Care & refills

The page you'll want six months in.

How to change the scroll, what to buy when something runs out, and how to keep a printed ribbon readable for years. Nothing on this page needs a tool.

Buy paper rolls Warranty & repairs

Changing the scroll

Out with the old ribbon, in with the new one.

The first time takes a minute. After that it takes ten seconds and you will do it without looking. Work over a table — a ribbon that lands on a kitchen floor rarely goes back in clean.

  1. 01

    Print the new ribbon first

    Print and cut before you open the pen, so the barrel is never sitting empty collecting dust. Cut the leading edge square — a diagonal cut catches under the carrier and folds.

    Cut square · leave 10 mm of blank paper at the front

  2. 02

    Unscrew the crown

    Hold the barrel in one hand and turn the crown anticlockwise until the spindle runs free, then lift it away. It should loosen under finger pressure alone. If it fights you, you are turning it the wrong way.

    Anticlockwise · finger pressure only · no pliers, ever

  3. 03

    Draw the old ribbon out

    Pull it out slowly, in the direction it already wants to travel. Never drag it backwards past the window — the print faces the glass, and pulling it the wrong way scuffs the words off a scroll you might want to keep.

    Old scrolls live well in a paper envelope, badly in a wallet

  4. 04

    Roll the new one the right way round

    Print facing outwards, so the words meet the window rather than the spindle. Roll it around the old spindle or a pencil, loosely — loose enough to see daylight down the middle. A tight coil will not unwind against the mechanism.

    Print out · blank edge first · a coil roughly 6 mm across

  5. 05

    Slide it in and catch it

    Feed the coil into the barrel blank edge first, until the leading edge sits under the carrier. Twist the crown forward twice to catch it. You will feel it take, and a line should appear at the window.

    Two forward turns · one line visible before you close it up

  6. 06

    Screw the crown home

    Hand tight, no more. The thread is aluminium and it was not made to be forced. If the crown will not seat, back it off and start again — something is crossed, and turning harder only strips it.

    Hand tight · thirty seconds, start to finish

Print the next one

When it goes wrong

Three ways the first scroll goes in badly.

Every one of these has happened to us. None of them breaks anything, and all three take ten seconds to put right once you know what you are looking at.

Rolled too tight. The coil binds against the barrel wall, the crown spins with no resistance and nothing moves. Take it out and loosen the roll until you can see light down the middle.

Rolled print inwards. The window shows paper and no words. The ribbon is fine — turn the coil over and roll it again with the print facing out.

Forced crown. If it will not seat, it is crossed. Back it off, line it up, start again. Aluminium threads strip quietly and only once.

If the pen has jammed and none of this describes it, stop pulling and write to us. A photograph usually saves the parcel a journey.

  • Too tight: the crown turns, the scroll does not
  • Print inwards: a blank window and a perfectly good ribbon
  • Forced crown: stripped thread, and that is a shell job
  • Old ribbon pulled backwards: the words scuff off on the window

Refills & spares

What runs out, and when.

Two things in the kit are consumables — the paper and the ink. Everything else is built to be repaired rather than replaced, and inside two years the repair is ours to pay for.

Part Replace it when Where to get it
Archival paper roll The roll runs thin, or the last metre prints grey and patchy Pack of 3 · $19
0.5 mm ink refill The line starts skipping — six to twelve months of daily use Any stationer
The scroll in the pen Whenever the words change, or the ribbon has been read soft Printed at home
USB-C charging cable Charging turns intermittent, or the plug feels loose in the socket Any phone cable
Printer head Never. A white line down the print means dust, not wear — clean it A cotton bud
Printer battery It will not hold a charge at all. Not user-replaceable, covered for two years Write to us
Mechanism, shell and window Not consumables. If one fails inside two years we repair it Free repair

Prices in USD. The refill is a standard 0.5 mm cartridge in black or blue, so any stationer will do — you do not have to buy ours. Paper rolls and the SneakPrint printer are in the shop and leave within 48 hours. Anything that fails inside two years is a warranty job rather than a purchase: read the detail on the warranty page before you order a spare.

The pen

A refill, a dry cloth, and nothing else.

The refill. Unscrew the nib section, tip the old cartridge out, drop the new one in, screw the section back on. It takes a standard 0.5 mm cartridge, black or blue, sold everywhere. The scroll stays exactly where it is while you do it — the two halves of the pen never meet.

The window and the shell. A dry microfibre cloth along the barrel handles almost everything. For anything stubborn, dampen the cloth with plain water, wipe, then dry it. Nothing else goes near it. Anodising is a skin rather than a coat of paint, and acetone, white spirit, alcohol gel, disinfectant wipes and kitchen sprays all dull it. Once it is dull there is no polishing it back. Solvent on the window clouds it permanently.

The engraved clip on Heirloom. Polished steel darkens where fingers sit, and a dry cloth brings it straight back. If pocket lint fills the letters, lift it out with a soft toothbrush, dry. Keep metal polish away — it rounds the edges of an engraving a little more each time, and after a year the letters lose their crispness.

  • Dry cloth first, barely damp only if it needs it
  • No alcohol, no solvent, no polish on the anodising
  • Standard 0.5 mm cartridge — buy it anywhere
  • Never immerse it: the barrel is not sealed, and paper is paper

The printer

Keep it charged, keep the head clean.

Charging. Any USB-C cable and an ordinary phone charger. Ninety minutes takes it from flat to full, and a full charge runs to about two weeks of normal use. Never charge it while it is damp.

Do not leave it flat for months. This is the one thing that shortens a SneakPrint's life. A lithium cell left empty in a drawer loses capacity it will not get back. Most people print in bursts, then not again until something needs saying — so top it up every couple of months whether it needs it or not.

When the print goes pale. Nine times out of ten the paper is in back to front. Thermal paper only darkens on one side, the coated side is the shinier one, and it has to face the head. If the paper is the right way round, charge the printer: a tired battery prints grey long before it stops printing.

Cleaning the head. Paper dust builds on the print head and shows as a white line down the ribbon. Switch the printer off, open the lid, wipe the thin metal strip with a cotton bud and a little isopropyl alcohol, and let it dry for a minute before closing it. This is the only place alcohol belongs — on the head, never on the pen.

  • USB-C, ninety minutes flat to full
  • Top it up every couple of months, even unused
  • Pale print: paper the wrong way round, or a flat battery
  • White line down the ribbon: dust on the head, not a fault

The paper

The words are heat, not ink.

Thermal paper carries no ink at all. The head heats a coating, the coating darkens, and that is the whole trick — it is why the printer never needs a cartridge, and why the paper is the one part of this kit that asks for care. Ours is BPA- and BPS-free archival stock, rated to stay legible for years away from light. It is still thermal paper.

Four things take the words off it:

  • Heat. A dashboard in summer, a radiator, a hot wash. Past roughly 60°C the whole ribbon greys out at once, and nothing brings it back.
  • Sunlight and UV. A scroll taped to a bright window fades in a matter of weeks.
  • Solvents and plasticisers. Alcohol hand gel, sticky tape laid across the print, soft PVC wallets and card sleeves all lift the image away.
  • Pressure and friction. Anything hard dragged across the surface leaves a dark line behind it.

Rolled in the barrel, the scroll lives in the dark, which is exactly where it wants to be. Kept there, or flat in a drawer, or in a paper envelope, it stays readable for years. We will not pretend it is a stone tablet. If the words genuinely matter — a first letter, a last one — keep the sheet saved in the app as well, or print it twice and put the second copy somewhere dark. A ribbon carried in a pocket has a life. A saved sheet does not.

  • Dark, dry and rolled — the barrel is the best drawer it has
  • Never a PVC wallet, never tape across the print
  • Keep the sheet in the app if the words matter
  • A roll lasts most people about a year

Four things not to do

The short list of regrets.

  1. Do not take the mechanism apart. The brass assembly is set at the bench and it does not go back together on a kitchen table. It also ends the cover, because once a pen has been opened we can no longer tell what caused what. If it grinds, slips or seizes, that is a repair — and repairs are free for two years.
  2. Do not put it in water. The pen is not sealed. Rain and a wet bag are fine; a sink, a washing machine or a swimming pool are not, and paper does not recover from any of them.
  3. Do not leave it on a dashboard. A closed car in summer passes 60°C easily. The shell shrugs it off. The scroll goes grey all at once, and a printer left beside it ages a year in an afternoon.
  4. Do not force the crown. If it will not turn, something is in the way. Turning harder strips an aluminium thread, and that is a shell replacement rather than a five-minute fix.

All four are avoidable, and none of them is covered by the two-year warranty — which is precisely why they are written down here rather than buried in the small print.

Care questions

The ones people write in about.

If your pen is doing something this page does not describe, send a photograph. It is quicker than a paragraph, and it often saves the parcel a journey.

Ask us anything
The crown turns but the scroll does not move.

The ribbon has not caught on the spindle, or it is rolled too tight to unwind. Unscrew the crown, draw the coil out, loosen it until you can see daylight down the middle, then feed it back in blank edge first and twist forward twice.

If a correctly rolled scroll still will not move and the crown spins with no resistance at all, the mechanism has slipped. That is a fault rather than a knack — write to us, and we pay the postage both ways.

I can see paper through the window, but no words.

The scroll is in back to front. Thermal paper prints on one side only, and the printed face has to look out at the window rather than in at the spindle. Take it out, turn the coil over and roll it again with the print facing outwards. The ribbon is not damaged — it is simply facing the wrong way.

Can I write on the ribbon by hand?

Yes. Blank thermal paper takes a fine-tipped pen perfectly well — ballpoint, or a 0.3 mm gel. Press lightly: the coating darkens under pressure, so a heavy hand leaves a grey halo around the letters. Pencil works too, and rubs out again, which some people prefer for a note they might change their mind about.

How often should the ink refill be changed?

When the line starts skipping. With daily use that tends to land somewhere between six and twelve months. A pen left in a drawer for a year may dry out sooner — scribble on a scrap for a few seconds before deciding the cartridge is finished, because most of them come back.

It takes a standard 0.5 mm cartridge in black or blue. Any stationer sells one, and you are under no obligation to buy ours.

There is a white line down every print.

Dust on the print head. Switch the printer off, open the lid, and wipe the thin metal strip with a cotton bud and a little isopropyl alcohol. Let it dry for a minute before you close it.

If the line survives a clean, an element in the head has died. That is covered for two years — send us a photograph of the print and we will sort it out.

The printer sat in a drawer for six months and will not turn on.

Plug it in and leave it twenty minutes before deciding it is dead. A deeply discharged cell takes a while to show any sign of life, and most of them wake up.

If it charges but empties within minutes of being full, the battery has gone. Inside two years that is ours to fix, not yours to prove — the warranty covers the printer and its battery, and the postage both ways.

Can I clean the pen with a disinfectant wipe?

Please do not. Wipes and hand gel both carry alcohol, and alcohol takes the depth out of anodising — it leaves a chalky patch exactly where your fingers sit, and it cannot be polished back.

A dry microfibre cloth handles nearly everything. For anything stubborn, dampen the cloth with plain water, wipe, then dry it. Keep every solvent away from the window.

What should I do with the old scrolls?

Most people keep them. A paper envelope in a drawer is the right home — dark, flat, and away from PVC sleeves. Away from light they stay readable for years.

Otherwise they are ordinary paper: they recycle with the rest, and they burn, which is sometimes the point of a note meant for one person only.

Running low

Three rolls, and you are set for a year.

Archival paper, spare cartridges and the SneakPrint printer are all in the shop, dispatched within 48 hours and tracked to the door.

Shop refills Read the warranty →

Free shipping over $50 · Dispatched within 48 hours · 2-year warranty on the mechanism