Nimrodd's Blog

Pentel Sliding Sleeve Pencils

Posted on October 30, 2017October 29, 2017 by nimroddfw

The two series PS315 & PS523 make up the Sliding Sleeve series of pencils in the Pentel P200 Series of pencils. There are a couple of other pencils with Sliding Sleeves, but they fall into the Film series that will be the focus of my next post.

There are three different sizes of Sliding Sleeve tips that have been used in the P200 Series of pencils. All of these have lead guides that slide in showing a length of 3mm out to a length of 5mm.

0.3mm Sliding Sleeve Tip – This tip was only used on the PS523 Sliding Sleeve pencil.

0.5mm Sliding Sleeve Tip – This tip is used on the PS315 and was used on the PF335 for Film pencil.

0.7mm Sliding Sleeve Tip – This tip was only used on the PF337 for Film pencil.

PS315N Gray – Generation 3

I have only seen this pencil a couple of times, and managed to get hold of one of them back in November 2014.

I classify this pencil as a generation 3, since it uses the m/m style of print, and it includes the molded 0.5m/m on the bottom. It also uses the early style of print for some of the lower production pencils, where they did not print Pentel, but instead included a “•” in the printed text, in this case 0.5m/m • PS 315. As far as I can tell, it originally was released in the mid-70’s.

The biggest distinction for this pencil, as opposed to the later generations of it, is that it is Gray plastic instead of the later Blue plastic.

PS315C Blue – Generation 4 (early)

After seeing this pencil here and there, I finally got one in September 2016.

This pencil falls into the Generation 4, due to the continued use of the m/m print style and no longer a molded size on the bottom. It was released before the next pencil (also a Generation 4) because it still used the style of print from the Generation 3 pencil, with the “•” in the print. I believe it was originally released in the late 70’s.

With this release, they changed to a Blue plastic which is darker than the P207C plastic, but not as dark as the later P217C.

PS315C Blue – Generation 4 (late)

I got this pencil in December 2014.

This pencil is a later version of the Generation 4, still using the m/m print style. The biggest change is they went to the standard style of text for the other pencils with the “0.5m/m Pentel PS315”. I suspect it was changed within a year of the previous pencil being released in the late 1970’s.

PS315C Blue – Generation 5

I bought this pencil in September 2016 at the same time I purchased the Generation 4 (early) pencil above.

Released around 1983 to 1984, this was the style that represents Generation 5. This represented a relatively massive redesign of the pencils (see previous post). The most obvious of these is where Pentel dropped the / in the mm.

PS315C Blue – Generation 6

This was the first PS315 I purchased back in 2012, when I first started collecting the P200 Series of pencils.

As far as I have been able to surmise, this was first released in the early 90’s. They made a slight change to the plastic and it is slightly darker. It is hard to tell in the individual photos, but if you look at the picture with all of them at the top of the post, you can see a slight difference. The other change is that the mark in the cutout, now has a letter before the numbers.

PS523D Light Green – Generation 4 (early)

I got this pencil about 1 year ago in November 2016.

It appears to have been released about the same time as the PS315C Generation 4 (early) above, since it has the same print style.

PS523D Light Green – Generation 4 (late)

This was the first PS523 I got back in 2012 at the start of my collecting.

As with the PS315 above, it represents the changeover to the standardized print style with the Pentel in the middle of the print, replacing the “•”.

PS523D Light Green – Generation 4.5

I picked this up in September 2016, thinking it was a Generation 5 pencil. But I later classified this as a Generation 4.5, since it has the outer body of a Generation 5, but the inner components of a Generation 4 (see previous post).

As far as I know, it was released in the early 80’s, and represents the last version of the PS523 that was released. I have never found a true Generation 5 or 6, so I suspect it was phased out of production in the mid to late 80’s.

P200 Family, Pentel

Retail Packages in the USA, part 2

Posted on October 15, 2017 by nimroddfw

In my last post, I wrote about the P205 and P209 retail packages, as well as the 2-pack of P207C Blue pencils. This blog will be about the 5 series of P207 retail packages that are available here in the United States.

These 5 series of packages all use some of these 8 pencils in their packaging: P207M-KX (Light Green Metallic), P207M-K1X (Mint Green Metallic), P207MN (Metallic Graphite; sometimes called Anthracite), P207M-PX (Pink Metallic), P207M-P1X (Rose Pink Metallic), P207M-SX (Sky Blue Metallic), P207M-YX (Rose Gold Metallic) and P207Z (Silver).

P207 3-Packs

P207MBP3M (26194) and P207MBP3M1 (26195)

The package on the left was the first P207 retail pack I purchased in January 2016. I could not find a local source for this, so I had to purchase it online on eBay. The other package, I found online and purchased in June 2016.

The package on the left (P207MPB3M) contains a P207Z (Silver), P207M-YX (Rose Gold Metallic), and P207MN (Metallic Graphite) and the package on the right (P207MPB3M1) contains a P207M-P1X (Rose Pink Metallic), P207M-SX (Sky Blue Metallic), and P207M-KX (Light Green Metallic).

P207 2-Packs

P207MBP2 (26225)

I found these pencils at Office Depot in September 2016 (for the left package) and March 2017 for the other two. The left package contains a P207MN (Metallic Graphite) and a P207Z (Silver). The middle package contains a P207M-SX (Sky Blue Metallic), and a P207M-KX (Light Green Metallic) and the right package contains P207M-YX (Rose Gold Metallic) and a P207M-P1X (Rose Pink Metallic).

P207 Single Pencil, Lead & Eraser Packs

P207MLEBP (26190)

I first encountered these pencils online and purchased them, but later found out that they are available locally at Walmart stores. Each package contains one P207 metallic pencil, a pack of 12 0.7mm HB lead and 2 Z2-1N short white erasers. This was my first encounter with the short erasers, as I had not seen that Pentel had changed from a 3-pack of the erasers that are shipped with the pencils to a 4-pack of these short erasers.

The four packages contain the following pencils from left to right: P207MN (Metallic Graphite), P207M-SX (Sky Blue Metallic), P207M-YX (Rose Gold Metallic), and P207Z (Silver).

P207 Single Pencil Packs

P207MBPM (26155)

I was not able to find these pencils in any local stores, so I purchased them off eBay. They each contain one P207 metallic pencil, colors from left to right: P207Z (Silver), P207M-YX (Rose Gold Metallic), P207M-SX (Sky Blue Metallic), P207MN (Metallic Graphite), P207M-P1X (Rose Pink Metallic), and P207M-KX (Light Green Metallic).

P207 Single Pencil & Lead Pack

P207MLBPT (25919)

I found these pencils at Target in September 2016, and discovered that there were 2 new colors included in this series (P207M-PX & P207M-K1X). Each of these packages contains one P207 metallic pencil and a 12-pack of 0.7mm HB lead.

The colors from left to right are P207M-PX (Pink Metallic), P207M-KX (Light Green Metallic), P207M-SX (Sky Blue Metallic), P207M-K1X (Mint Green Metallic), P207M-YX (Rose Gold Metallic) and P207M-P1X (Rose Pink Metallic).

P207MLBPT (25919, 26248, 26249 & 26250, 26251, 26252)

An odd thing happened in 2017; Pentel redesigned the package for the P207MLBPT and re-released it. They also changed the barcode and the number that appears on the front top left of the package. I found these in March of 2017, and they contain the same 6 pencils as the first set.

P200 Family, Pentel

Retail Packages in the USA, part 1

Posted on September 11, 2017September 10, 2017 by nimroddfw

As part of my collection, I also collect the retail packages, at least from the United States, and a few others. In this post, I will talk about the P205 and P209 packages, as well as one P207. In the next post, I will cover the large quantity of P207 packages.

Standard Retail Packages

The above packages are the current (as of 2017) style of packaging for the P205A (P205BP2F-K6), P207C (P207BP2F-K6) & P209G (P209BP2F-K6) pencils. At this time you can go to just about any store that sells Office Supplies and find one of these packages.

P205 Retail Packages

In 2015, this package (P205BP2F) was released for the 50th anniversary of Pentel America. This package has the same barcode as the above 2-pack of P205A pencils and came with 2 of those, plus the “FREE Limited Edition Pencil”, a gold colored P205 with black text. Since it was different from all other P205 pencils, I decided to designate it (at least for my purposes) the P205M-X50 (just tacking on the 50 to mark it as different from the P205M-X gold pencil with white text.

Unfortunately, I only managed to get hold of a couple of these pencils, and they are no longer available in stores.

Released in 2016, these two packages (P205MBP3M and P205MBP3M1) are still available, at least on eBay. I have never found them in stores, at least not in my area of the US.

The left package contains two P205MNX Metallic Graphite (or sometimes called Antracite) with white text, plus a P205MZX Silver with black text. The nice thing about these packaged pencils, is that they are also individually labeled with the model number and a barcode, which makes positive identification easy.

The right package contains one each of the P205MBX Red, P205MCX Blue and P205MDX Green pencils, all with white text. Again, each of these pencils is individually labeled. What is interesting, is that each of these three pencils were first released in 2012, with a slightly different model number (P205M-BX, P205M-CX and P205M-DX) and different barcodes. Everything else appears to be exactly the same.

P209 Retail Packages

In the last two weeks, I have found out about a new line of P209 retail packages. From what I can determine, there are 4 different pencils in the same packaging (P209MBPM). The above is one of the images I found on eBay. I know earlier this year, Pentel America released 4 new P209 Metallic pencils (P209M-KX, P209M-NX, P209M-PX & P209M-ZX), but I am not sure if these are the same pencils, just now packaged. I hope to get some of these in the near future to find out.

The next blog post will go into the multitudes of P207 retail packaging.

P200, P200 Family

P209 Metallics

Posted on August 28, 2017August 21, 2017 by nimroddfw

Back in January or February of 2017, I was doing research on Pentel pencils and came across a website (I have since lost the website) that was a catalog listing of office supplies available (looked to be a wholesale distributor site). They had 4 P209 pencils I had never heard of.

In April 2017, I was referred to a website (www.ipenstore.com) where I purchased several of these pencils.

These are the Metallic P209s that have been released in the United States.

P209M-KX Metallic Blue Green

P209M-NX Metallic Graphite

P209M-PX Metallic Pink

P209M-ZX

One thing I wish that Pentel would do, is to standardize the color codes for their pencils, as it would make cataloging simpler. For example, the Metallic Graphite is different for the 3 different sizes that have been released. They are P205MNX, P207MN and now P209M-NX. The Silver (with Black text) are P205-MZX, P207Z and P209M-ZX.

P200, P200 Family

P209G Pencils

Posted on August 14, 2017July 23, 2017 by nimroddfw

This post is about the standard 0.9mm yellow pencil and the changes it has gone through since 1970 or 1971 when it was released.

Generation 1b (Short Tip)

This is a very recent acquisition from March 2017 and in most respects is a standard Generation 1b pencil (see next pencil). The major difference is the short 2mm guide pipe on the tip, as opposed to the standard 4mm guide pipe. Up until this point, I believed that the only tip available for the 0.9mm pencils was the standard 4mm tip.

Generation 1b

This is the standard Generation 1b that I have seen. It has does not have the P205 molded into the cutout (a characteristic of Generations 1 & 1a of other models). It also has the 0.9 m/m printed on the bottom, with no other printing on the pencil. I picked this one up in September of 2016.

Generation 4

This is was the first older P209 pencil I picked up back in 2012. I got it because of the obvious difference in the text (m/m vs. mm in the size). This was before I started identifying the different generations of pencils.

Generation 4.5

I got this pencil in a batch of pencils I purchased for other reasons in May 2017. When I was buying the batch, I did not know this was anything other than a Generation 5 or 6, due to the text on the side. At that time, I did not know that the P209 had any of this generation. When cataloging pencils into my database, I take them apart and identify all of the components of the pencil. When I opened this one up, I was surprised to see the inner body with a brass spring cap. This has happened a few times when I purchase batches of pencils, and it is always enjoyable to find something you don’t have like this.

Generation 5

I picked this pencil up in September 2016. When trying to get specific generations of pencils, it is sometimes hard to tell online from the pictures, as they either are not a high enough resolution to see the mark in the cutout, or to see the bottom of the pencils in other cases.

Generation 6

This was the first P209 pencil I got when I started collecting mechanical pencils back in 2009. At this point, I do not know where I got it from, only the date, as I did not keep that information at that time, and I cannot find any e-mails concerning this purchase.

An interesting thing about this pencil (as well as my first Generation 6 P203E, P205A & P207C) I just noticed in the past couple of weeks, is that it is of French registration. The barcode for this pencil is 3474372209007, which is an IAN-13 barcode that is registered to EUROPENTEL SAS in France. As I say, I don’t know where I got this from, it is just interesting that it ended up here in the US, instead of the US barcoded pencils.

Also, as you can see, I skipped over Generations 2 & 3, as those are ones I am still looking for. I also do not have Generation 1a, but I don’t know for sure if this model exists.

P200, P200 Family

P207 Metallics

Posted on July 31, 2017August 7, 2018 by nimroddfw

This post will be about the eight P207 Metallics that were released in the United States in late 2015 and 2016. All of these pencils have been released as various retail packages, containing 1, 2 or 3 pencils. The packages with 1 pencil have also been released as pencil only; pencil and 12-pack of lead; and pencil, 12-pack of lead and 2 of the Z2-1N short erasers.

I first encountered these online and my first purchase of these was on January 20, 2016 as a 3-pack containing the P207Z, P207M-YX and P207MN. Since it takes a while to make it into the distribution pipeline, I assume that this package was officially released in late 2015. The next colors I purchased (from the same online dealer) were in June 2016 with the purchase of another 3-pack of the P207M-P1X, P207M-SX and P207M-KX. The last two colors I purchased from the US retailer, Target in September of 2016.

I am not sure if Pentel USA released all of the colors at once, but it took a while to get through the distribution channels, or if the rolled out the colors over time.

P207M-KX Light Green Metallic

P207M-K1X Mint Green Metallic

P207M-PX Pink Metallic

P207M-P1X Rose Pink Metallic

P207M-SX Sky Blue Metallic

P207M-YX Rose Gold Metallic

P207MN Metallic Graphite

I have also seen this pencil color called “Anthracite”.

P207Z – Silver

One thing I liked about the P205 Metallics is that all but one of them came with tags on them that told the color code and the UPC barcode, even when in a retail package.

None of the retail packages of the P207 Metallics have barcodes on the pencils themselves. I did find a source for the last two (P207MN & P207Z) as single pencils with color codes and barcodes. This source corrected my designation of the P207Z, which I originally had designated as P207M-Z.

P200 Family, Pentel

P207C Pencils

Posted on July 17, 2017December 8, 2019 by nimroddfw

Here I will write about the Pentel P207C Blue 0.7mm pencil. This pencil was one of the key pencils in identifying the different generations of pencils in my collection.

Generation 1

Prior to September 2018, when I acquired this pencil, I had assumed that the oldest version of the P207C was the Generation 1A, since “P205” was molded into the cutout, and they stamped the bottom with the size “0.7 m/m”. My assumption was that they did that so that there would be no confusion about what size this really was.

Apparently, I was wrong, and they did release the P207C before they started stamping the size on the bottom. This is a very clean pencil that does not look like it ever had anything stamped on the bottom, so I have designated it as a Generation 1. Plus, it has the initial style clip with the Pentel down the front of the clip and the wrap around sides blank. I have only seen this on Generation 1 pencils.

Generation 1A

This was the first pencil I received with the size printed on the bottom. It is also, the only Generation 1A pencil that I own, and I have had it since 2012.

When Pentel first released the P205A Black pencil in 1970, they molded the model number (P205) into the cutout. Apparently when they decided to release the P207 pencil, they did not get the cutout changed out and used the same molds with the blue plastic. Well, this caused a minor problem, since the last digit of the model is the size of the lead, and since the “P205” was still molded in, they had to do something to identify this as a 0.7mm pencil, so they printed the size on the bottom of the pencil, opposite the cutout.

Another difference on this pencil from the modern versions, is that the tip has a 2mm guide pipe, instead of the modern 4mm pipe.

In pencils of Generation 1 to 4, the cap stop (what keeps the cap from pushing the eraser into the Inner Body) was inside the cap, where in Generations 5 and later, they molded the stop as a lip on the Inner Body. Most of these pencils had a metal piece in the cap (actually the same piece as around the eraser), but this early pencil had a plastic piece inserted as the cap stop.

Generation 1B

At some point they got the cutout changed, removing the “P205”. They still needed some way to identify the size of the pencil, so they left the size printed on the bottom.

But, as you can see in the picture above, this solution had a problem, in that the printed size would start to get worn off.

This pencil still has the 2mm guide pipe, but the cap stop is now the metal insert.

The reason I chose to make Generations 1A & 1B as sub-category of Generation 1, is that the changes were so minor (adding printed size), and changing a minor plate (removing the P205) in the mold, but not substantially changing it, like they do below.

Generation 2 – Short Tip

In August 2017, again, 2 weeks after the blog, I got this pencil, which confirmed that Pentel did carry the Short Tip over to the Generation 2 pencils for the P207C, just like they did for the P205A pencils.

Generation 2

The solution to the printed size getting worn off, would be to mold the size into the body of the pencil. This necessitated every pencil to now have it’s own mold, where before they could use the same molds.

They also switched to the now standard 4mm guide pipe for the tip.

This pencil and the Generation 1B above were acquired in February 2017 off eBay.

Generation 3

I purchased this pencil along with the Generation 1A pencil from Andrey’s Pencils on eBay back in 2012.

At this point, Pentel decided to get the model number back on the pencil, so they started printing the size, Pentel and the model on the side next to the clip. I suspect that they also changed the ink they used, as I don’t find as many with really worn text (percentage wise) as I did for Generations 1A & 1B. Another factor may be the protection of the clip. Being that close to the clip’s band, it holds it off the body a little bit better.

Generation 5

Again, picked up off eBay, I got this in October 2016.

It is the first of the “modern” P200 generations, where they made changes to streamline costs and assembly time.

Generation 6

I don’t remember where I got this pencil, but according to my records it was back in 2009, when I was still collecting mechanical pencils in general, before focusing on the Pentel Sharp.

It is the standard P207 that you can still buy in the stores today, with the letter in the Mark in the Cutout, and shipping with the white Z2-1 eraser.

And Now For Something A Little Different

I purchased this pencil on eBay in 2016. I cannot remember specifically why I purchased it, but when I got it, everything about it was wrong.

First off, at a glance, it looks like a Generation 5 or 6 pencil from the text printed (does not have the “/” in the mm) on the side, but, it has the molded size on the bottom, which ended with Generation 3, so I thought that someone had taken an old pencil and printed the new style text, but on closer inspection, even this fell apart.

When I took the pencil apart, I saw that the Inner Body does not have the Brass spring rest, and is actually a Generation 5 Inner Body, with the molded cap stop.

On closer inspection of the Outer Body, beyond just the molded size, I saw that it had the letter A in the Mark (in the cutout), which was characteristic of the Generations 2 & 3 (and possibly 4, but I don’t have one to confirm this) P207s. BUT, on the inside of the Outer Body, I found that it has the 12 point retainer of Generations 5 & 6.

So, what it looks like is someone got hold of a Generation 2 or 3 outer mold for the body and an Generation 5 or 6 inner mold for the body and used them to make their own copy of the P207 and printed the modern text on it, then inserted the modern inner mechanism.

I keep this pencil in my collection, just as a reminder that not everything is always as it is represented.

EDITS 2019-12-08 – Added the Generation 1 and Generation 2 – Short Tip pencils to this blog.

P200 Family, Pentel

P203E Pencils

Posted on July 4, 2017 by nimroddfw

This post will cover the Pentel P203E Brown 0.3mm pencils. At this moment, I only own 3 distinct versions of this pencil, but I will cover some of others.

Generation 4

This is the earliest version of the P203 that I have been able to acquire for my collection. This pencil has the m/m in the printed text on the side, but does not have anything molded into the bottom (like a Generation 3 would). The cap still has the metal insert that keeps it from pushing the eraser down into the Inner Body.

Generation 4.5

When I was trying to buy these pencils online, I assumed they were (what I currently call) Generation 5 because of the text on the outer body. It wasn’t until I received them and found that the inner mechanisms all belong to a 4th Generation pencil.

When I was first categorizing my pencils, I called this “Generation 5” (and later generations were 1 step higher) because I had about 11 out of about 175 pencils, so I thought this was a legitimate full Generation. But I was getting frustrated, because I could not find a “Generation 5” P205A Black pencil. It wasn’t until at one point, I looked at what pencils comprised this generation and found that (at that time) only 0.3mm and 0.7mm made up this generation, and for the 0.7mm, it was only the smaller run of pencils (not P207s).

I then decided that this must be an intermediary generation to use up existing supplies. So I changed “Generations 6 and 7” to the current Generations 5 and 6, and since this is a hybrid of Generations 4 and 5, I decided to call it Generation 4.5.

Generation 6

I picked this pencil up with the label (model # & barcode) on it as my example of a Generation 6 P203. It is hard to tell in the individual pictures, but if you look at the image at the top of this post, you can see that this is a slightly darker shade of plastic that makes up the body of this pencil.

Other Generations

I don’t know when the P203E was first introduced, but I suspect it was at least as far back as Generation 2. On the cover of the German 1975 Catalog (at least that is where I believe this is from), it shows (bottom row, to the left) the 4 standard P200 pencils (at least I think that is Brown, Black, Blue and Yellow) without text on the side.

If this is the case and that is a P203E on the cover, then it was released in at least 1974 as a Generation 2 pencil. The other 4 P200 family of pencils appear to be Generation 3 with text printed on the side, so 1975 is where I assume that Generation 3 starts.

I also assume that there are Generation 5 P203s out there, but as of the date of this post, I have not found any. Each time I have tried to get one, it turns out to either be a Generation 4 (I currently have 4 of these), or a Generation 6 (as it is hard to tell in online pictures).

Hopefully in the future, I will have a more complete collection of this model of pencil and will have to update this post.

P200 Family, Pentel

P205 Metallics

Posted on June 19, 2017June 19, 2017 by nimroddfw

After the success of the P205 Marble series, Pentel started to release metallic colors for their most popular size, the P205. In 2012, Pentel released 12 or possibly 13 pencils.

One thing that made identification of these pencils easy is that with 1 exception, all of them came with labels on the bottom with their color codes and barcodes.

P205M-BX – Red Metallic

P205M-CX – Blue Metallic

P205M-DX – Green Metallic

P205M-KX – Light Green Metallic

P205M-K1X – Mint Green Metallic

P205M-PX – Pink Metallic

P205M-P1X – Rose Pink Metallic

P205M-SX – Sky Blue Metallic

P205M-VX – Violet Metallic

P205M-X – Gold Metallic

P205M-Z – Silver Metallic

P205-WX – White – Not a metallic, but it was released with the rest of the series, so I count it as such.

P205M-YX – Rose Gold Metallic – I am not for sure if this pencil came out with the rest of the 2012 metallics, but I found it and purchased it in 2014. I may have overlooked it in 2012, mistaking it for the P205M-X, since unless you see them side by side, it could be mistaken for Gold.

The above are the 12 or 13 that were released in 2012. There are three more pencils that I count as part of the metallic line as well as some that were re-released.

******************************************************************************

In 2015, Pentel America celebrated 50 years in business. As part of this celebration, instead of their standard 2-pack (P205BP2-K6), they released a 3-pack (P205BP2F) with 2 P205A with a bonus pencil. Both of these packages have the same 5 digit number on the front (04490), which corresponds to the UPC.

P205M-X50 – 50th Anniversary Gold – This is the only pencil in the P205 metallics that did not come with a label, so I made the above designation to keep track of this in my collection.

**********************************************************************************

In 2016, Pentel released two 3-packs of P205 pencils.These are the P205MBP3M (left) and the P205MBP3M1 (right). The one on the left included 2 new pencils.

P205MNX – Metallic Graphite – 2 of these are included in the 3-pack.

P205MZX – Silver

The 3-pack on the right contained 3 colors that were released back in 2012. But, they issued them with slightly different color codes (took out the “-“) and a new barcode.

P205M-BX (2012 – 884851008237) vs. P205MBX (2016 – 884851025739)P205M-CX (2012 – 884851008244) vs. P205MCX (2016 – 884851025746)P205M-DX (2012 – 884851008251) vs. P205MDX (2016 – 884851025753)

I am not sure why they reissued these with different codes and barcodes, but they also re-released at least one other that I know of.

P205M-VX (2012 – 884851008275) vs. P205MVX (2016 – 884851025760)

To my knowledge, these are all of the P205 metallic pencils that have been released, at least in the United States.

P200 Family, Pentel

Updated Pentel Countertop Lights

Posted on June 11, 2017 by nimroddfw

A few posts ago, I showed off the Pentel Countertop case with the lights I installed.

Now, I wasn’t really happy with this light setup for a couple of reasons. First, the top tray really looked great, but the second tray and the items on the bottom had a hard shadow across them, so they did not look that great. Second, the way I routed the wiring, interfered with the door at the back; it would close, but it was pushed out a bit.

So, I really wanted to get this re-wired with a better lighting arrangement, not just adding lights to the bottom of the trays, since that does not fix the second issue.

So, my wife was out of town this week, so I decided to do some lighting projects for the above display and the shelves where my collection is displayed, which I installed about a month ago, when my wife was on another trip.

I used the strip LED lights, as I have used in several other projects, and aluminum corner brackets that light at a 45 degree angle, for both the display and the shelves. Over 3 nights, I worked on the lighting and got it done the way I like now.

Here is the new lighting setup for my pencils (and other odds and ends):

This shows off the new shelves to the left, the Pentel display below the cabinets, and the packaged pencils mounted on the cabinet doors. The pieces of acrylic laying on the counter will normally be put over the pencils in the travel cases to keep the dust out, while making them available to view.

Here is a closer shot of the shelves and their new lights. I mounted the angle brackets at the front of the shelf above, so it lights the shelf below and the back of the area. Since the bottom shelf currently just has books under it, I have that light unplugged.

And here are the new lights for the Pentel Display. I took black corner brackets and mounted them running up the sides. This lights up the pencils much more evenly and also, gives the display a more framed look (it comes with black trim along the top and bottom). I had to drill a hole on the bottom front left to run the wire out, so it does not interfere with anything on the inside of the case. The white wire on the bottom left is for the IR receiver that works with the remote sitting there to turn on the lights on the shelves and the Display.

So, now, I am much happier with my collection on display. I will try to get back to posting about my collection in a couple of weeks.