Pencil Question

[Pens By Scott]

I have a client that has asked me if I could make a .3mm mechanical pencil. Does anyone know of any kits that are 0.3mm?

 

[TBCbushings]

Not sure Scott, the smallest I have seen in .5 mm lead. I prefer the .5mm pencils....

 

[PenTurnerfromMaine]

You could do a Pentel .3 mm. It is the same process as the ones that are done with the .5 mm.

 

[jskeen]

The Pentel is the only .3 mechanism that I know of that has been adapted to a turned pen. Process is the same as for the .5. Actually I'm pretty sure you can just swap the mechanisms at will. I'll check if I can find one of my .3's tomorow.

 

[DurocShark]

I didn't see .3 Sharp Pentels... The .3's had a different nib and grip in the ones I saw. I would LOVE to be wrong though!

 

[Pens By Scott]

So, there are no kits, but taking existing commercially made pencils, and stripping off the plastic sleeve can be done? How would that work with brass tubes, etc? Get a .5mm/.7mm kit and take all components except the Mechanical Mechanism?

 

[sbell111]

I didn't see .3 Sharp Pentels... The .3's had a different nib and grip in the ones I saw. I would LOVE to be wrong though!

The P200 series pencils are the ones that are easily convertible; P203, P204, P205, P207, P209. The last number in the item number is the size of the lead.

I'm pretty sure that P203 was discontinued a while back, but it can still be found online. P204 is only available in the Japan market.

 

[sbell111]

So, there are no kits, but taking existing commercially made pencils, and stripping off the plastic sleeve can be done? How would that work with brass tubes, etc? Get a .5mm/.7mm kit and take all components except the Mechanical Mechanism?

Yup. There's a couple articles in the library regarding this. Here's the first one that I came across.

 

[Chasper]

I've tried to make .3 pencils a few times and finally decided that it was way too much work for what I could sell them for. Koh-I-Noor used to make a .3 that was assembled in the same principal as the Pentel Sharp. It would work if you could find some, but I didn't have any success when I looked.

The primary supplier of .03 for drafting is a company called Alvin. I have an Alvin .3 lead holder laying around my workbench that I've been planning to turn a barrel for, I haven't done it but as I remember it looked do-able. I know that Alvin also makes some automatic .3 mechanical pencils.

 

[Chuck Key]

If they are Alvin B/2's you are in luck. I have done several conversions of the 2mm B/2's and they work out nicely.

Chuckie

 

[Pens By Scott]

So, there are no kits, but taking existing commercially made pencils, and stripping off the plastic sleeve can be done? How would that work with brass tubes, etc? Get a .5mm/.7mm kit and take all components except the Mechanical Mechanism?

Yup. There's a couple articles in the library regarding this. Here's the first one that I came across.

Steve,
Thanks for pointing this tutorial out, looks interesting. I will be checking with my client, see what their thoughts are on pricing before i jump right in though...

 

[nava1uni]

The pental pencils are nice to make and Don Ward's directions (PDF) is easy to understand and follow.