If anyone here has at least a few of these Uni Shift Mx-1010 models, can you check them over and let me know if you see any variances? I had only one in 0.5 mm for probably the last 5 years. I finally got a 0.3 mm version. Well, when they’re deployed, I noticed that the 0.3 mm pipe guide is like 0.5 mm short. And the gap between the body and grip when deployed is slightly larger too. When mine arrived, everything was loose. The grip and nose cone were not tightened down. So I did. And the pencil functions fine, except for this difference.
I loosened and retightened the 0.3 mm and no change. I could not loosen the grip of the 0.5 mm, though. It’s on really tight. And I don’t know if that’s due to some sort of glue or that it’s just massively torqued down.
I was able to partially unscrew the 0.5 mm pencil knurled sleeve, but it hardly moved. Definitely looks like a glue was used. It was very difficult to get the sleeve back into position. Before I did, the pencil wouldn’t lock into place for use. Finally got it back.
I have to say these pencils aren’t as well made as they might persuade you by looking at the outside. There’s a lot of plastic screw threading used internally, in addition to the nose cone. I don’t see these as pencils that will last for many decades. I also noticed that there’s a clear tinted thin plastic ring on the rear section, surrounding the eraser cap plunger. This is a really weak and flimsy piece of plastic. Upon close examination on my 0.5 mm, I saw a crack. With a toothpick I could push up one side of the crack. A little super glue took care of it, but it sure didn’t extend feelings of quality. Yeah… will not be intentionally seeking out the other sizes from Uni Shift range.
Yeah, I agree with that. It’s still being sold on the Jet Pens website, but not available on Uniball Co’s website. It seems it was only intended for the JDM, although you can buy them on Amazon USA. The Japanese website for Uni (mpuni.co.jp) does have an entry for the Shift, but it’s a very lackluster entry. HERE. There’s quite a lot of stock photos missing, like the full size lineup. I don’t know when they were first released… or if Uni Ball has a planned retirement date.
Interestingly, as I was trawling the Wayback Machine, the SHIFT was the first drafting MP on the website since… 2006, which is the earliest saved record of the Uni site. You can see Pure Malt, Jumpop, Millino… even the debut of the Alessi Pens collab. Top of the line for that time period seems to be the Alpha-gel series. No other drafting MPs were listed.
I remember when these first came out, and how fragile they seemed. Fun design, of course I have a nearly complete set (minus the white 0.5) in my collection, but this is another pencil I would never use daily. I just don’t believe they would hold up.
The only vintage one I have is the red 0.5 model, but I’ll go check to see if there’s anything different from its later siblings.
It’s possible to disconnect the grip from the barrel and there’s some further disassembly possible after that, but I have not found a way to do it that doesn’t cause considerably wear on the mechanism that locks and unlocks the slide or worse, cracks some of the pieces.
Yeah, that’s my fear as well… I was going to try being adventurous to disassemble the whole mechanism as demonstrated in that photo linked above, but considering the inadvertent damage or accelerated wear in the process… just not worth it. That red version looks really great. I imagine that was a short run a long time ago–nearly impossible to find.
