Brother ScanNCut Pen Holders and Markers Reviewed | The best options for drawing

by Joost Nusselder Updated on: April 3, 2023

So, you bought the Brother ScanNCut machine, you enthusiastically took it out of the box, you made your first cuts and now you want to do something else with it.

The Brother ScanNCut not only has the ability to cut, but also to draw and comes with a number of small felt-tip pens.

To complement these accessories, there are other options, which I will discuss with you here.

My favorite is the Brother universal pen holder, which allows you to use almost any pen!

In my review I show you 3 different Brother pen holders and 3 types of Brother markers/pens:

Best Brother ScanNCut Pen Holders / Markers	Image
Universal pen holder for large pen: Brother ScanNCut Universal Pen Holder CAUNIPHL1	(view more images)
Universal pen holder for narrow lead: Brother ScanNCut small pen holder	(view more images)
Brother pen holder for colored and erasable markers: Brother CAPENHL1 ScanNCut	(view more images)
Pens for drawing and writing: (view more images)	(view more images)
Calligraphy fine-point writers: Brother Calligraphy Pen Set	(view more images)
Pins to glue: Brother Glue Pens	(view more images)

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The right Brother ScanNCut pen holder or marker set for you

Before you purchase a holder with a set of pens or markers, you ofcourse want to know what is best for your first projects. You can always purchase another holder or set later.

What do you want to do?

I'll give you a few examples, for example you can:

• decorate greeting cards
• make calligraphy on various surfaces
• put glue on foil with a glue pen to make gift packaging

I also understand that you just want to be able to make all possible projects and have everything at home, so that you have no limitations while tinkering.

There are pen holders for narrow and wide markers and for glue pens. I'll discuss all options with you below!

Note: The Brother ScanNCut 1200 and 2200D are the more expensive devices in the series, and already have a pen holder included in the box. The other – slightly cheaper – devices do not have that.

Brother ScanNCut Pen Holders

In terms of pen holders for the Brother ScanNCut, you have a few nice options that I will now discuss in detail.

Universal Pen Holder for Large Pen: Brother ScanNCut Universal Pen Holder CAUNIPHL1

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Brother's largest pen holder; the felt-tip pens that you can use in this holder should have a diameter between 9,6 mm and 11,4 mm.

The standard Brother markers have fairly thick tips, which can limit you in what you want to do.

To solve this problem, Brother comes with the narrow Brother ScanNCut pen holder, more about that later.

However, you can also use this wide pen holder with most pens and markers, if you simply adjust the pen itself a bit with some tape.

I myself used this universal pen holder – with a diameter between 9,6 mm and 11,4 mm – with a gel pen to 'write' a birthday card on a card that I had already cut out with the ScanNCut machine.

With some tape, I made the gel pen 'thicker', so it fitted well in the pen holder and had no problems.

Even thinner pens/markers can also be used in this pen holder as far as I'm concerned; just wrap some more tape around a thinner pen.

This way I can use pens of any width in this holder without having to spend even more money for another holder.

This universal pen holder comes with a stand, so you can adjust the height of your pen to the surface you'll be drawing on.

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Placing your pen in the holder and locking it is easy with a click and turn. Then you place it in the holder on the ScanNCut machine itself, where you normally place your knife holder.

Everything else works the same on the ScanNCut machine: you choose your design or lettering and choose the drawing function instead of the cutting function. I found a speed of 3 and pressure 0 a good starting point.

This pen holder is suitable for the ScanNCut, ScanNCut 2, ScanNCut DX, and the DesignNCut.

Universal Pen Holder for Narrow Marker: Brother ScanNCut Small Pen Holder

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This works just like the large pen holder for the wider pen and is available for the CM and SDX series.

With this pen holder you can use any kind of pen or marker (with diameter 7,8 – 9,6 mm.) in your machine to draw.

This can mean drawing a picture or shape, or even writing with the pen.

In this video you can see some of the many possibilities for inspiration:

The pen holder is suitable for drawing with the Brother ScanNCut cutters in combination with a narrower pin for all Brother machines CM300, CM700, CM900,SDX1000, SDX1200 and the SDX2200 Disney.

It can be nice to have this pen holder at home, especially if you don't feel like wrapping your thinner pens with tape.

Brother pen holder for color and erasable markers: Brother CAPENHL1 ScanNCut

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Suitable for Brother color markers and erasable markers for drawing and writing projects.

Great for creating greeting cards and invitations, homemade coloring and scrapbooking books and much more.

Suitable for the following devices: ScanNCut, ScanNCut2, ScanNCut DX, and DesignNCut, the holder is designed for optimal use with the Brother ScanNCut pen sets CAPEN1 and CAPEN2, which are available separately (see below).

Compatible with CM100DM, CM250, CM350, CM350H, CM350R, CM550DX, CM650W, CM650WX, DC200, DC200ULE

Prefer old-fashioned? View the 15 best games with just pen and paper for every age

Brother ScanNCut markers

With the universal pen holders discussed above you can use any pen.

However, it can also be nice to get the original Brother ScanNCut pens. This way you can be sure that they fit and work properly in the machine.

Pens for drawing and writing: Brother ScanNCut Pen Set

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These 6 Brother permanent ScanNCut markers (CAPEN1) come in the colors red, pink, brown, black, blue and green. This item is suitable for all ScanNCut devices, for the specific pen holder.

The markers are important for elaborating your creations such as with scrapbooking or homemade greeting cards, and can also be used on cardboard or other materials.

Perfect for adding graceful letters to your projects, or for embellishing decorations. Draw and add borders and frames to your creations, or create chic embellishments.

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Calligraphy Fine-Point Writers: Brother Calligraphy Pen Set

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Five calligraphy pens in black, blue, green, violet and burgundy, which are only suitable for the Brother ScanNCut DX machines.

These pens are also included in the Brother Calligraphy Starter Kit, but can be replaced with these five spare pens.

Best suited for the Brother ScanNCut small pen holder.

Pens for Gluing: Brother Glue Pen

This is suitable for the pen holder Brother CAPENHL1 ScanNCut, discussed above.

Glue pens are great for pasting foil over your creations, for example, for a classy effect. You can work very precisely with the pen.

Conclusion

Using the universal pen holder on the Brother ScanNCut machine opens up a whole new world of crafting possibilities.

With different colored pens you can write personal texts on your creations. How about writing with glitter pens for Christmas?

With the pause function on the machine you can even draw part of an image or text in one color, you can pause it and then change the color of the pen to create your own unique design.

Felt-tip pens, colored pens and gel pens, you can at least try it, and let's face it, you probably already have more than a few pens in your craft room!

Always check compatibility with the slicer before you make a purchase!

Read also my review of the best electronic cutters of 2021

Joost Nusselder, the founder of Speelkeuze.nl is a content marketer, father and loves trying out new toys. As a child he came into contact with everything related to games when his mother started the Tinnen Soldaat in Ede. Now he and his team create helpful blog articles to help loyal readers with fun play ideas.