2006-09-20
07:27
Pilot Frixion Erasable Rollerball
When our good friend Simon at Cult Pens told me he was sending over some new erasable pens from
But it looks like Pilot have cracked it with the Frixion. I’ll let Simon explain:
Those cunning chemists in Pilot’s ink labs have come up with a new twist on the perennial search for an effective erasable pen. The ink laid down by the Frixion rollerball disappears under friction! The end of the pen has a hard plastic eraser, which when rubbed over the writing causes the colour to disappear from the ink. You can then write over it again with the same pen.
How does it work? Metamocolor technology! ‘Metamocolor’ is a word entirely made up by Pilot marketing people, but basically it’s a type of thermo-reactive ink. The heat generated by the friction causes the ink to become translucent (at 65°C fact-hounds!). Stick it in the freezer (-20°C) and your scribblings will re-appear – albeit slightly faded. Ideal for secret messages and a lot easier than that old lemon juice and candle flames malarkey.
The ink in the Frixion is as good as the ink used in the G-2 or any of the classic Pilot pens. And it works! Rub the eraser over the top of the ink, and it indeed vanishes! I’ve been using these a lot at work, and it’s rendered the tippex bottle near enough useless (I have no shame in admitting that occasionally I make mistakes). And it is a really nice pen, too – a decent plastic rollerball that is nicely balanced when posted. Good stuff.
- Pilot Frixion Erasable Rollerball at Cult Pens.
For those of us out there with a few gray hairs….
The first erasable pen that I came across was a Papermate erasable ballpoint around 27 years ago!
There have been a few of them, but most have been pretty bad. The Frixion is the first we’ve tried that’s actually a nice pen to write with.
(And yes, I’ve got enough gray to remember Dr Who the last time around. Tom Baker was my favourite. Speaking of which – have you heard these commercial outtakes? (MP3 file, 1.6Mb))
From the article…
The Frixion is erased by heat, it’s just usually generated by friction, by rubbing with the tip. 65 degrees is pretty warm, though – I don’t think we’d manage that temperature in a car here in the UK.
Anyway, it’s not lost – just stick your book in the freezer, and the writing will come back – it’s a reversible process.
DO NOT BUY THIS PEN. I USED FOR MY MOLECULAR BIOLOGY CLASS- TO DRAW COLOR CODED MECHANISMS AND ERASE THEM IF NEEDED.. IT WORED GREAT UNTIL….I LEFT MY NOTEBOOK IN THE CAR AFTER CLASS AND BY THE NEXT MORNING, THE NOTES WE GONE. YES GONE!!!!!!! I GUESS THE HEAT REACTS WITH THE PEN’ INK AND DISSOLVES IT SOMEHOW… UGH!!! THIS HAD TO HAPPEN 1 WEEK BEFORE FINALS OF COURSE… DO NOT USE THIS PEN FOR NOTES OR CALCULATIONS YOU’LL NEED IN THE FUTURE!!!
Pilot rollerpen erasable but writing disappears after a time – anyone know why?
It should only disappear if the ink gets hot enough – it’s the heat that makes it vanish, not the friction itself. Stick the paper in the freezer for a while, though, and it should come back.
Ink runs out very quickly in these pens
… and they say Algebra has no practical use …