2005-08-07
11:22
Rotring Rapidoliner
(Clicky Piccy to see in Flickr, with notes and any comments.)
What Is It?
The Rapidoliner was a victim of Rotring being taken over by Sanford. Shame, as it was a nice pen. I’d heard of them, but never used one, so when I read (thanks to Danny Gregory) that they were being phased out, I picked a couple up to try. They’re nice for reasonably careful drawing, but tend to skip a little if you try sketching or scribbling with them. Nice solid black mark, though, with very little fuss. Rotring still make the Isograph, which is the ‘real’ version of the Rapidoliner. It makes slightly better marks, but the cost is that you have to fill them with ink manually from a bottle. The Rapidoliner was a nice compromise.
Compare with lines from some other pens…
Refilling
The refills are almost the whole pen – from the nib, right through the middle, to the bit that sticks out of the end to say what thickness it is. The only parts that aren’t disposable are the cap and a plastic sleeve.
Sharon et al
Any success with your Rapidoliner surgery/transfusion? I’m about to follow you in this operation once I order the Rapido-eze. I have 4 dry Rapidoliners and hate to waste them or buy a new set @ $65. Please update if you can. Many thanks!
Where are you finding a set @ $65? I have searched the web and had one site that claimed to have them, but didn’t. ebay doesn’t have anything either.
One more question. If you loved the rapidoliner and had to replace it; would you go with the rotring isograph or the staedtler mars pen?
I also had used the Rapidoliner pens for drawing and have since changed to the Rapidograph which I like very much. However, I notice that the Ultradraw ink that comes with the Rapidograph 7 Pen set is more gray whereas the rapidoliner is more black. I have seen other inks out there as well but have yet to try them! Can anyone tell me what kind of ink was used in the Rapidoliner? I would like to find the same deep black ink to refill the Rapidographs. Thanks!
The info that came with the pens says it is India Ink.
I have Rapidoliner Rotring Refills – all sizes. However, I am concerned that they may be dryed up. Does anyone know a way of humidifing these pens so the ink will flow again? I also have a NEVER USED set, and am willing to sell it and the refills to an interested party, but I want to make sure the ink will flow before selling an item that won’t work. Any help/interest is appreciated. Thanks, Karen
These pens are a great alternative to the conventional rapidograph; they dry too quickly on me. And the ink refilling is a pain. The rapidoliner is also tough. I dropped one, I think the .25 or .35) on its tip, I bent it back into shape and it worked for the rest of its life. Also, I just found a site that has the set of 4 pens. I put my order in for that plus a couple of refills. Let’s see if they actually have it in stock. ( http://www.apluswhs.com/ )
Looks from the price that they know they’re sought-after pens.
Thanks for the information – I’m glad I found this page. After years of struggling with high-maintenance technical pens, I found the Rotring Rapidoliner pens in 1990 and have used them consistently ever since. Amazingly, I can pick up one of these pens after not having used it for over a year and it works perfectly. I’m down to my last few Rapidoliners and, like everyone else, I hate to see them discontinued.
does any one know a way of making Rotring black ink fluid, I have some bottles which have gone lumpy and was wondering if you could add a few drops of water or some sort of spirit such as meths or turpentine to make them usable again
That probably depends what the lumps are. If it’s just that the liquid has evaporated, water might do the job. If a lot of the liquid isn’t gone, though, a mold growth might be living in your ink. If that’s the case, you don’t want it in contact with your pens.
Does anybody know why my Rotring pens won’t work after attaching a new cartridge? It is definitely fitted on properly but the ink just will not flow to the nib! Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Ok,
I have a Rapidoliner (0.25) and, before finding your homepage, I was wondering about how the hell am I supposed te refill it. I tried with the ink bottle as a dumb but in vain …
So, I have to change the whole pen … Seriously, it is much like buying a new one.
Hi Nobu,
Yes, everything but the dark red tube is just a disposable refil. The bigger problem now is that they’ve ended production of the pens, to there’s no telling how long a supply of refils will be available. If you really like the Rapidoliner, I’d start either buying up all the refils you can get, or start testing alternatives.
A few people seem to like theStaedtler Mars Professional as an alternative, but we weren’t all that impressed, and it’s very similar in that you replace almost the entire pen each time.
TheIsograph s are very good, but can be a bit high maintenance. OK if you spend a lot of time using them, though, as they do just fill up with Rotring drawing ink.
Pat,
I just picked up a few of the pens at Hobby Lobby in Houston. They were discounted (40% ?)and back in the back with the other Clearance stuff.
Good Luck
kimsalls
Hi Pat,
I think eBay might be the best hope. Since Sanford killed them off, the refills started disappearing from shops years ago. You might hit lucky and find somewhere that still has them, but there might be people selling old stock from time to time on eBay.
I’ve been doing an extensive search for some refills for my pen…. CAN’T FIND THEM ANYWHERE. I’m looking specifically for the .25 tip. Any help would be appreciated. Please email me. I love this pen. (pat_teel@hotmail.com)
I have used both the Rapidoliner and the Staedtler Mars Professional Pens for drawing and drafting. There is no comparison to the rapidoliner. The rapidliner line quality, consistency, and ink is second to none. This pen is going to be missed.
Best Regards,
BTD
Does anyone know if the Staedtler-Mars refill cartridges can be used in the Rapidoliner pen housing? Any info would be appreciated, I have the Rapidoliner “sheath” housing but no rapidoliner cartridges, but I found a supply of refill cartridges for the Staedtler-Mars tech pen that works similiar to the rapidoliner pen. I’m not sure if I should buy them since they are 2 different comapnies.
Nope – I’ve got both here, and just tried – the Staedtler cartridges are too wide to fit in a Rapidoliner case.
They’re fairly different pens, I think, too. The Rapidoliner has a metal tip, and as I remember, draws a very predictable and consistent line. The Mars Professional is more like a felt tip, and gives a bit of line variation, depending on how you use it. Also, the Rotring ink was very black, whilst the Staedtler is a little on the grey side. They’re both good pens, but they give fairly different results.
Since they have killed off the rapidoliner, can you suggest a replacement item that works just as well?
I used the .18 rapidoliner for years to write unto baked polymer clay and was completely unaware they had been phased out until I wanted to replace my last refill about two years ago. I found sites that said they still had them and I would order 5 or 6 and then be told they were out of stock. I was determined to find a way to refill that pen and last night I took a pair of pliers to it, hoping to maybe break loose a joint between the red and brown plastic. I was surprised and delighted to find that the barrel unscrewed very similarly to a technical pen. Right now I am in the process of soaking loose all the dried up ink from the nib with Koh-i-noor Rapido-eze Pen Cleaner. I have determined that the ink goes all the way down the barrel so I’m going to totally empty that and try some Black Magic waterproof ink when the nib is clean.