Zebra’s Drafix 300 is one of its longest running affordable designs. The proper drafting series in dark grey offers the standard 0.3/0.5/0.7/0.9 while more recent ‘colorful’ editions only offer 0.5mm. And yet, through the decades, the DM300 was produced in plenty of variant colors:
The clear red 0.5 (a clear blue was also made), is under Zebra, but with funkier markings. The next 4 are licensed to San-X, with clear versions in 0.3 for BitsWorld from 1997, and a light green ‘PN165’ 0.3 from 1996.
Lastly, I have 2 drafting versions licensed to Drapas plus a guest appearance by Drafix eraser holder DE-200.
I have a couple of Takeda drafting versions on the way, and these have the stepped tubular tips. Will update when they arrive.
Wow, these are cool-looking! I have a Drafix Mindswitch, but that’s a much less serious version of the Drafix, haha - it has emojis on the lead indicator instead of lead hardnesses. I do really like the design of the Drafix…es in general!
Thanks! I’ve been lurking for a bit but this is my first time replying to a post lol. I’ve found that I actually really like the grip of the Drafix - today I was writing with it for quite a while.
More Drafix examples from Takeda and DRAPAS. Takeda is extra cool for having the ‘serious’ tubular style tips pioneered by the Rapidomatic. I ordered an instrument set that included 2 lead sizes and rippped out some of the blue foam to make room for another 2 that I’d acquired as loose pieces.
Interestingly, Takeda had variants that left out the ‘Takeda’ marking. The last 2 pix compared the various markings:
Takeda with tubular tip & Takeda marking
Takeda w/o Takeda marking
DRAPAS with conical tip
Zebra with conical tip
And no matter what the branding was, the marking ‘QUALITY FOR CREATIVITY’ made it across every variation.
Lastly, YES, you can swap the Takeda tips onto any brand of Drafix 300.
‘Stepped’ to me means there is a distinct change in the angle of a cone or tip. Think: Stepped Pyramid of Djoser. I call it ‘tubular’ because the tip is a a straight section of a cylinder / tube, which is distinctly different from a typical ‘cone’. ‘Stepped tubular’ is more accurate? But it is a bit of a mouthful.
