One of the biggest joys of using a SuperNote tablet for note-taking is the ceramic nib (that never needs replacing) that comes with some of the pens sold by Ratta, the makers of the SuperNote. There are several pen options to choose from, but they all lack one key feature that the Lamy EMR pen offers: that sweet, sweet side button.

This post is a write-up/how-to create your own Lamy X CeramicNib pen. It’s a collection of several Reddit threads that describe the process, but I wanted to bundle them together. The original comments can be found here:

• Reddit: I made a Lamy al-star EMR pen with ceramic nib and working button
• Reddit: I made a Lamy al-star EMR pen with ceramic nib and working button > Comments

Materials

To get going with this you will need a few things:

• A Lamy EMR Pen
• The SuperNote refill or half-pen module (sidenote, availability varies)
• The Lamy replacment POM nib, you will need the Z107 PC/EL Pointier Nib AL-star EMR Stylus Tip with the rubber tip
• A set of 3 and 4 mm drill bits (or a single 3mm drill bit)
• Tweasers and maybe a set of pliers
• Some patience

Instructions

To get this things made we will:

1. Remove the ceramic nib from the supernote refill or half-pen module
2. Drill in the Lamy replacment nib
3. Remove the rubber core from the Lamy replacment nib
4. Insert the ceramic nib

Removing the ceramic nib

This was easier than I thought. Supernote has this video available for troubleshooting ghost writing. We can use the same instructions to remove the tip. Basically, gently grip the tip of the nib with some tweezers or with a small plier and pull it out.

Drilling and removing the rubber core

To remove the rubber core from the Lamy nib, I drilled in from both sides. Using the 3mm drill bit, I drilled in from the back and then from the front. When drilling in from the front, a small piece of rubber should start to come out. If not, then repeat the drill from the front a few times and try to pull it out a bit when removing the drill bit. Do be careful with this because the 3mm bit is very sensitive to breaking.

When you have enough of the rubber out to grab, you can move to removing the core. You can do this with some tweezers by gently pulling on the rubber core and pulling it out. Make sure to do small pulls and keep moving the tweezers up. Use patience when doing this because the rubber core can break when you pull too hard or too long.

I made this super boring, verry long, no music viedeo to show you how it’s done:

Putting it all together

The rest of the process is pretty simple. Insert the ceramic nib into your hollowed-out replacement nib and insert it into your Lamy pen. You should now have a fully functional Lamy x Supernote pen with a working side button.

Enjoy!