Saturday, March 22, 2014

Frixion Pen Hack....

I love my planner and as such I love writing in my planner and using various colored pens.  What I don't like is using white out in my planner so when I discovered the Frixion line of pens I was elated!  My first Frixion pens were the ones with the removable caps - I got a set that included Black, Red and Blue.  My next set was the Frixion clicker pens and came with 8 various colors.  Both sets are the .07 - so they do not have a "fine" writing tip, which is good for me!

I love both styles, but they both had some distinct disadvantages.  The clicker set includes a comfort grip which makes it extremely difficult and sometimes impossible to fit them into some of the pen loops in various planners.  The also seem a bit more "scratchy" when writing when compared to the removable capped pens.  I love how easily the "capped" pens write and they have a smooth barrel so they fit into almost any pen holder (except maybe a few of the more narrow Filofax pen holders).  HOWEVER, what I did not like is that once you open the pen and put the cover back on the tip, you cover up the eraser.  What is the point of having an erasable pen if the eraser is covered up.  I know you can buy separate erasers, but I am spoiled and want it all!

Which brings me to my current DIY hack.....if only I could take the eraser out of the main part of the pen somehow and move it to the cap all would be perfect in my world.  Well, a short while latter and a little persistence led me to do just that.

STEP 1:  Assemble the tools you will need (Frixion capped pen, super glue, scissors and a pair of needle nose pliers with the wire cutting part).

STEP 2:  Carefully pull the eraser part out of the top of the pen using the needle nose pliers.  Make sure you don't use so much force that you pull the eraser in half.

STEP 3:  If you look closely at the cap of the pen you will see that the very top piece will remove.  If you look inside the cap it has a little White piece that the pen point nestles in when closed.  Don't do anything with this piece.  Go to the end of the cap and run your finger nail between where you can see the line.  Then using the cutting edge of the needle nose pliers, position the pliers at the line you see and squeeze with enough pressure to grasp hold of the end, but not enough pressure to cut though.  Then pull - you will need to exert some force when pulling.  Make sure you have a firm grip on the end so that you don't send it flying across your office.  Not that I am admitting to doing that - ahem......

STEP 4:  Once you have both the eraser and end cap removed you will see that the end cap is a little bit shorter than the eraser.  Since the eraser will be going where the end cap was, you will need to cut the eraser (with scissors) to the same approximate length of the end.
STEP 5:  Insert the eraser into the cap of the pen pushing firmly.  It will fit and will not need to be super glued.

STEP 6: The end cap will need to be inserted into the end of the pen (probably not strictly necessary, but it will give it a more finished look).  The cap is slightly smaller, width wise so to get it to stay you will need to run a very small amount of super glue along the edge of the pen.  Insert the end cap and hold until glue dries.

That's it, you now have a Frixion Pen with a smooth barrel that will fit into most pen loops and you also have use of the eraser whether the pen is open or closed.

Notice that the eraser is longer than the end cap.  The eraser will need to be
cut to the same approximate length as the end cap.
Black, Red & Blue Frixion Pens all retrofitted with new eraser position!
These are the tools I used.  It took me less than 15 minutes to do all 3 pens.


Saturday, March 1, 2014

Franklin Covey Addicts - New Facebook Group!


