Secondary clutch grabbing lead too hard?

General Mechanical Pencil Discussion Custom and Mods
#1

I don’t even know if a secondary clutch is a thing, but I recently got 2 older Tombow pencils that are experiencing the same problem.

(I was able to fix one of them, but the other is being stubborn.)

Problem goes like this:

  • Clicking to advance the lead pushes lead out, but then the lead immediately retracts the exact same amount (so no lead is actually advanced).

  • If I use a piece of lead short enough, the lead advance works. Once the lead is long enough, it hits something up inside the clutch that’s really grabbing it and not letting go

  • How can I clean up or de-gunk whatever is up inside the clutch that’s grabbing the lead? Is there a secondary clutch in there? I’ve not encountered this before and am not sure what to do to fix the issue.

2 Likes
#2

Secondary clutch like in the lead maximizer designs? Could it be a “returns” system where short half click advances lead and long full click retracts lead?

#3

I knew I’d throw off the scent with my uninformed use of language.

I dunno what the hell it’s called, but something behind the visible clutch is grabbing the lead harder than the clutch itself. I have no idea what this piece or thing might be. (It’s nearly 1cm past the clutch itself.)