WACOM Graphire 2 Graphics Tablet
Why am I writing about this here?
Having bought a WACOM Graphire 2 graphics tablet some years ago, I know there are others who enjoy using this product and may have faced the same difficulties I did. I hope the information contained here (which I could not find anywhere else) will be of help.This is an excellent product, however it has a major fault..it breaks very quickly.
The pen/stylus fell only once and immediately broke. The mouse pointer behaves erratically, the led fails to to turn green (active) and it is now unusable. WACOM support where unable to help and although I found many comments by people sharing similar problems, in different Internet forums, I still found no satisfactory solution. I ended up paying for an expensive replacement pen.
With the new pen on its way, I decided there is nothing to be lost in tampering with my faulty existing one. Below is an image gallery, giving an idea of how the pen is constructed and how all the different parts fit in. There is also an animation of the broken solenoid, which gave rise to the problems with my Graphire pen. A little super glue and it now works as good as new.
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I must regretfully comment here on the bad customer service I got from Wacom. Having order the new tablet I received an email from Mr Schwerdtel, Wacom Online-Shop Manager saying that my order cannot be processed as Wacom does not deliver to Malta due to the high shipping costs. According to Wacom this makes business with Malta unprofitable. To sum up, after having wasted time and effort making my way through their online shop ordering proccess, my order was succintly cancelled by Wacom with a terse email. Unless Wacom starts delivering proper service to Malta, this page will stay here as a warning to those who ever come across it. Arrogance is not a good marketing strategy. |
Picture Gallery
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| The pen can be opended by pulling it apart at the middle. Do it carefully, without rotating either part though, since the case could crack. The circuitry of the Graphire 2 pen has two magnetic coils at both ends (nib and eraser) which pickup the weak magnetic forces generated by the tablet. The solenoid behind the nib was broken in two. | |
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There is little else to break with this solid state component but unfortunately these things do break too easily. The solenoid core generates a magnetic multiple times that of the coil around it, in order to produce DC current and power the cuircuits. In my case, careful use of superglue solved the problem. Using super glue probably reduces this conductivity and therefore electro magnetic efficiency. You may find that you need to modify the tablet sensitivity settings from the control panel. |
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Until WACOM tablets come with 5 replacement pens in the box, any help on fixing them is bound to be useful. If you have relevant information you wish to add here, please email me. There are new better priced products available in the market. Given Wacom's overall service and design issues, it is time graphic designers and budding artists start considering the alternatives. |
