How do mechanical pencils work

For example, you cannot sharpen them like normal pens or markers. You also need to buy new ones every time your old one runs out of ink. So why would anyone want to use these things? Well, this article seeks to give reasons to use a mechanical pencil, explain how a mechanical pencil works, and how to choose the right mechanical pencil.

The lead moves up into the barrel as soon as pressure is applied. There are two main types of mechanical pencils; those made from wood and plastic. Both work the same way so that we will focus mainly on wooden mechanical pencils here. No need to sharpen!

The smoothness of the line produced by a mechanical pencil is far superior to any ballpoint pen. Ballpoints tend to leave lines that look rough because the nib has been worn over time. A mechanical pencil produces a clean straight line without any jagged edges. Mechanical pencil leads last about twice as long as standard ballpoint leads. That means less frequent replacement costs. You can refill almost all mechanical pencils at home. Just unscrew the top section and replace the cartridge with fresh lead.

Some models come with special cartridges explicitly designed for refilling. These usually cost extra, but some people find them worth paying for. Most mechanical pencils include an eraser built into the body of the pencil itself. This allows you to erase mistakes easily without having to carry around separate pieces of paper. This lets you reuse the casing as a storage container for spare leads.

To understand how a mechanical pencil works, you first need to know what happens when you apply pressure to the end of the pencil. When you do this, the lead pushes upwards until it reaches the bottom of the barrel, where it stays until you rerelease the pressure. To ensure the lead does not move downwards during this process, you must hold the pencil firmly against something solid such as a desk surface.

Once the lead pushes up into the barrel, it needs somewhere to go. Some twist pencils will retract the lead for you when you do this, but with others you will need to push the lead back into the tip yourself after twisting. Sooner or later, all of the lead in your pencil will get used up and you will need to refill the pencil with more lead.

The next thing to consider is lead grade. By far the most commonly used grade is HB , which is equivalent to an American 2 pencil. If you want something a little bit darker and smoother, we recommend using B or 2B lead. The last thing to consider is the brand and product line of the lead. Lead brand has much less impact on your writing experience than lead size and grade, but it does make a difference. You can read our guide comparing the different brands and lines of lead here.

Unlike push button pencils, most Twist mechanical pencils are refilled through the tip of the pencil:. Multi pen mechanical pencil components are a bit more complicated to refill. Check out our guide here for the details. Press the tip of the lead sleeve against your finger or a hard surface. Release the push button while still pressing the tip of the lead sleeve. As you release the push button, you will be able to push the lead sleeve back into the tip of the pencil.

The lead sleeve will pop back out automatically the next time you click the push button. If the lead keeps pushing back into the pencil whenever you press the tip down on the paper, the lead in the tip is too short and needs to be removed.

Pull the lead out of the tip and keep clicking the push button until a new lead comes out. You may have to repeat this process if a piece of lead inside the pencil got broken into multiple small pieces. If the push button works but the lead keeps breaking as you extend it, your pencil might have a partial lead jam. Mechanical pencils made in the early to mid 20th century typically used 0.

Note that 1. Similarly, 1. One trick to telling which size lead a pencil uses is to try inserting a bent paper clip into the tip. More recently made mechanical pencils may use any lead size, but the most common are 0. If you have both lead sizes on hand, we recommend testing the 0. Our writers draw on their personal expertise, consult our in-house subject matter experts, and do extensive research to make our guides as accurate and comprehensive as possible.

We then test every finding that makes it through the research stage. Only the techniques and tools whose performance we personally confirm make it into our guides as recommendations. Now that you know how to use a mechanical pencil and troubleshoot the most common issues that can crop up with them, be sure to take a look at our guide to the best mechanical pencils. Feel free to contact us or leave a comment below! JetPens is accepting and shipping orders.

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Fountain Pen. Technical Pen. Pen Refills. Gel Ink. Brush Pen Replacement Tips. Calligraphy Nibs. Desk Pen Stands. Fountain Pen Converters. Fountain Pen Nibs. Ink Bottles. Pen Cleaners. Moore has been published in "Family Circle" magazine and the "Milwaukee Sentinel" newspaper, along with numerous other national and regional magazines, daily and weekly newspapers and corporate publications. She has a Bachelor of Science in psychology. By: Shelley Moore Updated September 15, Share It.

Identification A mechanical pencil often looks more like a ballpoint pen than a pencil. Writer Bio Shelley Moore is a journalist and award-winning short-story writer. So, while you would sharpen a woodcase pencil to expose more lead, you would trigger the mechanism on a propelling pencil instead.

The lead in a mechanical pencil is not connected to the outer casing, and so is able to move freely when you want it to. When you click a button on your pencil or something similar , a spring pushes the lead forwards a set amount; only a little at a time, so you can easily achieve the perfect lead length. Another benefit of a mechanical pencil is the consistent line width. In addition to line width, this type of pencil has an invariable balance, which can be particularly important for some artists.

Another aspect that you may feel is a pro of this pencil type is the fact that it is refillable and so you buy the pencil and can then reuse it for years. Due to this, it could be suggested that propelling pencils are more eco-friendly than their wooden counterparts, but this would depend on the packaging of your leads.