dive slates - what kind of plastic?

[Mitchell]

Head to your local plactic store and ask them for a sheet of white thin plastic. I picked up a sheet many years ago and has worked great. In CT there is a place called Industrial Safety. They carry all thickness. I think the sheet was 4 by 8 and they even cut that up into little squares for me at a small price. Give them a call and ask what material it's called and if they ship or if they know of a local supplier in your area.

 

[mcmag21]

fubari,

I made a few slates myself out of PVC pipe. I purchased a length of 3 inch diameter sewer pipe (it's thinner walled than schedule 40 water pipe). Just cut into short lengths and then split them down the lenght. A 3 inch diameter pipe wil give you about 12 inches length when open flat.

Heat the pipe sections in a warm oven (about 175° F) for 7-10 minutes to soften. Flip the softened piece over and warm until soft all the way through. Lay it out on a hard, heat prrof surface and cover with another hard surface ( a casserole dish works well) and load it up with soft weight bags.

I'm still looking for the best marker. The china marker I used didn't erase very well. Pencil marking was legible and semi-permenat. Erasing was a bit difficult, but manageable. Borrow a few short pencils from the local Putt-Putt course and attach with a length of rubber tubing.

Let me know back how this worked and any suggestions.

mcmag21

 

[hullscrubber]

Try using a cheap, white plastic 5 gallon bucket from the hardware store... it cuts up easy and holds pencil marks well... I use one as a floating toolbucket and the sides work great as a notepad....

What kind of plastic is used for making dive slates?
I've done some searching on this and am coming up
empty so far.

I want to make 2 dozen small (2"x3") name tag-like
things to clip on student bcs for the duration of a class.
Something they can write on (Name + current weighting)
to help gearing-up at the beginning of a class (e.g. help
them find their bc out of the pile, and jog their memory
about how much weight should be on the belt).

I'm thinking about dive slate plastic since it is easy
to write on with a pencil (and pencils are cheap),
the writing has a good chance of surviving 5 pool
sessions, and would be easy to softscrub for the
next class.

Thanks for your ideas/comments,
John G.

 

[ScubaToneDog]

Try getting a #2B, which just so happens to be what is used in most carpender pencils. Most common pencils you find are #2H's which is a harder lead causing you to press harder which leaves a hard mark to erase because of their clay content. If you go to an art store you can pick up better pencils, even mechanical ones that are all plastic. Look for #4-5-or 6B leads. They are much darker leads that write very dark and are easily smugged off with a gloved finger. You could also get natural rubber erasers there, which work quite well underwater and are really good at getting marks off.

In case you are curious, pencil leads are categorized from Hardest to Softest as follows....

9H-8H-7H-6H-5H-4H-3H-2H-H-F-HB-B-2B-3B-4B-5B-6B-7B-8B-9B

9H is very hard, keeps a very sharp fine point and makes very light lines. 9B is very soft, wont keep a sharp point and makes very dark lines like mascara.

 

[Darryl15]

try to get some white pvc drain pipe that works well for wrist slates or try to get some off cut sheets of white acrylic plastic, look in the local phone book for a plastic supply store they should have it all.

 

[grilla]

I've had great luck with a kid's toy - a magna-doodle. Wal-mart has small ones - about 3" x 5" for under $3 a pop. Easy to drill a hole through the plastic edge and add a zip tie for a loop. I zip-tie mine to the back of my gauge console - out of the way yet always handy. I initially heard of them being used as dive slates and liked the idea because of the cheap price - a lot easier to take it if you lose it versus a $15 dive slate. Used it in salt water, cold water (34F), the pool - with no degradation. Just my 2 cents worth

 

[BuoyantC]

I made some slates with/for some junior students as a project. We used white vinyl siding - the back is smooth - and made them wrist mount. We simply drilled 2 - 3/16" holes near the edges in the middle of the 4" side of a 4"x2-1/2" piece. Then near one of the holes drill a second hole about 3/8" closer in. We used surgical tubing to make a short loop for the pencil between the close holes, down around the wrist, and up through the opposite hole leaving enough extra for attaching the pencil. We scammed pencils from a miniature golf joint. You could snug up the slate, by just pulling up on the tubing.

These worked great, and were a fun project.
------------------------------
Dennis

 

[junior diver]

Find an old keyboard, take off the back, cut it down to the right size and sand the edges. Crude but it worked for me

 

[Dave in PA]

If you want something to hold information on the slate, use a piece of clear plastic tape over the info. Obviously, you won't be able to mark over the tape, but, for the original use on pieces of blind, it should last through class and then be removable and reusable very easily.

 

[Mike Newman]

Coming to this late - but hey - there may still be an interest in this. I found ideal material for slates in model shops. It's styrene sheet, available in various sizes and thicknesses. Pure white - easily cut and pierced - and just a buck or two a sheet.