Thinkpads Forum

Just got a stylus from an eBay seller --- pleased, but....

- the side switch is _really_ stiff --- hopefully it'll loosen up a bit
- the pen tip is really soft --- softer than I prefer --- is that luck of the draw, or a Lenovo specification? (On Fujitsu styluses it was luck of the draw in my experience)
- there's no obvious way to disassemble the stylus --- anyone have any tips on that?

And the stylus confirmed another issue --- it won't fit in the pen silo, apparently there's an original stylus in there broken off --- any suggestions on how to get that out?

If your stylus has a rubberized or felt/suade black textured feel, has a red tip that moves about a little bit, a gray polished plastic "eraser" that moves slightly on a spring, and a plastic pen clip, I'm pretty certain you have a genuine stylus, the sort of stylus you should ALWAYS use with an X60/X61 or newer tablet.

Picture: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/d ... bb4f3d.jpg

If anything about your stylus does not meet this description (no eraser, different colored tip, plain plastic outside, etc.) you probably have purchased a knock-off stylus, which I highly recommend against using.

The genuine stylus feels pretty solid in my opinion, maybe a bit soft in that the tip has a tiny bit of give, but it's better for drawing. Hopefully you're not using a genuine stylus, and this super-soft tip is a knock-off, swaying your experience.

there's no obvious way to disassemble the stylus --- anyone have any tips on that?

I've never attempted to disassemble a stylus, so I can't tell you for sure what the deal is there. You may have to wait for another poster.

And the stylus confirmed another issue --- it won't fit in the pen silo, apparently there's an original stylus in there broken off --- any suggestions on how to get that out?

Don't go sticking apparatus, hooks, or other long equipment in there to try and get it out... you might ruin something. The only sure way to get it out(if there is something in there) is to take off the palmrest and look. You'll have to take a small screwdriver and carerfully unscrew all screws on the Tablet's underside(you don't need to unscrew the RAM door screws). After taking the screws out, remove the keyboard by lifting it(be careful of the plug) unplug the keyboard, then scoot the palmrest back, up, and out. You'll see the insides of your Tablet, and you should be able to easily see and remove any debris blotting up your pen silo.

This is of course, assuming you have an X60/X61/X200/X201 Tablet. Anything else, you're on your own.

Thanks! For once though, I'm lucky.

Used a dental pick and managed to get the old stylus out, and I'm typing this up on the machine after the extraction.

The new stylus looks just like the picture you posted, and the what's left of the broken half of the stylus matches, except the old one has a black tip, and the new one has a red tip.

My problem is the tip of the stylus has a bit more give than I prefer --- on the bright side, the broken half stylus has the stiffer feel which I prefer, so I just need to fix it up to be usable.

Also, it looks as if the machine was dropped on that corner, denting the case so as to make the opening for the pen silo just a bit smaller than it should be, making it difficult to insert the pen fully (I've only inserted it so far as I was confident of being able to pull it out), so the pen restoration will need to take that into account.

One other thing I was curious about --- the side switch only allows one click? The Fujitsu stylus I'm accustomed to using has a rocker side switch that affords two different button presses --- does Lenovo not do that?

How much play does it have? I have about three dark grey eraser head pens and one red eraser head unit.
I used the red one the most, I'm not sure if I've used all three gray ones but they shouldn't give you more than 1MM of play.

Keep the tips, though I didn't draw as hard as I did with my USB wacom tablet, it will erode over time, and last thing you'd want is a scratched screen from it.

Heh I got a pen that seemed like it would work for a PDA, it felt worse than a Nintendo DS pen too!
I think it only lets you use one button... I had some fun configuring the tablet buttons as keybinds for photoshop on that thing however.
Have fun with it.

It's a very small bit of give, less than 1mm, less than a Fujitsu stylus I mislike.

I'd probably live with it if the pen silo wasn't messed up. Instead I'll fix up the other pen.

I cannot speak of a full disassembly, but as with several Wacom stylii, you can take a super-small flathead screwdriver and pry off the side button. Underneath, you will find two screws, one for adjusting pressure sensitivity of each end of the stylus. This same thing works for the stylus to my Galaxy Note II.

All "Penabled" Wacom pens are compatible with the X60/61t. See a collection of such pens here: http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/microso ... e-pro.html

The pen tips are interchangeable, and Wacom offers several options (that are bundled with some pens):
Hard plastic, like the official Lenovo red tip ones
Felt tip, which are slightly softer and provides some resistance when gliding across the screen
Spring tip, which has a lot of give.

I personally use the felt tip on my X60t pen since it feels most like writing on paper.