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Kenner's Super Spirograph No. 2400 circa 1969.
Hi! This will be a brief description about the Kenner's Super Spirograph.
**UPDATE** New BETTER replacement pens available, see below. Please contact me if you have any questions. Please see below for the search terms for these products.
UPDATE for 01/30/09: Test of Sound Feelings green push pins replacements and inner spring replacements for the ink pens. :)
What comes in a Super Spirograph?
This is an illustration of the plastic tray and all the parts. The drawing baseboard, paper and instruction booklet are stored underneath the plastic tray. Sometimes the Super Square is stored underneath the plastic tray too. This is a photo I took and labeled the various parts on the photo. The explanation follows below.
*18 Wheels numbered as follows: 24, 30, 32, 36, 40, 42, 45, 48, 50, 52, 56, 60, 63, 64, 72, 75, 80, 84
* 2 rings numbered: 144/96 and 150/105 which is slightly larger
* 2 racks numbered: 144 and 120 which is slightly longer
* 16 curved or arc sections as follows: 4 “A’s”, 4 “B’s”, 4 “C’s” and 4 “D’s”
* 8 straight bar pieces as follows: 4 “E’s” and 4 “F’s”
* 1 “Y” piece
* The Super Square which is an L shaped 90 degree square similar to a ruler you may find in carpentry work. It is used for making the larger designs and the 90 degree angle designs.
* 6 tiny end pieces as follows: 3 “male” tiny end pieces which have two connecting pegs each and 3 “female” tiny end pieces which look as though they are broken in half, but are just the “female” tiny end pieces without the tiny connection pegs. These are usually used on the ends of one of the racks, for example.
* Special green push pins. These are used to hold the frame pieces still so that wheels can be used on them to draw designs. These green push pins have a spherical round head to them to make them easier to grasp and then push in. Please be advised that they are VERY sharp!
* 4 colored pens. There should be a black pen, a blue pen, a green pen and a red pen. On the Super Spirograph these pens’ bodies are a solid color of the color of ink they contain. On the Spirograph these pens are half white and the other half is the color of the ink they contain. These are ball point bic click type of pens.
* The inside of the top lid of the box contains many designs you can make with the super spirograph.
* The super spirograph contains a full color instruction booklet. The cover of this booklet is bright red with a large down turned triangle on the front, a small kaleidoscopic type of wheel design on the lower left and a elongated rectangular design on the right hand side. When you open the booklet, it starts with page 2 on the inside of the front cover and goes through to page 15 on the inside of the back cover for a total of 16 pages including the front and back cover. As you may expect the more basic or simpler designs start at the beginning and the more advanced and complicated designs are towards the back of the booklet.
* The drawing baseboard is a piece of cardboard which is brown on the wrong side and white on the drawing side. On the white drawing side it says in red letters: “This is your Spirograph® Drawing Baseboard draw on this side only”. This item is an odd size. It is 9 7/8” in width x 12 ¾” length.
* Original paper is an ivory color rather than bright white. It is also in the same size as the drawing cardboard baseboard: 9 7/8” in width x 12 ¾” length. The paper and cardboard used in the Super Spirograph is NOT acid free. In order to preserve your designs you may wish to scan them into your computer and then print them onto an acid free archival type of paper for safekeeping!
Experiences using a Super Spirograph:
What most people like to do, myself included, is to start at the beginning of the book and following the instructions make all the designs in the book. Most people may get discouraged because as you go along, the designs become more difficult to form. Smaller wheels, for example, go faster as they are drawn with around frame objects such as rings, racks or patterns made with the curved sections while larger wheels will be physically difficult to keep on track even though none of the teeth either on the inner ring nor the wheel is damaged in any way! Somehow or other you are going along drawing and all of a sudden it skips, the pen doesn’t draw the line darkly enough or it just kind of rips and makes a straight line instead of your curved pattern, for example, and if you are a purist you will remove the frame ring or framing pieces, move them to a blank space on the paper and try the design all over again from the beginning.
With patience and perseverance you should be able to complete all the designs in the book.
Years later, with my own Super Spirograph, I have yet to complete this task. In my defense, as an adult one has many more responsibilities and usually one doesn’t have the time to sit and draw designs for any length of time. When you’re a kid things are different as you can do spirographing after dinner, after you’ve finished your chores, after you’ve finished your homework or on weekends and holidays. Now-a-days, most kids do not have the patience for this type of art form. They’d rather play computer games. It’s just a window on a simpler time when kids didn’t have quite so much homework and quite as many distractions.
Why collect Super Spirographs or other drawing set toys?
They don’t make toys like this any more.
1. They are a precise toy which anyone of almost any age can use and draw beautiful patterns without formal training in art.
2. eBay is one place where you can still find Super Spirographs and other drawing set toys and parts. In the search box type in "Super Spirograph". It's as easy as that!
3. They are valuable as with all our liability laws and regulations, no one makes this exact set of drawing tools any more.
What should you look for in a Super Spirograph for collection purposes?
Check to make sure all of the parts are included.
The plastic parts should not have damages such as broken teeth on the wheels, curved sections, racks, rings or end pieces.
The plastic pieces should not have any large cracks or splits. It is okay if the spirograph pieces have pen marks from a previous owner’s usage as this will only be avoided if the set was never played with.
The booklet should be clean with no tears, missing pages, loose pages or marks in it, if possible.
The cardboard drawing baseboard is in better condition if it doesn’t have very many holes and the holes are not too close together.
The box, drawing baseboard and booklet should not have writing in them.
The Super Square is a part that may get damaged. Look for a nice Super Square with no writing on it, no splits and no cracks or breakages. The Super Spirograph ideally should come with the original pens and the original paper.
The little container on the parts’ tray that holds the green push pins should be as full as possible.
The four colored pens should all be there, ideally. They will not write. In order to start drawing you will have to use replacement pens. I recommend the following types of pens which I have used myself. They may be a bit pricey but they get the job done.
1. Bic Velocity Ball Pens, Smooth Writing, number 16331. They come with blue, red, green and purple and are a medium size.
2. Pentel Smooth Gel Ink Metallics. They come with pink, light blue, green, red and purple. The gel ink is a metallic, glittery type of writing.
3. Pilot G2-007 black pens medium point.
**UPDATE**!!! Sound Feelings pens, catalog #96083. I have tried out these pens and they work in the Super Spirograph BETTER than the pens I have listed above. The pens are pictured below. The difference between the Sound Feelings pens and the originals are very slight. The barrel of the pens is slightly wider than the originals and they have a clip on added to them. They don't quite fit in the tray, but are very very close. In order to get them to fit they have to be placed as shown below, facing opposite directions.
I have done a test of these (new) replacement pens. I used the designs found on page 3 of the booklet pictured below:
Actual designs drawn by me on Nov. 16, 2008 using the (new) pens.
The first design I tried in my pen experiment is found in location row 2 column 2 of page 3 of the instruction booklet. This design requires that you turn the wheel 60 to the "back side" to draw the final loop design. The completed design is in the left side of the second row on my practice sheet. Not even these pens I formerly recommended:
are narrow enough to put through the little hole on the BACK SIDE of any wheels.
Next I tried the design located on the first row of page 3, the second design. I personally consider this one of the most challenging or difficult of designs in this smaller category. The pens tested out great on this design! I was really surprised because mostly when you are drawing this particular design, the ink tends to get faded out. You can see the completed design in the center of row two of my practice sheet.
Lastly I tried the design located in row 3, the second or middle design. This design worked too.
Please note that no matter what pens you are using it's just about impossible not to run holes through your sheet of paper and the design.
All in all I think the Sound Feelings pens are a good set of replacement pens for Super Spirographs and I am confident they would work just as well in Spirographs. As you can see, just like the original, the color of ink is the same as the barrel of the pen. These pens are a bit on the expensive side though; more so than my previously recommended pens, and this is due to the seller individually resizing each pen. However, if you want pens that are narrow enough to go through the little holes on wheels and other parts in Super Spirographs the Sound Feelings pens are superior.
Spirograph pens
Spirograph pens refills
If you have all four Super Spirograph pens or Spirograph pens and you have purchased the PEN REFILLS, [the Sound Feelings pens and refills are really highly recommended by me as the pens that are small enough to put in the original Super Spirograph and Spirograph wheel and object holes], it may be that you unscrew your pen to put in the refill only to discover that you don't have the little springs WITHOUT WHICH THE PENS WILL NOT WORK properly! Not to panic. Sound feelings also sells the little springs that go inside the pens. These are a smaller size of spring than some other pens and were not easy for the owner to find, but he has found them. Check it out!
01/30/09
UPDATE:
I am in receipt of the replacement springs and the replacement green push pins from Sound Feelings. Both of these products look and work great!
Here's a photo of the green push pins. The original push pins are used to hold ring 144/96 on the left and the Sound Feelings green push pins are used to hold the ring 150/105 on the right. Also displayed in this photo are the replacement pens from Sound Feelings. You can't really see it in this photo, but the triangle design found on page 2 has come out a little off when it was drawn with the original green push pins holding the ring down. (If you want to see a closeup of this you can email me for a larger sized photo). On the ring on the right side where you see the star design, the design turned out perfect! :) I think that the Sound Feelings replacement push pins held the ring on the right tighter to the paper and board than the original green push pins did as seen on the left ring with the triangular design. Both designs are drawn with the Sound Feelings replacement ink pens.
Here you can see the original green push pin on the left and the Sound Feelings replacement green push pin on the right. Notice the Sound Feelings green push pin is slightly smaller in the head or ball size than the original and the stick pin part is a bit longer than the original.
In this photo you can see the original green ink pen in 2 pieces, the Sound Feelings replacement REFILL the brass colored original spring for the ink pen on the left and the Sound Feelings replacement spring for the ink pen on the right. Above the two springs are the two green push pins. Notice that the Sound Feelings spring is slightly longer than the original brass spring. I found this didn't make any difference in the functionality of the green ink pen when the part was put in it. The Sound Feelings spring for the ink pen, located on the right, performed just as well as the original spring for the ink pen.
Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. If you want bigger pictures of anything shown here, I can send them to you if your email is the type that can accept attachments.
***
The outer containment box should be as clean as possible with few to no pen marks, holes or splits on the corners. Sometimes it is very difficult to find a box in this excellent condition. The most common type of damage is to the box itself and this occurs at the corners which always seem to split. Taping the corners doesn’t really seem to help either, but it is what the majority of former owners will do to keep the box in one piece.
Who should be extra careful using Super Spirographs?
Immature children or children who are very young because the parts are plastic and many of the parts are very small plus the set includes ink pens and sharp push pins. All of these items can cause injuries and are a choking hazard. The plastic parts are typically brittle, especially after so many years, and can break. If the child swallows a broken piece, or any piece from the set, he or she can choke or be cut by the shards. If the child swallows the push pins, they are sharp and he can be cut or get puncture wounds from them inside and/or outside, plus choke on them as well. With the ink pens, comes all the hazards of pens such as the point, which though not sharp, could still put an eye out or cause other puncture or stabbing type of wounds. The pen’s body could break and the child could be cut by the shards too or swallow parts of the pens.
How can I make a box to safely ship my Super Spirograph?
Take two Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes size: 11 7/8" x 3 3/8" x 13 5/8" You can order these from USPS.com for free. Cut out the long or length-wise side of each box. Seal up the end of one box, then insert the Super Spirograph. There will be a small amount of space at the top. Put in some filler like flat pieces of foam or wadded up newspapers. Then fit the second box over the top of the first box. Tape down the openings.
If you should have any questions about Super Spirographs, please feel free to contact me!
Thank you for reading about Super Spirographs.
hamsa018
Hi! This will be a brief description about the Kenner's Super Spirograph.
**UPDATE** New BETTER replacement pens available, see below. Please contact me if you have any questions. Please see below for the search terms for these products.
UPDATE for 01/30/09: Test of Sound Feelings green push pins replacements and inner spring replacements for the ink pens. :)
What comes in a Super Spirograph?
This is an illustration of the plastic tray and all the parts. The drawing baseboard, paper and instruction booklet are stored underneath the plastic tray. Sometimes the Super Square is stored underneath the plastic tray too. This is a photo I took and labeled the various parts on the photo. The explanation follows below.
*18 Wheels numbered as follows: 24, 30, 32, 36, 40, 42, 45, 48, 50, 52, 56, 60, 63, 64, 72, 75, 80, 84
* 2 rings numbered: 144/96 and 150/105 which is slightly larger
* 2 racks numbered: 144 and 120 which is slightly longer
* 16 curved or arc sections as follows: 4 “A’s”, 4 “B’s”, 4 “C’s” and 4 “D’s”
* 8 straight bar pieces as follows: 4 “E’s” and 4 “F’s”
* 1 “Y” piece
* The Super Square which is an L shaped 90 degree square similar to a ruler you may find in carpentry work. It is used for making the larger designs and the 90 degree angle designs.
* 6 tiny end pieces as follows: 3 “male” tiny end pieces which have two connecting pegs each and 3 “female” tiny end pieces which look as though they are broken in half, but are just the “female” tiny end pieces without the tiny connection pegs. These are usually used on the ends of one of the racks, for example.
* Special green push pins. These are used to hold the frame pieces still so that wheels can be used on them to draw designs. These green push pins have a spherical round head to them to make them easier to grasp and then push in. Please be advised that they are VERY sharp!
* 4 colored pens. There should be a black pen, a blue pen, a green pen and a red pen. On the Super Spirograph these pens’ bodies are a solid color of the color of ink they contain. On the Spirograph these pens are half white and the other half is the color of the ink they contain. These are ball point bic click type of pens.
* The inside of the top lid of the box contains many designs you can make with the super spirograph.
* The super spirograph contains a full color instruction booklet. The cover of this booklet is bright red with a large down turned triangle on the front, a small kaleidoscopic type of wheel design on the lower left and a elongated rectangular design on the right hand side. When you open the booklet, it starts with page 2 on the inside of the front cover and goes through to page 15 on the inside of the back cover for a total of 16 pages including the front and back cover. As you may expect the more basic or simpler designs start at the beginning and the more advanced and complicated designs are towards the back of the booklet.
* The drawing baseboard is a piece of cardboard which is brown on the wrong side and white on the drawing side. On the white drawing side it says in red letters: “This is your Spirograph® Drawing Baseboard draw on this side only”. This item is an odd size. It is 9 7/8” in width x 12 ¾” length.
* Original paper is an ivory color rather than bright white. It is also in the same size as the drawing cardboard baseboard: 9 7/8” in width x 12 ¾” length. The paper and cardboard used in the Super Spirograph is NOT acid free. In order to preserve your designs you may wish to scan them into your computer and then print them onto an acid free archival type of paper for safekeeping!
Experiences using a Super Spirograph:
What most people like to do, myself included, is to start at the beginning of the book and following the instructions make all the designs in the book. Most people may get discouraged because as you go along, the designs become more difficult to form. Smaller wheels, for example, go faster as they are drawn with around frame objects such as rings, racks or patterns made with the curved sections while larger wheels will be physically difficult to keep on track even though none of the teeth either on the inner ring nor the wheel is damaged in any way! Somehow or other you are going along drawing and all of a sudden it skips, the pen doesn’t draw the line darkly enough or it just kind of rips and makes a straight line instead of your curved pattern, for example, and if you are a purist you will remove the frame ring or framing pieces, move them to a blank space on the paper and try the design all over again from the beginning.
With patience and perseverance you should be able to complete all the designs in the book.
Years later, with my own Super Spirograph, I have yet to complete this task. In my defense, as an adult one has many more responsibilities and usually one doesn’t have the time to sit and draw designs for any length of time. When you’re a kid things are different as you can do spirographing after dinner, after you’ve finished your chores, after you’ve finished your homework or on weekends and holidays. Now-a-days, most kids do not have the patience for this type of art form. They’d rather play computer games. It’s just a window on a simpler time when kids didn’t have quite so much homework and quite as many distractions.
Why collect Super Spirographs or other drawing set toys?
They don’t make toys like this any more.
1. They are a precise toy which anyone of almost any age can use and draw beautiful patterns without formal training in art.
2. eBay is one place where you can still find Super Spirographs and other drawing set toys and parts. In the search box type in "Super Spirograph". It's as easy as that!
3. They are valuable as with all our liability laws and regulations, no one makes this exact set of drawing tools any more.
What should you look for in a Super Spirograph for collection purposes?
Check to make sure all of the parts are included.
The plastic parts should not have damages such as broken teeth on the wheels, curved sections, racks, rings or end pieces.
The plastic pieces should not have any large cracks or splits. It is okay if the spirograph pieces have pen marks from a previous owner’s usage as this will only be avoided if the set was never played with.
The booklet should be clean with no tears, missing pages, loose pages or marks in it, if possible.
The cardboard drawing baseboard is in better condition if it doesn’t have very many holes and the holes are not too close together.
The box, drawing baseboard and booklet should not have writing in them.
The Super Square is a part that may get damaged. Look for a nice Super Square with no writing on it, no splits and no cracks or breakages. The Super Spirograph ideally should come with the original pens and the original paper.
The little container on the parts’ tray that holds the green push pins should be as full as possible.
The four colored pens should all be there, ideally. They will not write. In order to start drawing you will have to use replacement pens. I recommend the following types of pens which I have used myself. They may be a bit pricey but they get the job done.
1. Bic Velocity Ball Pens, Smooth Writing, number 16331. They come with blue, red, green and purple and are a medium size.
2. Pentel Smooth Gel Ink Metallics. They come with pink, light blue, green, red and purple. The gel ink is a metallic, glittery type of writing.
3. Pilot G2-007 black pens medium point.
**UPDATE**!!! Sound Feelings pens, catalog #96083. I have tried out these pens and they work in the Super Spirograph BETTER than the pens I have listed above. The pens are pictured below. The difference between the Sound Feelings pens and the originals are very slight. The barrel of the pens is slightly wider than the originals and they have a clip on added to them. They don't quite fit in the tray, but are very very close. In order to get them to fit they have to be placed as shown below, facing opposite directions.
I have done a test of these (new) replacement pens. I used the designs found on page 3 of the booklet pictured below:
Actual designs drawn by me on Nov. 16, 2008 using the (new) pens.
The first design I tried in my pen experiment is found in location row 2 column 2 of page 3 of the instruction booklet. This design requires that you turn the wheel 60 to the "back side" to draw the final loop design. The completed design is in the left side of the second row on my practice sheet. Not even these pens I formerly recommended:
1. Bic Velocity Ball Pens, Smooth Writing, number 16331. They come with blue, red, green and purple and are a medium size.
2. Pentel Smooth Gel Ink Metallics. They come with pink, light blue, green, red and purple. The gel ink is a metallic, glittery type of writing.
3. Pilot G2-007 black pens medium point.
2. Pentel Smooth Gel Ink Metallics. They come with pink, light blue, green, red and purple. The gel ink is a metallic, glittery type of writing.
3. Pilot G2-007 black pens medium point.
are narrow enough to put through the little hole on the BACK SIDE of any wheels.
Next I tried the design located on the first row of page 3, the second design. I personally consider this one of the most challenging or difficult of designs in this smaller category. The pens tested out great on this design! I was really surprised because mostly when you are drawing this particular design, the ink tends to get faded out. You can see the completed design in the center of row two of my practice sheet.
Lastly I tried the design located in row 3, the second or middle design. This design worked too.
Please note that no matter what pens you are using it's just about impossible not to run holes through your sheet of paper and the design.
All in all I think the Sound Feelings pens are a good set of replacement pens for Super Spirographs and I am confident they would work just as well in Spirographs. As you can see, just like the original, the color of ink is the same as the barrel of the pen. These pens are a bit on the expensive side though; more so than my previously recommended pens, and this is due to the seller individually resizing each pen. However, if you want pens that are narrow enough to go through the little holes on wheels and other parts in Super Spirographs the Sound Feelings pens are superior.
Spirograph pens
Spirograph pens refills
If you have all four Super Spirograph pens or Spirograph pens and you have purchased the PEN REFILLS, [the Sound Feelings pens and refills are really highly recommended by me as the pens that are small enough to put in the original Super Spirograph and Spirograph wheel and object holes], it may be that you unscrew your pen to put in the refill only to discover that you don't have the little springs WITHOUT WHICH THE PENS WILL NOT WORK properly! Not to panic. Sound feelings also sells the little springs that go inside the pens. These are a smaller size of spring than some other pens and were not easy for the owner to find, but he has found them. Check it out!
01/30/09
UPDATE:
I am in receipt of the replacement springs and the replacement green push pins from Sound Feelings. Both of these products look and work great!
Here's a photo of the green push pins. The original push pins are used to hold ring 144/96 on the left and the Sound Feelings green push pins are used to hold the ring 150/105 on the right. Also displayed in this photo are the replacement pens from Sound Feelings. You can't really see it in this photo, but the triangle design found on page 2 has come out a little off when it was drawn with the original green push pins holding the ring down. (If you want to see a closeup of this you can email me for a larger sized photo). On the ring on the right side where you see the star design, the design turned out perfect! :) I think that the Sound Feelings replacement push pins held the ring on the right tighter to the paper and board than the original green push pins did as seen on the left ring with the triangular design. Both designs are drawn with the Sound Feelings replacement ink pens.
Here you can see the original green push pin on the left and the Sound Feelings replacement green push pin on the right. Notice the Sound Feelings green push pin is slightly smaller in the head or ball size than the original and the stick pin part is a bit longer than the original.
In this photo you can see the original green ink pen in 2 pieces, the Sound Feelings replacement REFILL the brass colored original spring for the ink pen on the left and the Sound Feelings replacement spring for the ink pen on the right. Above the two springs are the two green push pins. Notice that the Sound Feelings spring is slightly longer than the original brass spring. I found this didn't make any difference in the functionality of the green ink pen when the part was put in it. The Sound Feelings spring for the ink pen, located on the right, performed just as well as the original spring for the ink pen.
Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. If you want bigger pictures of anything shown here, I can send them to you if your email is the type that can accept attachments.
***
The outer containment box should be as clean as possible with few to no pen marks, holes or splits on the corners. Sometimes it is very difficult to find a box in this excellent condition. The most common type of damage is to the box itself and this occurs at the corners which always seem to split. Taping the corners doesn’t really seem to help either, but it is what the majority of former owners will do to keep the box in one piece.
Who should be extra careful using Super Spirographs?
Immature children or children who are very young because the parts are plastic and many of the parts are very small plus the set includes ink pens and sharp push pins. All of these items can cause injuries and are a choking hazard. The plastic parts are typically brittle, especially after so many years, and can break. If the child swallows a broken piece, or any piece from the set, he or she can choke or be cut by the shards. If the child swallows the push pins, they are sharp and he can be cut or get puncture wounds from them inside and/or outside, plus choke on them as well. With the ink pens, comes all the hazards of pens such as the point, which though not sharp, could still put an eye out or cause other puncture or stabbing type of wounds. The pen’s body could break and the child could be cut by the shards too or swallow parts of the pens.
How can I make a box to safely ship my Super Spirograph?
Take two Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes size: 11 7/8" x 3 3/8" x 13 5/8" You can order these from USPS.com for free. Cut out the long or length-wise side of each box. Seal up the end of one box, then insert the Super Spirograph. There will be a small amount of space at the top. Put in some filler like flat pieces of foam or wadded up newspapers. Then fit the second box over the top of the first box. Tape down the openings.
If you should have any questions about Super Spirographs, please feel free to contact me!
Thank you for reading about Super Spirographs.
hamsa018
Guide created: 01/09/08 (updated 10/27/09)
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