I have a personal gripe when it comes to the ballpoint-tipped pens and refills; why do their tip wobble?
To be fair, it is a small issue, and right now there are pens, whose bodies are made to fit perfectly their default refills, like the recent Jetstream Lite Touch or Pilot Acroball, or Zebra Blen. But I wondered; is there a way to eliminate the tip wiggle without resorting to needing to wrap some tape around the said tip?
Alongside that question, I have another; are there any ballpoint-styled pens that have bodies made of nicer materials that aren’t plastic and rubber grips? These two questions came together side by side, and once I pondered, I came to remembered about machined pens from third-party manufacturers.
Firstly I want to disclose; why do I dislike having movement in the writing tip of a ballpoint pen? For starters, I believe the wiggle leads to a lot of wasted movement every time the tip is put down on the paper. I personally find any wiggle that can noticed when writing to be rather offensive, and can ruin the writing experience.
Secondly, I realized that I do like swapping out refills in a ballpoint if I find the default one to be unsatisfying, but do enjoy the pen body itself. Unfortunately, sometimes a refill that does work in pen body, might not be a good fit, in particular, the tip will wiggle like it is screaming to escape from its cage.
Thus began my search for these machined pens, and on a Reddit post on the r/machined pens subreddit, I discovered an interesting name; TIJ. A quick search led me to their official website, and I discovered they are a Taiwan-based manufacturer, and obviously, they make writing instruments; a Cap Pen, multiple different click pens and several fountain pens in different materials.
So I ordered both their TIJ Pen R Extreme, which is a cap pen, and their TIJ Pen Pro+, a click pen with a wooden grip section. Here I want to talk about the latter, which is also called ‘TIJ Roller Pen’. I figured I would like a machined cap pen, since it is not as popular as a click pen as far I could see in this niche market.
*Do note: TIJ’s official website seems roughly translated, and even some of their products have their pages written in Mandarin. So I just going with whatever that has been roughly translated.
A Slim Titanium Pen in Blue Fiber
The TIJ Pen R is this friction-fitted cap pen, and is a relatively slim pen that, according to measurements provided on their official website is 9.7mm in diameter, with no curves and just this simple straight cylinder form factor with flat ends. I got it in this color which they called ‘Blue Anodizing Tifiber’, which gives these criss-cross pattern that reminds me of those straw baskets. But the body is still very smooth with a mild texture, and I don’t really feel any bumps or catches.
This pen is almost entirely made out of titanium, with the exception of a plastic cap liner in the cap for sealing the refill tip. This should make the overall body of the pen very durable while being still light for daily use. It has a spring-loaded clip, with a top of the finial of the cap has the TIJ logo engraved on it, and also anodized to the same shaded of blue.
Zero-Gap technology
Ok, now I will be going into what makes this pen, and their other ballpoint-based pens, very interested. They called it ‘Zero-Gap Technology’, which is less some fancy tech and more of a structural design. They essentially made the hole in the nose cone where the refill tip comes out, smaller than the average ballpoints anyone can find on the market.
This essentially what helps eliminate tip wobble as the build structure of the nose cone basically clamps onto the shoulders of the refill’s tip, thus preventing it from wiggling. Another design feature to help keep the refill inside always pushed against the gap in the nose cone, is this relatively strong spring that has this metal piece interwoven with it, which I believe is called the ‘anchor’.
With this anchor and the spring, it will push against the back of the refill and thus keep it firmly in place with the tip against the gap. Besides that, I believe it also helps eliminate any rattling noise inside since the refill is not moving at all.
At the back of the pen is this screw-on end piece, which is the last piece in helping hold the refill in place. Once I have adjust the anchor to where it would fit the refill, and slide the spring with it in the pen body and around it, I just screw on the end piece, while pressing onto the spring. I had found out, and with the help of an instruction video their official website, that I should make sure there is substantial tension built when pressing the back of the spring as I try to screw the end piece in place, to really helps to push the refill against the gap and holding it in place.
Multiple Refill Compatibility
In addition to that aforementioned spring and anchor design, TIJ also designed the body of the pen to be able to extend via these body tubes, which can be ordered alongside the pen in a single or pair, or even none at all. Each of these tubes are 5mm in length and attached to the main body by screwing them on, to the front where the nose cone meets the body.
These features come together to help in making this pen compatible with many refill types, but not all of them. TIJ wrote that the R extreme is able to accommodate over 999+ refills. That sounds both awesome and difficult to believe. Of course, I can’t say it is true or not. Instead I will say that this pen can take on a Uni Signo refill, and any other refills from Japan brands that uses the same form factor/refill type. Besides that, I managed to use a Jetstream Parker G2 refill, a Jetstream SXR, and a Pilot Juice Up refill, which was the included refill when I first got the pen. I even managed to get in a Zebra Filare marker refill, although I think I would rather not use it because the felt-tip is being pushed against the gap.
This pen can even be turned into a mechanical pencil by inserting a mechanism from Schmidt, although it would need the help of an extra screw ring that is provided, although I haven’t tried it because I do enjoy the pen using a gel refill instead.
The only refill that doesn’t fit into the pen that I had tested out so far, is this Parker rollerball refill, which is a little too wide for the body of the pen.
TIJ does provide information on what kind of refill dimensions would generally fit in the R Extreme. Any refill with a diameter between 4mm and 6.3mm, and a length of 67mm and 105mm can fit the pen just right. If it is thinner, shorter or longer, than some modification will be needed, which the manufacturer gave recommendations on the pens’ own page. The only refill which will not fit if it is thicker than 6.3mm, which I guess the Parker rollerball refill is, I suppose.
A Unique Cap Seal
The cap is friction fitted, and features a cap liner which is made out of the only piece of plastic in this pen. I confirmed this with a message to TIJ, and they added that this plastic cap liner is apparently made in Germany, and by Schmidt? I honestly don’t know what make of this besides believing their words.
I will say though, I do somewhat enjoy the cap and uncapping. It comes off with a silent pop, and the capping action has a nice click side.
I call this unique only because I still don’t really understand it due to the rough translations. But I believe TIJ meant that the cap has three compartments which helps in sealing the tip from drying, while also helping in eliminating ‘negative pressure’, generated when uncapping. According to their words, this helps prevent inks from spraying out when uncapping too fast.
I cannot recall ever seeing ink splurging out from a ballpoint tip before. So I can’t see how useful getting rid of ‘negative pressure’ is, but I suppose to be able to seal the cap and prevent the ink from drying when not in use is very useful. Just so I don’t have to deal with a refill that cannot write anymore and I don’t have to go through the effort to force it to write again.
According to the official page, I can apparently switch ‘modes’, which are ‘Airtight mode’ and ‘Breathing mode’. Which can be achieved by keeping a pin or removing it in the top part of the cap respectively. I will be honest, I haven’t actually tried this yet, as I don’t really feel comfortable actually trying so far. Essentially, ‘Airtight mode’ is the default mode the pen came in when I received it, where it helps in sealing the cap more, thus preventing ink from drying. Meanwhile ‘Breathing mode’ when the pin is removed, is so that there will not be a tight seal, which apparently will help when taking off the cap, and also not build a vacuum seal. Because there is no ‘negative pressure’ inside the cap, there is no risk of ink splurging out when uncapping the pen in quick succession.
Again, I never seen ink splurge in a ballpoint refill before, so I am not sure how useful the whole ‘Breathing Mode’ thing actually is.
My struggle to fully understand aside, I will give credit. This really is one over-engineered pen, if the Zero-Gap tech and the spring with anchor, and the additional screw-on pen body tubes, aren’t obvious already.
Conclusion and some Cons
This is machined pen that I had been using for over a month now, and I really do enjoy it. I can see myself keeping it as a ballpoint option whenever I cannot use a fountain pen, or pencil, although I had realized I should be concerned if I lend it to others to be used. Because who knows if they will remember to return it or even lost it immediately.
No tip wobble for a solid and steady writing experience, multiple refills compatibility so that I can use whatever refills I currently enjoy and any potential new refills released that I would find myself liking as well, and all of this in an over-engineered pen made out of titanium alloy, which TIJ wrote promises that it will last a very long time, on top of the fact they state to offer lifetime warranty.
If I can try to at least find some cons, I can find a three; its modularity can be a double-edge sword. All these detachable parts which allows its compatibility and helps in its wiggle-free writing experience, if I were to lose one, then the pen can lose its ability and potential, and I would definitely need to ask TIJ for new parts.
The second one can be the more deciding factor; price. Despite all these features I mentioned in this titanium machined pen, The Pen R Extreme with two 5mm pen tubes, and in the Blue Tifiber finish would normally cost around 4780 New Taiwanese Dollars, or $150. For machined pen hobbyist and writing pen enthusiast, I doubt money would be a big deal. But for the average person looking for something to use, the price might be too steep even with all the advantages attached.
Luckily I bought it during a promo, with a 10% discount, with a 15% discount on the Pro+ click pen, and a Schmidt 0.7mm mechanical pencils mechanism, alongside a free gift in the form of a fountain pen.
Now the third con, and it is can be argued. In regards to the pen’s warranty, on its page, for some reason, it means the warranty is both lifetime and covers one year. Two contradictory statements, and I was confused, so I decided to just message TIJ directly. Thankfully they responded very quickly and after a little back and forth messaging, this is how their warranty works: The lifetime warranty only covers the main titanium body parts but only if it is just suddenly failure on its own, and not any damage due to accidents like dropping the pen. While the one year warranty period only deals with the mechanisms like the clip, and mechanism in their click pen.
Honestly, while it is something, it is also disappointing. Even if this pen or their other pens are built for durability, if it does eventually break due to daily, both at the table or outside, if the damage is because I dropped it, and it does actually break somewhere that it cannot work properly, then it is done. A pretty expensive ballpoint pen down the drain.
Or at least that is what I thought at first. At least if I lose a pen tube, I can purchase another one at the their website, but if it is the spring and anchor, or the nose cone, or the back piece, as TIJ stated, in a later message, they would offer a quota. I pressed further for more information on what they willing to cover and help, but likely to language difference, there are some confusion in their messages.
But eventually I was able to get a message from the other side, which state that the pen can be replaced and repaired whether under warranty or not, but I have to ship to them for said repairs, while also paying for both transport fees, and potentially any taxes.
I sent one last message, asking one more time about replacement parts that can be send to myself. They responded with this. So it just depends on if the parts ‘is not possible to be repaired’. So I suppose something like the click pen mechanism which will need to send back to TIJ to be repaired, while a part like the nose cone can be asked for replacement to be send to me.
I can only conclude this by saying that if anyone wants to ask for replacement or a repairs, best contact TIJ directly first, and discuss with them what to do, and hopefully they will offer the repair or the replacement parts, or just any solutions. Maybe the warranty is not a big con if TIJ is willing to offer these services, but I do wish they would clarify and expand a bit more on their websites.
Any other downsides can be more nitpicks. I initially find the pen body too thin for my hands, and I wished the pen could be a better poster, as doing so will make the pen a little back-weighted. However, overtime the first nitpick I believe gradually fades as I use the pen more and get use to its dimensions, while the second is rather unavoidable since I will need to add an extra 5mm pen tube to allow more refill compatibility, thus making the body longer.
But despite these issues, larger or minuscule, I still in the end, like the TIJ Pen R Extreme, and would definitely recommend it as a machined pen. No tip wobble and multiple refill compatibility, in a tough metal body are all I would like in a ballpoint-style pen.
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