These are used for architectural design usually with glossy paper.Are supposed to be used vertically and in continuous lines. The thickness is supposed to represent different materials in architectyural design.
Two years later and this video has saved the day! Yesterday I bought three vintage Rotring 2000 Isograph pens for $10 (lol), and they were absolutely CLAGGED with 30+ years of old ink. I learned from this video that the bottom cap screws off and I could pull out that tiny filament inside. The pens inside were so filthy that they were totally jammed, and I had to use needle-nose pliers to pull the filament bits out. After a LOT of cleaning, I have gotten two pens to work again, and the third one I bent the filament badly so it won't go back in (hence the warranty voiding, I guess!), but I'll probably just get a replacement nib for that one. Two out of three ain't bad. Thank you Teoh for putting this video up, it helped so much and I was able to restore pens that I thought were pretty much unsaveable. Big thumbs up!
@@nanayaafrimpomaadonkor6603 Yes, I bought a new bottle of Rotring ink because the old stuff I had looked nasty and I didn't want to clog the pens up again. They work ok! 😊
I have a Isograph 0.10 aka the thinnest one. I thought it would be as thin as the 0.05 disposable fineliners but its way thinner. Extremely thin lines, which are perfect for cross hatching techniques and details. I found the rotring ink is a bit thick especially for such a fine tip, so I refilled mine with fountain pen ink which gave much better flow.
But is your ink waterproof to allow for watercolouring over it? If so, what brand is your ink, would love to get some of that. The Ink I have seems to have shellac in it and clogs the tiny 0.10 nibs.
Generally fountain pen ink is not waterproof except for pigmented fountain pen inks such as sailor storia and nano inks, there is also some noodlers inks which waterproof although some of them are water resistant which will partial "blur?" away
I was very fortunate to pick up a full set of those a few years ago at a yard sale for less than 30 bucks. They required a LOT of cleaning but they do work flawlessly still. If you’re not using them for a week or so, empty the ink back into the bottle and rinse the pen out properly. If the pen isn’t writing immediately, give it a little shake. You will hear the needle moving around in the pen which is what you want. And while it is far from the cheapest ink by volume, I stick to the Rotring ink. While I have tried fountain pen ink and it flows better initially, I found that the pen tends to clog pretty quickly. So anecdotally it’s not something I would recommend doing. I also - like others here - cannot stress enough how important it is to NOT hold an Isograph pen like you would a fountain or ball point pen. It needs to be perpendicular to the paper.
To quote Steve Jobs: "You're holding it wrong" :) Try with a more 90° angle to the paper and you won't experience skipping. You hold it like a fountain pen and the larger the diameter of the nib, the more this will matter. Since you do not have the "ball" usually used with a fountain pen, you need the be pretty vertical to ensure good ink flow.
Technical pens are made to be held 90 dgress to the paper, so that is why you are getting skipping. I use the Koh I Noor pens. And their Ultradraw doesn't clog as easilly as the Universal, and it is waterproof to use with watercolor. thanks !
Eileen Goldenberg just curious why rOting could not simply make 1 type pen instead of two that would take BOTH cartridges and a refillable converter? If you are new to this it can be confusing.
I thoroughly appreciate the in depth observations concerning these two instruments. Knowing the technical points certainly helps understand and appreciate the differences between them as well as help to define reasons for one purchase over another if having to choose one or the other. Thank you so much for so kindly sharing your valuable insights Be well. bye now
I learned a good lesson about not messing around with the super fine tips on Koh-i-noor Rapidographs. I took the tip completely apart and then couldn't put it back together. Costly mistake.
Just found my set I bought whilst at college. Only about 25 years old! Needed a good clean, but just filled with fountain pen ink, and they are working beautifully... Waiting for my new bottle of Rotring ink to turn up, as the old bottle has separated and refuses to mix together again... Great video to remind me how to take them apart to clean! Thanks! I have the 0.25, 0.35 and 0.5mm pens, and also found that the 0.5mm flowed the best out of all 3. That seemed to be the case at college too, as that one looked the most well used...
I absolutely love my Isograph Rotring pens. I had to buy them as high-school supplies for technical drawing class 40 years ago, and now they are still in perfect condition and I use them for my art. I have the 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4... Of course you have to clean them every now and then, and be very gentle when doing so, especially the thinner ones. I can see from your video that the new ones are a bit different, I was looking to buy a thicker size, maybe 0.8 or 1.0. They disassemble differently too. I hope they are as sturdy as the older ones (which were black and had a red tool specially made to remove the needle from the top).
Excellent review & much nostalgia as I had these back in the 80s. Just found a similar set used on Ebay so it’s all back to old proven tech again. Rotring has a fascinating history timeline on their website by the way.
I inherited 8 pens like this from my grandfater! ALthough I do believe they were rapidographs? It's mostly worn out, but the pens themselves are still in pristine condition, and I enjoy them a lot. I like anything refillable :)
s monzon it's amazing to think that a pen could last long enough to be an inheritable item. I think that speaks masses for the value and quality of these pens :)
If they are pristine, they are probably NOT worn out. You have to hold the pens perpendicular to your drawing surface to get the ink flowing. If the nib is clogged with India ink you can probably unglue it by sticking the nib end in 70% pure isopropyl rubbing alcohol for about a week or so).. Be careful with the stuff, it is volatile and stinks. I would cover the whole thing with saran wrap to keep the isopropyl from evaporating. I use it and have no problems with it melting any of the plastic parts of the pens...If your grandfather's pens have the old fashioned plunger to refill (instead of the replaceable plastic cartridges, I think you have a collector's item, there! These pens were designed to last a lifetime and then some! Enjoy! In the "olden days" our draftsmen used to empty out their pens every Friday after work and rinse them in clear water then stand them in an ultrasonic machine that vibrated out all the bits of dried shellac. The process took all weekend, and on Monday mornings their pens were ready to use again! It was quite a process keeping those things clean. After the invention and widespread use of the cad computer run drafting programs these pens become collectors' items. I retained mine from Engineering school! Lucky me! Love them and use them for sketching. Luckily for us, now a days there's fast drying waterproof ink with anti-clogging agents in them. But these pens still need cleaning about once a month or so.
Bestbrushstroke Bestbrushstroke sorry, English is not my first language! what I meant is, The label is mostly worn out, however, the tips are still working perfectly. my grandpa taught me how to use them, they had to clean them quite often at his workplace. Thanks for the info!
They are used for architectural purposes or technical drawings, not for sketching. Though I do use my 0.1 for fine detailing in sketches. And the lowest quality sheet you can use with this is an Ivory sheet, you need gloss for them to work properly. On a lower quality paper the ink will bleed through. Also never use them with a regular ruler, you have to have a rotering ruler or a raised edge ruler. Something that sits flush with the paper, the ink will bleed through.
The really fine line pens, don't ever take the wire out. You will only get a few tries to get it back in before the wire breaks. It's better to use patients and soak it in Windex, and use hot water to flush out the ink. Expensive lesson!!
I use Kohinoor and Rapidograph pens, these have to be held vertically in order for the ink to flow at its maximum. I find the nibs smaller than 0.3 the shellac in my India ink begins to solidify too quickly and clogs the nib. Larger nibs work beautifully.
If using a pen with a nib less than 0.35mm you will be very lucky if you can remove the fine wire and return it to the pen. It can be done but never take out a 0.1mm as you will never get it back in. To get the best line quality out of a technical pen it has to be at 90 degrees to the surface.
I want to buy one but, for a person who draws lines only from time to time would you recommend the IsoGraph or Rapidograph? On their website they say that the Rapidograph is less probable to dry out and clog.
The Isograph is easier to dismantle and clean so I'll recommend that. Whether it clogs or not I think depends on the cap, and the Isograph turning cap looks good enough. I won't worry about clogging unless you use it every few months. And if that's the case, it's better to just clean the pen and store it away until the next use. I do that for pens I don't use for more than a week. Anyway, with the Rotring Cleaning Liquid, it's quite easy to remove clogs.
Both are problematic, because both work on the same concept. A wire running through a hollow shaft with ink flowing inside that same hollow shaft with the wire. So a lot depends on your ink. There are inks with retarders in that will help it from clogging. But if you use ink pens intermittently you may be better off to use disposables, otherwise you will be spending more time cleaning these pens and wasting ink than actually using them, unless you use regular fountain pen inks that are not India ink and have no shellac in them. India ink have a type of shellac in them to make the ink waterproof, from what they told me at the store. And it is this shellac that dries, causing the steel wire to stick to the inside of the hollow steel shaft. I ruined a 0.1 nib by pulling the plunger out but the steel wire was stuck to the inside of the hollow shaft thanks to the shellac and the wire pulled out of the plastic plunger part.
These pens were not made to write like you are doing. You have to hold it 90° to the paper and was meant to draw schematics using rulers and templates. The ink always dried up and was a mess to clean up; thank god for CAD.
If you plan on using similar pens I recommend looking up how to look after your particular pen. In general it is recommended that you use technical pens perpendicular to the paper to avoid damaging the tip. These are not really sketching pens. Mostly due to cost... but also because they are designed for extreme precision and consistency when drafting and as such are vulnerable when handeld casually. www.jetpens.com/blog/guide-to-technical-pens/pt/436
Not to be harsh, or anything, but my father has one and he was a building engineer, and I learn as a Mechanical/turning engineering. As I know these pens are for making "blue print" aka for mechanical drawnings. :) I think we have all the tips for this pen. ;) (ink too) :)
Martin_HUN That's great, I bet you know these pens very well. How much time it's safe to let the ink in them? For example for everyday regular use, it's enough if clean them out only at the weekends?
This is also what's being required for us to use (as an Architectural student) in my country for manual architectural drawings. :) Specifically the isographs.
+Vicente Bécquer As for my experience with them and from people I know that have been using them for a long time, you don't really have to always completely clean them as long as you regularly use them. Just make sure you don't let them sitting around unused for a really long time of else the ink in them will dry out. But its also nice to clean them from time to time even if you're already always using them. :)
I do alot of illustration with ink, which one do you guys think is more cost effective and high quality buying the normal microns/prismacolor fineliners, or the isograph?
I love these Pens for using Dr Martins Hi Carb Ink. Also Ecoline ink is nice cause I have a variation of colours. Now I bought Winsor andNewton Drawing Ink which contains Shellac. Do you think I can use them for those technical pencils, too? I am very afraid of "harming" my pen...
I had a set of Rotring isograph pens from...20+ years ago. Loved using them, but I doubt they're recoverable now....I should check. I only used them for final images, and I went slowly. Fussy. BTW, is that kind of ink compatible with the Pentel Brush Pen?
At 2:55 you have dismantled the pen shewing the very issue I find interesting - for you have, by removing the purple collar, revealed a coarse threaded nib holder. What is the purpose of this threaded part? For instance, could this thread be used to mount two pens alongside each other in order to draw parallel lines? This is a common feature to both Rotring and Liquidraw Technical Pens - and I have a need to use two pens in this way. Would Rotring have developed an adaptor for this purpose?
You mean that really thin “needle”? That’s to push the part that’s holding it up to let the ink flow. That part will block ink flow when you are not drawing, that’s why the pen does not leak
ugh, having experience with technical pens, ill tell u the Isograph pens are the worst!, they leak very easy, and might ruin your entire paper with ink, these pens are very delicate, the ink needle can easily break and so for the pen, when u add too much ink and close the body sometimes the body will break from the opening and every once in awhile you will need to clean the pens from the interior to clear out the ink, and this is where you obviously turn your hands and your bathroom into a huge chaos, the pens are not actually practical you need to always be aware of the leaking while using them or moving bc they leak a lot , and be careful to shake them while open, I was demanded to buy them in university for a foundation class but switched to non refillable technical pens, they actually suit me and for a fact rotring isographing pens are used for architectural tracing, and lines , and mostly these pens are used by interior design students.
5 лет назад
I have a vintage Faber Castell set. NOT worth the pain they cause.
Most technical pens are designed to be used vertically. If you use them on the side, one side of the felt tip will wear out, (such tips wear out quite fast), and it will be difficult to write with them. Just for for normal writing pens for writing instead. I suggest the Uniball Eye, Uniball Vision, Uniball Air and Uniball Signo Gelstick (all waterproof). Or just get a cheap fountain pen such as Lamy Safari.
Thanks again. I picked up a Pigma Micron 0.4 today. Pretty happy and it was good value. Yes the uniball pens you have suggested are good. I also like the Pilot V5.
How that is so cool! But I would get a fountain pen mainly bcs of the ability to vary line width!!! Plus I think you can have a wider range of inks used in a fountain pen. But they are expensive :/
Thanks Teoh , ¿Do you think I can put Noodler's ink, I have a lot of colors? I don't matter the water proof . ¿It will work to buy them? I want to use for cross hatching, but with the noodler's colors. Greetings
You can try. Noodler's ink don't usually clog. With the ink bottles that I have, I've never seen them dry into black dust bits unlike other pigmented ink so I suppose Noodlers should be save. Just get one bottle to try before getting so many bottles.
I bought an Isograph pen and after filling the ink cartridge, I can not get the ink to flow to the tip. Nothing I do can get this brand-new pen to work. Anyone have any suggestions?
+Manna Manna Check if the pin in the tip is moving. If not then the it might be clogged. Just get the Rotring cleaning fluid to soak the tip overnight.
I don't have the exact answer on how long you can use it before cleaning. Probably a month or two. As long as you use it often, the ink keeps flowing and should not clog. Check out this video I made on cleaning pens ruclips.net/video/U1v9bl7ED70/видео.html
I'm not sure if this can be considered India ink. Other options would be Platinum Carbon Black, Sailor Kiwa Guro, Noodler's Bulletproof Black, De Atramentis. They waterproof when dry, depending on the paper.
You could try Pelikan Fount India ink, it's an India ink adapted for fountain pens (no shellac, less pigment, so in that regard it is probably similar to the other pigmented fountain pen inks). I use it, but have found that it works best on pens with tight caps. It works great in my TWSBI 580 with a screw cap, on my fountain pens with push on caps it's seems to dry in the nib and cause hard starts (however it is easy enough to clean).
Hi teoh, i have 3 rotring rapidograph, 2 staedtler marsmatic 700, 1 staedtler marsmagno 2 and a set of faber castell. All of them except marsmagno 2 are clogging up now it's such a pain trying to unscrew them all since i haven't used them for more than 10 years (facepalms). I put them all in water overnight now byt i dont know if it will work :/ and i know you use fountain pens so i want to know whether i can fill them with fountain pen ink?
I had the FN Art Pen by Rotring, never got on with it, terrible ink flow. Should have stopped there. Instead I bought their isograph 0.35 And the thread on the pen is terrible, after a few times the top half of the pen won't screw in properly and is always loose and not sure if the nib was faulty but the flow is terrible on this rotring too. So cleaned it and when I was putting it back together it rolled of the table and landed on the fine nib and is totally ruined. Now I have to replace the nib which is about £15 To £20 Went back to the disposal pens instead. Not sure if it's my misfortune I received dead pens of if Rotring are over rated. Peace Out
Yes, it must be held vertically to the paper surface because all parts of the tiny cylinder at the tip must be in contact with the paper in order for the water to slide down the cylinder onto the paper...this is due to the property of water surface tension. In this case, however, the "water" is the ink.
Yes, just hold it vertically. I use drafting pens to draw with all the time. There are only 3 pitfalls to using them....(a) they are not pressure sensitive, but that is overcome by switching to a slightly larger "nib" or tip. It takes a wee bit of practice drawing with the pen held vertically, but after a while it will become second nature. (b) if I pause drawing for maybe 20-30 seconds the ink I use begins to dry up in the tip and the pen needs a bit of shaking to get the ink to resume flowing and (c) if pens are not used for an extended period of time (week or so) the ink begins to dry inside the pen! and the pens have to be disassembled for cleaning. But I love the economy of refilling and the fact that I will not be throwing away a perfectly good "housing" ....that that plastic and stainless steel that is used in making a single disposable pen...such a waste of our natural resources and it clogs our ecosystems with needless trash.
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These are used for architectural design usually with glossy paper.Are supposed to be used vertically and in continuous lines. The thickness is supposed to represent different materials in architectyural design.
Thanks for the info
nobody fucking asked you gerald
joey willians did you even watch the video. The guy asked
Check out amazing artists like Artem Grigoryev. He use these kinds of pen. and so are so many drawing artists.
Two years later and this video has saved the day! Yesterday I bought three vintage Rotring 2000 Isograph pens for $10 (lol), and they were absolutely CLAGGED with 30+ years of old ink. I learned from this video that the bottom cap screws off and I could pull out that tiny filament inside. The pens inside were so filthy that they were totally jammed, and I had to use needle-nose pliers to pull the filament bits out. After a LOT of cleaning, I have gotten two pens to work again, and the third one I bent the filament badly so it won't go back in (hence the warranty voiding, I guess!), but I'll probably just get a replacement nib for that one. Two out of three ain't bad. Thank you Teoh for putting this video up, it helped so much and I was able to restore pens that I thought were pretty much unsaveable. Big thumbs up!
That’s great!
Hello
I just bought one
It seems my ink is also old
How did you get to use yours?
Did you buy another ink?
@@nanayaafrimpomaadonkor6603 Yes, I bought a new bottle of Rotring ink because the old stuff I had looked nasty and I didn't want to clog the pens up again. They work ok! 😊
I have a Isograph 0.10 aka the thinnest one. I thought it would be as thin as the 0.05 disposable fineliners but its way thinner. Extremely thin lines, which are perfect for cross hatching techniques and details. I found the rotring ink is a bit thick especially for such a fine tip, so I refilled mine with fountain pen ink which gave much better flow.
But is your ink waterproof to allow for watercolouring over it? If so, what brand is your ink, would love to get some of that. The Ink I have seems to have shellac in it and clogs the tiny 0.10 nibs.
I think my ink is waterproof. I use Sailor Jentle Ink, which is my favourite black ink. Works really well with my rotring and hasn't dried up at all.
Generally fountain pen ink is not waterproof except for pigmented fountain pen inks such as sailor storia and nano inks, there is also some noodlers inks which waterproof although some of them are water resistant which will partial "blur?" away
I was very fortunate to pick up a full set of those a few years ago at a yard sale for less than 30 bucks. They required a LOT of cleaning but they do work flawlessly still. If you’re not using them for a week or so, empty the ink back into the bottle and rinse the pen out properly. If the pen isn’t writing immediately, give it a little shake. You will hear the needle moving around in the pen which is what you want.
And while it is far from the cheapest ink by volume, I stick to the Rotring ink. While I have tried fountain pen ink and it flows better initially, I found that the pen tends to clog pretty quickly. So anecdotally it’s not something I would recommend doing.
I also - like others here - cannot stress enough how important it is to NOT hold an Isograph pen like you would a fountain or ball point pen. It needs to be perpendicular to the paper.
To quote Steve Jobs: "You're holding it wrong" :) Try with a more 90° angle to the paper and you won't experience skipping. You hold it like a fountain pen and the larger the diameter of the nib, the more this will matter. Since you do not have the "ball" usually used with a fountain pen, you need the be pretty vertical to ensure good ink flow.
Technical pens are made to be held 90 dgress to the paper, so that is why you are getting skipping. I use the Koh I Noor pens. And their Ultradraw doesn't clog as easilly as the Universal, and it is waterproof to use with watercolor. thanks !
Thanks :-)
Eileen Goldenberg just curious why rOting could not simply make 1 type pen instead of two that would take BOTH cartridges and a refillable converter? If you are new to this it can be confusing.
@@charlesjacques750
Because Isograph is gravity action, and Rapidograph is capillary action.
The mechanisms are different.
I thoroughly appreciate the in depth observations concerning these two instruments. Knowing the technical points certainly helps understand and appreciate the differences between them as well as help to define reasons for one purchase over another if having to choose one or the other. Thank you so much for so kindly sharing your valuable insights Be well. bye now
+daisy3690 Thanks 😀
I sooo agree....he is so simple and suchh a studdd!!
I learned a good lesson about not messing around with the super fine tips on Koh-i-noor Rapidographs. I took the tip completely apart and then couldn't put it back together. Costly mistake.
Just found my set I bought whilst at college. Only about 25 years old! Needed a good clean, but just filled with fountain pen ink, and they are working beautifully... Waiting for my new bottle of Rotring ink to turn up, as the old bottle has separated and refuses to mix together again... Great video to remind me how to take them apart to clean! Thanks!
I have the 0.25, 0.35 and 0.5mm pens, and also found that the 0.5mm flowed the best out of all 3. That seemed to be the case at college too, as that one looked the most well used...
I absolutely love my Isograph Rotring pens. I had to buy them as high-school supplies for technical drawing class 40 years ago, and now they are still in perfect condition and I use them for my art. I have the 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4... Of course you have to clean them every now and then, and be very gentle when doing so, especially the thinner ones. I can see from your video that the new ones are a bit different, I was looking to buy a thicker size, maybe 0.8 or 1.0. They disassemble differently too. I hope they are as sturdy as the older ones (which were black and had a red tool specially made to remove the needle from the top).
Excellent review & much nostalgia as I had these back in the 80s. Just found a similar set used on Ebay so it’s all back to old proven tech again. Rotring has a fascinating history timeline on their website by the way.
I recently found my set from my university days and plan to start using them again. Nostalgia indeed!
I still have a couple of the Isograph .35 pens from the 1970's. Marked West Germany. Still use them to this day.
I inherited 8 pens like this from my grandfater! ALthough I do believe they were rapidographs? It's mostly worn out, but the pens themselves are still in pristine condition, and I enjoy them a lot. I like anything refillable :)
That's great. Good to see they are so lasting.
s monzon it's amazing to think that a pen could last long enough to be an inheritable item. I think that speaks masses for the value and quality of these pens :)
If they are pristine, they are probably NOT worn out. You have to hold the pens perpendicular to your drawing surface to get the ink flowing. If the nib is clogged with India ink you can probably unglue it by sticking the nib end in 70% pure isopropyl rubbing alcohol for about a week or so).. Be careful with the stuff, it is volatile and stinks. I would cover the whole thing with saran wrap to keep the isopropyl from evaporating. I use it and have no problems with it melting any of the plastic parts of the pens...If your grandfather's pens have the old fashioned plunger to refill (instead of the replaceable plastic cartridges, I think you have a collector's item, there! These pens were designed to last a lifetime and then some! Enjoy! In the "olden days" our draftsmen used to empty out their pens every Friday after work and rinse them in clear water then stand them in an ultrasonic machine that vibrated out all the bits of dried shellac. The process took all weekend, and on Monday mornings their pens were ready to use again! It was quite a process keeping those things clean. After the invention and widespread use of the cad computer run drafting programs these pens become collectors' items. I retained mine from Engineering school! Lucky me! Love them and use them for sketching. Luckily for us, now a days there's fast drying waterproof ink with anti-clogging agents in them. But these pens still need cleaning about once a month or so.
Bestbrushstroke Bestbrushstroke sorry, English is not my first language! what I meant is, The label is mostly worn out, however, the tips are still working perfectly. my grandpa taught me how to use them, they had to clean them quite often at his workplace. Thanks for the info!
Enjoy your pens...my labels wore out long ago, too, and the pens are still working perfectly after over 40 years.... And they are a pleasure to use.
Woah that's cool I didn't know they made reusable technical pens.
How is this combo for drawing doodles .35 and
.70? Can you use fountain pen ink or only their brand?
Thank you so much. I finally am cleaning it by taking the needle out. And I wouldn’t have figured that had I not come across your video. Thank you.
They are used for architectural purposes or technical drawings, not for sketching. Though I do use my 0.1 for fine detailing in sketches. And the lowest quality sheet you can use with this is an Ivory sheet, you need gloss for them to work properly. On a lower quality paper the ink will bleed through. Also never use them with a regular ruler, you have to have a rotering ruler or a raised edge ruler. Something that sits flush with the paper, the ink will bleed through.
+The_Howler Thanks for your insight 😁
Solid advice. I think you have just solved a few of my personal frustrations. Thanks
A pen that will last a life time. I like the sound of that. I like that you can break it down and clean everything.
The really fine line pens, don't ever take the wire out. You will only get a few tries to get it back in before the wire breaks. It's better to use patients and soak it in Windex, and use hot water to flush out the ink. Expensive lesson!!
I use Kohinoor and Rapidograph pens, these have to be held vertically in order for the ink to flow at its maximum. I find the nibs smaller than 0.3 the shellac in my India ink begins to solidify too quickly and clogs the nib. Larger nibs work beautifully.
Thank you Teoh - this is a great review and very helpful.
found my rotring after 30+ years, useful info
found mine after 20 years
If using a pen with a nib less than 0.35mm you will be very lucky if you can remove the fine wire and return it to the pen. It can be done but never take out a 0.1mm as you will never get it back in. To get the best line quality out of a technical pen it has to be at 90 degrees to the surface.
thank you for the video. was looking at this pen for awhile. nice to see it in action.
I want to buy one but, for a person who draws lines only from time to time would you recommend the IsoGraph or Rapidograph? On their website they say that the Rapidograph is less probable to dry out and clog.
The Isograph is easier to dismantle and clean so I'll recommend that. Whether it clogs or not I think depends on the cap, and the Isograph turning cap looks good enough. I won't worry about clogging unless you use it every few months. And if that's the case, it's better to just clean the pen and store it away until the next use. I do that for pens I don't use for more than a week.
Anyway, with the Rotring Cleaning Liquid, it's quite easy to remove clogs.
Thank you! I really enjoy your channel, great job!
Both are problematic, because both work on the same concept. A wire running through a hollow shaft with ink flowing inside that same hollow shaft with the wire. So a lot depends on your ink. There are inks with retarders in that will help it from clogging. But if you use ink pens intermittently you may be better off to use disposables, otherwise you will be spending more time cleaning these pens and wasting ink than actually using them, unless you use regular fountain pen inks that are not India ink and have no shellac in them. India ink have a type of shellac in them to make the ink waterproof, from what they told me at the store. And it is this shellac that dries, causing the steel wire to stick to the inside of the hollow steel shaft. I ruined a 0.1 nib by pulling the plunger out but the steel wire was stuck to the inside of the hollow shaft thanks to the shellac and the wire pulled out of the plastic plunger part.
You helped so much in helping clean my pen, thank you 🙏
These pens were not made to write like you are doing. You have to hold it 90° to the paper and was meant to draw schematics using rulers and templates. The ink always dried up and was a mess to clean up; thank god for CAD.
Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that in the video :-P
Thanks Teoh. This video answered so many questions for me.
Isographs are designed to be vertical when in use.
Thanks for the video. Note that disassembling the drawing nib as this will void the warranty.
I didn't know there's warranty 😅
Teoh Yi Chie ahah me neither, just discovered while looking at caring instructions on the website! Not sure why you would use it, though!
If you plan on using similar pens I recommend looking up how to look after your particular pen. In general it is recommended that you use technical pens perpendicular to the paper to avoid damaging the tip. These are not really sketching pens. Mostly due to cost... but also because they are designed for extreme precision and consistency when drafting and as such are vulnerable when handeld casually. www.jetpens.com/blog/guide-to-technical-pens/pt/436
Yeah, the lines break often when used in non-vertical angles.
I used this pens to do survey drawings...
they are also used with stencils
Best review i've seen on these pens,thankyou
+VeggeMight Thanks 😀
So clear and professional! Thank you 😊
I didn't know you could get pens like this. These are pretty cool
There are more pens out there than one can imagine. \ (•◡•) / lol
Not to be harsh, or anything, but my father has one and he was a building engineer, and I learn as a Mechanical/turning engineering. As I know these pens are for making "blue print" aka for mechanical drawnings. :) I think we have all the tips for this pen. ;) (ink too) :)
sweet, will you recommend them for artists?
Martin_HUN That's great, I bet you know these pens very well. How much time it's safe to let the ink in them? For example for everyday regular use, it's enough if clean them out only at the weekends?
This is also what's being required for us to use (as an Architectural student) in my country for manual architectural drawings. :) Specifically the isographs.
+Vicente Bécquer As for my experience with them and from people I know that have been using them for a long time, you don't really have to always completely clean them as long as you regularly use them. Just make sure you don't let them sitting around unused for a really long time of else the ink in them will dry out. But its also nice to clean them from time to time even if you're already always using them. :)
Martin_HUN I think it's great that you're following the footsteps of your dad and becoming engineer, he must be proud of you 😊
Thank you Teoh, as usual you're perfect.
Thanks :-)
I do alot of illustration with ink, which one do you guys think is more cost effective and high quality buying the normal microns/prismacolor fineliners, or the isograph?
Thank you Teoh, very helpful video. Just what I wanted to know.
Welcome 😁
this is very informative, very detailed review video, all the questions i had in mind are answered now. thanks .
Thank you for this informative review.
Thankyou so much for making this video. This video help me and my friends.
Excellent review... as per usual!
I love these Pens for using Dr Martins Hi Carb Ink. Also Ecoline ink is nice cause I have a variation of colours. Now I bought Winsor andNewton Drawing Ink which contains Shellac. Do you think I can use them for those technical pencils, too? I am very afraid of "harming" my pen...
+Vika Generally speaking, if the ink dries up and leave dust bits around the opening and cap, avoid using that ink in fountain pens.
congratulations for 30000 subscribers ! :)
Thanks ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪
You say it's durable ? I have just cleaned a Rotring Isograph 0,4 that was clogged with ink since nearly 30 years. It's still works how it used to.
It was very helpful. Thank you very much.
the uni pin pen is a plastic tip pen that comes in sizes down to 0.01
Very helpful review.
I had a set of Rotring isograph pens from...20+ years ago. Loved using them, but I doubt they're recoverable now....I should check. I only used them for final images, and I went slowly. Fussy. BTW, is that kind of ink compatible with the Pentel Brush Pen?
Not sure about that Rotring Ink in Pentel Brush Pen. It might work. Anyway, it's not too expensive to replace the brush pen if it's clogged too badly.
At 2:55 you have dismantled the pen shewing the very issue I find interesting - for you have, by removing the purple collar, revealed a coarse threaded nib holder. What is the purpose of this threaded part? For instance, could this thread be used to mount two pens alongside each other in order to draw parallel lines? This is a common feature to both Rotring and Liquidraw Technical Pens - and I have a need to use two pens in this way. Would Rotring have developed an adaptor for this purpose?
You mean that really thin “needle”? That’s to push the part that’s holding it up to let the ink flow. That part will block ink flow when you are not drawing, that’s why the pen does not leak
Yes. Rotring has a compass that you can use along with the isographs.
Can you tell me which fountain pen you prefer? I have recently purchased one but I'm not loving it..I'm actually frustrated with it.
I like Pelikan M200 Fine nib
can we use it on a watercolour paint??
If you use Rotring ink, yes. That ink is waterproof when dry.
ugh, having experience with technical pens, ill tell u the Isograph pens are the worst!, they leak very easy, and might ruin your entire paper with ink, these pens are very delicate, the ink needle can easily break and so for the pen, when u add too much ink and close the body sometimes the body will break from the opening and every once in awhile you will need to clean the pens from the interior to clear out the ink, and this is where you obviously turn your hands and your bathroom into a huge chaos, the pens are not actually practical you need to always be aware of the leaking while using them or moving bc they leak a lot , and be careful to shake them while open, I was demanded to buy them in university for a foundation class but switched to non refillable technical pens, they actually suit me and for a fact rotring isographing pens are used for architectural tracing, and lines , and mostly these pens are used by interior design students.
I have a vintage Faber Castell set. NOT worth the pain they cause.
An excellent video. I'm after a very high quality fine pen for writing. Would this pen, the isograph suit such an application?
+Vishal Vora These technical pens are meant to be used mostly in vertical position so may not be comfortable for use with handwriting positions.
Teoh Yi Chie thanks. What about the pigma micron?
Most technical pens are designed to be used vertically. If you use them on the side, one side of the felt tip will wear out, (such tips wear out quite fast), and it will be difficult to write with them. Just for for normal writing pens for writing instead. I suggest the Uniball Eye, Uniball Vision, Uniball Air and Uniball Signo Gelstick (all waterproof). Or just get a cheap fountain pen such as Lamy Safari.
Thanks again. I picked up a Pigma Micron 0.4 today. Pretty happy and it was good value. Yes the uniball pens you have suggested are good. I also like the Pilot V5.
How that is so cool! But I would get a fountain pen mainly bcs of the ability to vary line width!!! Plus I think you can have a wider range of inks used in a fountain pen. But they are expensive :/
Hello Teoh, what you think of the Koh-I-Noor Rapidographs?
Same performance but Rotring has larger ink converter
Thanks Teoh , ¿Do you think I can put Noodler's ink, I have a lot of colors? I don't matter the water proof . ¿It will work to buy them? I want to use for cross hatching, but with the noodler's colors. Greetings
You can try. Noodler's ink don't usually clog. With the ink bottles that I have, I've never seen them dry into black dust bits unlike other pigmented ink so I suppose Noodlers should be save. Just get one bottle to try before getting so many bottles.
I have the noodler´s ink , I´m going to buy steadler Isographs and try with one .Thanks Teoh
I bought an Isograph pen and after filling the ink cartridge, I can not get the ink to flow to the tip. Nothing I do can get this brand-new pen to work. Anyone have any suggestions?
Is there a needle in the pen tip? Keep tapping the pen tip on paper to move that and hopefully the ink will flow
Hey bro I found a rotring varioscript how much is it I don't find it anywhere on the Internet
Can we use Dr. Ph Martin's Bombay Black India ink as alternative?
after I fill my pen & shake it it doesn't write , what should I do ? might it be blocked from the inside ??? :(
+Manna Manna Check if the pin in the tip is moving. If not then the it might be clogged. Just get the Rotring cleaning fluid to soak the tip overnight.
how long does the ink last? how often am i going to refil? how much do the refils cost?
+Denver Naicker Not sure how how the refills cost. But it is more economical to get the bottle Rotring ink to refill
Hey Teoh ! Do you think I can use Platinum Carbon ink in Rotring Isograph ? Can't find this info anywhere... Thanks for your videos !!
You probably can. Just clean it out when you don't intend to use the pen for a long period of time.
How long I can keep the pen without cleaning? Should I clean after every use?
I don't have the exact answer on how long you can use it before cleaning. Probably a month or two. As long as you use it often, the ink keeps flowing and should not clog. Check out this video I made on cleaning pens ruclips.net/video/U1v9bl7ED70/видео.html
Thanks a lot.
is the ink water proof, can I use with watercolor?
Yes, waterproof
if you have a fine nib like a 0.1 dont take the needle out.... its very fine, you wont get it back in
Thank you. is this Indian ink? my dream is to find a fountain pen that can use Indian ink....
I'm not sure if this can be considered India ink. Other options would be Platinum Carbon Black, Sailor Kiwa Guro, Noodler's Bulletproof Black, De Atramentis. They waterproof when dry, depending on the paper.
Teoh Yi Chie thank you. if this is indelible that's all I want but I guess it is not.
You could try Pelikan Fount India ink, it's an India ink adapted for fountain pens (no shellac, less pigment, so in that regard it is probably similar to the other pigmented fountain pen inks). I use it, but have found that it works best on pens with tight caps. It works great in my TWSBI 580 with a screw cap, on my fountain pens with push on caps it's seems to dry in the nib and cause hard starts (however it is easy enough to clean).
thanks a lot bro
Hi teoh, i have 3 rotring rapidograph, 2 staedtler marsmatic 700, 1 staedtler marsmagno 2 and a set of faber castell. All of them except marsmagno 2 are clogging up now it's such a pain trying to unscrew them all since i haven't used them for more than 10 years (facepalms). I put them all in water overnight now byt i dont know if it will work :/ and i know you use fountain pens so i want to know whether i can fill them with fountain pen ink?
You can use the Rotring cleaning fluid to give it a try
ruclips.net/video/8-nXIHYOd5I/видео.html
I had the FN Art Pen by Rotring, never got on with it, terrible ink flow.
Should have stopped there.
Instead I bought their isograph 0.35
And the thread on the pen is terrible, after a few times the top half of the pen won't screw in properly and is always loose and not sure if the nib was faulty but the flow is terrible on this rotring too.
So cleaned it and when I was putting it back together it rolled of the table and landed on the fine nib and is totally ruined. Now I have to replace the nib which is about £15 To £20
Went back to the disposal pens instead.
Not sure if it's my misfortune I received dead pens of if Rotring are over rated.
Peace Out
Dose it work well with Bristol board paper?
Yes
I was thinking, can you use these like for drawing or are they for technical drawing only
Yes you can. Because of the way the tips are designed, you can't draw very quickly or the ink won't be able to catch up.
Teoh Yi Chie Thanks, I was looking in for this kind of pen. I am thinking of getting one
Thank you!
Is this better than the staedler or it's just the same?
I've not used staedler before so I'm not sure.
do you have to clean the pen every time you use it ?
No, only when I don't use them for more than a week.
It was so usefull ..tnx 😍
How you to hold the pen vertically to the paper.
+Bestbrushstroke You just hold it vertically?
Yes, it must be held vertically to the paper surface because all parts of the tiny cylinder at the tip must be in contact with the paper in order for the water to slide down the cylinder onto the paper...this is due to the property of water surface tension. In this case, however, the "water" is the ink.
Yes, just hold it vertically. I use drafting pens to draw with all the time. There are only 3 pitfalls to using them....(a) they are not pressure sensitive, but that is overcome by switching to a slightly larger "nib" or tip. It takes a wee bit of practice drawing with the pen held vertically, but after a while it will become second nature. (b) if I pause drawing for maybe 20-30 seconds the ink I use begins to dry up in the tip and the pen needs a bit of shaking to get the ink to resume flowing and (c) if pens are not used for an extended period of time (week or so) the ink begins to dry inside the pen! and the pens have to be disassembled for cleaning. But I love the economy of refilling and the fact that I will not be throwing away a perfectly good "housing" ....that that plastic and stainless steel that is used in making a single disposable pen...such a waste of our natural resources and it clogs our ecosystems with needless trash.
thank u theoh
Can we refill any type of ink product? ?
Best to use Rotring ink, or fountain pen inks.
Ok ..thnkq so mch ...
Is the rotring ink waterproof?
+Liza Garcia It's waterproof.
Which ink we use?
Rotring ink
Can you do one on Rapidograph?
It's here ruclips.net/video/Xl8arj_PCYI/видео.html
Thank you, it's very good. I couldn't find where the needle for filling up the rapidograph.
@@juljos9343 Just search "blunt needle and syringe" on Amazon or eBay
Thank you
are all the refils the same?
+Denver Naicker I don't think so
I don't what to do the ink won't come out
Something is stuck in the tip
@@teohyc umm i checked I don't think so maybe it needs to be cleaned up
can Parker quink ink be used in these pens? I got a Faber Castell TG1-S
That ink should work.
I always have the problem that the tip always warns out
It's a metal tip. How do you wear them out O_o"
I mean the felt tips so I'm gonna buy metal tips from now on lol. Thank you for answering, few youtubers answer their followers
do you really need to clean after every use?
+Trey Herrera I only clean when I have no intention of using the pen for more than one week.
seems to me like its more a pain to use than anything. My mom gave me a set from the 60s that she never used but I think Ill pass.
Damn get a leveled desk please
I have ruined several pens by taking them apart. The needle easily gets bent and then won't go back. I wouldn't recommend it :-(
careful... you might be bending the nib. try holding the pen NOT at such a sharp angle. More like | than /
Yikes!!! Just looked on amazon.ca These pens are like $50 each.
Yikes replacement tip for the Isograph is $28 USD
It's probably better to get a new pen instead. At least you can use the spare parts from the old pen.
alguien habla mi idioma
sí
I love these for writing! Fineliners are my thing