@drifand @RPD Great, thanks! – I wonder what the Tombow developers think when they see that some people are happy to remove the mechanism they have painstakingly devised 
3 Likes
Considering that I could remove the mechanism without any damage nor excessive modding to the pencil, I’d say it’s intentional. If anything, the engineers are probably saying “look, some people prefer it without the mechanism! Glad we took our time to design it without glue”
What’s weird to me is that they didn’t turn the mechanism into a shaker. After looking at it inside, it 100% looks like it could work as a shaker. Make the metal piece a bit heftier, leave 0.5~1cms more for movement, change slightly the design of the inner lead tube and boom, it’s a shaker and a eraser lock at the same time. Maybe they tried and there were some durability or cost concerns with some of the parts, which is reasonable.
Another thing I noticed is that the lock piece has a lot of play. They could have made it a bit tighter, it would rattle less and it would probably work as well, or maybe not? This also seems intentional. So maybe they tried a different, tighter mechanism and/or the shaker idea and they found some problems. The shaker idea is just too obvious for it not to have been tried by such great designers… I’d love to interview one of them lol so many questions
4 Likes
I really enjoy using the Tombow MONO graph fine! (And that’s coming from a P200/GraphGear500/AccuGraph/S10 guy).
Of course I also tried to remove the moving part but unfortunately damaged the pencil slightly. The detent that holds the upper part in the barrel has proven to be stubborn on removing, and during insertion the barrel cracked above the recess. However, all parts stay in place and the pencil still works perfectly but the crack is visible. And a replacement is already on its way
And then I had a thought. I have tried to determine the forces needed for advancing the lead and for erasing. With my semiprofessional laboratory equipment (= cheap kitchen scale) I determined about 12 N to advance the lead and 8 N to erase (estimated error ± 2 N) with a block eraser (here: uni Mark Sheet). Then, against my habit, I used the eraser in the MONO graph fine, and besides a movement of 1 mm towards the tip nothing happend, i. e. I was far from advancing the lead. Even when I pressed the eraser unnecessarily hard on the paper the mechanism wasn’t triggered.
At the risk of sounding like a heretic: Has Tombow solved a problem that doesn’t exist, on top of that with a moving component that makes the pencil more expensive and annoys some users? Or am I missing something?
P.S.: Does anyone know the article number of the replacement erasers or can recommend compatible erasers?
3 Likes
Assuming accurate translation by google:
Please use Tombow Pencil ER-MGL (replacement eraser for monograph light/fine) as a replacement eraser
3 Likes
Hey @Gunther , did you source your monograph fine in Germany? I can’t find any, and i don’t feel like paying the 20€ delivery from Amazon Japan 
@Stu I actually bought the MONO graph fine from Amazon Japan but since I also ordered a few other things the postage was acceptable.
1 Like
I made a new topic about this, but figured I’d add it here as well:
My Fine only being in my bag for a week or two, zero actual use.
The pocket it was held in (alone) was silk.
It isn’t HORRIBLE, but who knows what it would look like in a month or so. Again, ZERO use. I’m Tombow’s #1 Fan, but this surprise me, to say the least
5 Likes