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Quite the risk to disassemble something so valuable! Thanks for the photo.
Just have to echo how cool it is you were willing to hazard this so that we could have these pics for posterity. You’re more selfless than I that’s for sure 
Excellent write-up! Your blog content is nicely done for this. Those 4 beads… make me nervous! I don’t see how they’re installed so that they work properly. Is there a set of 4 channels evident as you slide one internal piece into place such that the beads are easily dropped into them? I can imagine as you disassembled this, you were fortunate enough to take care and the beads were captive up until you removed that inner piece. If they’d just “rolled out” it might’ve been arduous to figure out how they fit back into place.
Here is the US Drawing Patent for the pencil
PN3015 - USD269189.pdf (62.9 KB)
Here are a couple of patents for “Mechanical Pencil with Automatic Lead Advance”. They do contain small ball bearings in the tip, but I am not sure if either are for this pencil.
US4459057.pdf (1.0 MB)
US4504163.pdf (1.9 MB)
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The first two balls are placed in the same positions as in a typical automatic pencil. The other two balls go between the front brass-colored part and the clutch. The front brass-colored part closes off the mechanism, which keeps the balls fixed in place.
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Actually…since the automatic and pushmatic mechanisms weren’t working smoothly, I just decided to take everything apart without worrying too much—whatever happens, happens, haha. Using that experience, I’ve managed to repair one or two more pens since then!
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As someone who’s taken it apart before, I think pages 6 and 7 of the patent file are indeed for the Technomatic, haha.
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That’s the spirit of open minded DIY!
Is there a common way in which the Technomatic PN3015 stops working but can be fixed using your technique?
I’ve repaired many mechanical pencils, including three Automac, several Alphamatic, about one hundred Dive, two Technomatic, ten Mechanica, and ten Hi-uni FF-matic, among many others. However, there really isn’t a universal method for fixing them. Basically, it comes down to completely removing any graphite, and straightening or restoring any bent or broken parts.
After all, unless there was a design flaw, they were perfectly fine when sold.
It’s not just about removing the graphite; sometimes you need to adjust the tension of the spring, or if the internal meshing parts are worn out, you might coat them with Loctite to restore them to their original state… In the end, the most important thing is to keep checking if it works properly and keep trying until it does.
Among them, Dive pencils have a clearly defined repair method because the causes of failure are thoroughly identified. (Probably because they’ve been repaired the most, so a lot of big data has been accumulated, haha.)
In the case of Dive, I have spare parts such as the internal ball bearings (1mm) and compatible mechanism springs (the spring from S30 is compatible). For Automac, I believe it uses eight 0.8mm ball bearings.
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The simplest repair method for all Automac mechanical pencils is to put only the mechanism into disinfectant alcohol (50-60% or higher) and shake it vigorously to remove the graphite inside. (The reason for using alcohol is that it evaporates quickly. Isopropyl alcohol works fine as well.) In Korea, pharmacies sell 70% disinfectant alcohol for under $1, so it is easy to obtain and commonly used.
The next repair step is to disassemble the pencil as much as possible and similarly remove the graphite by cleaning it out, haha.
Anyway, removing the graphite is the biggest part of the repair. Sometimes internal parts burst like in Automac, or graphite accumulates and sticks together as in Dive pencils.
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How far can you take down the Automac? Do you have any pictures?
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In view of this habit of calling different pencils with the same commercial name, we really ought to settle for an internal — possibly cool — naming convention about the Automac. How about this?
• Automac E => Automac (black / white when talking about specific specimens)
• Automac E 500 => Ultimate Automac, King/Queen Automac, Emperor Automac
• Automac (new) => “DK”-Automac (double knock), Silver Automac (even when it is black, we can add it later, as in “Silver Automac black”), or just The Other Automac
• Every future iteration => The Other Other Automac, The Other Other Other Automac (and so on)
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Why you weren’t in charge of naming, or at least in a consultation capacity, the Pilot pencils is lost on me!
“Just name it the other other Pilot executive water droplet tip pencil” @pearsonified
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At least it’s not like Pentel where they give completely different pencils the same model number.
Like the PD515
Or the P245
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Actually.. We REALLY Need a new name to call the newest Automac.
So confused…
I don’t have a disassembly of the new Automac. The rear structure is the same as the HHP, and I remember the front structure being the same as the Hat-3. Other than the automatic mechanism part, there was nothing special, so I didn’t disassemble it.
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