Is there a mechanical pencil that uses lead smaller than .3mm, and if so where can I get it?

Question

My girlfriend claims she used to have one that was .1 or .05 but that seems unlikely... anyone know anything about it?

Answer 1

Of course there is. Try a Pentel PS 535. It uses 0.5mm lead. They also have other sizes such as 0.07mm.

Answer 2

I was searching this myself purely out of curiosity, and haven't found anything. Considering it's been 6 years since this question was asked, I'm willing to bet the answer then was definitely a no, and probably still is. As hard as you would have to press to produce a dark line, the lead just wouldn't hold up. Realistically, there isn't much use, and therefore not much demand, for that fine of a graphite tool.

You could make a single bristle brush and use water soluble graphite to make "ink," once dried it should erase just the same as a normal pencil line, and that fine of a line would dry really quick. Just a thought.

They do make micron pens smaller than .3 though. Sakura has a six pen set that runs from .2 to .5 mm. To my knowledge Sakura doesn't manufacture a .1 mm pen, but other companies do. Word of warning however, the nibs don't last long on the .2 mm pens, even when being careful, and I would imagine a .1 would hold up even less so; put simply, the nibs run out before the ink does.

Answer 3

One blog specializing in such things doesn't list anything finer than .3 mm. Another site specializing in drafting supplies says much the same.

Answer 4

This site shows 0.2mm in the pricing although it calls it 2mm in the head line
http://www.artistsupplies.com/Drafting%20Supplies/Fineline_Leads.htm
But this site for the pencils shows 2mm and 0.3mm only
http://www.cultpens.com/acatalog/Staedtler_Mars_Micro.html
And searching with extra fine or ultra fine doesn't get smaller than 0.3mm