me for work today and used it throughout the day.
So far, I’m really impressed. The mechanism feels solid, with no noticeable play or wobble—assuming the sanding and fitting are done carefully. The 009 also gets plenty of attention simply because it’s such a striking design.
It only holds a single lead at a time, so I kept one of the 9 cm 2B leads that came with the Kayou mechanism in my case as a spare. After a full day of writing and sketching, I still haven’t needed to replace the lead.
Refilling isn’t as elegant as a conventional mechanical pencil, but it’s quick enough that it never really bothered me.
