I dislike the flimsy grease pencil that come on wrist slates, so I finally got around to upgrading mine. I bought a retractable mechanical diving pencil from Piranha to add to my Dive Rite slate. However, the existing pencil holder on my wrist slate was far too small to fit the larger mechanical pencil.
The solution was to use a pair of pliers to bend the pencil holder out into a large enough shape to fit the new pencil. I then used a pair of small shears to trim the holder pieces to shorter stubs and then used a lighter to melt the tips of the holder stubs one by one. After each quick melt I used the new pencil as a form to mold the stubs into a useful shape. At this point they are nothing more than guides for where the pencil goes.
Next I drilled 2 pairs of 1/8" holes between the holder stubs and threaded in 1/8" bungee to retain the pencil. Knot on both ends and leave approximately 1/4" of bungee on each end, then slit open the fabric on the excess 1/4", snip off the 1/4" of rubber in the core of that excess, and melt the fabric covering left over so that it nestles against your knot as a hard plastic stopper.
Next, add the pencil. First thing is to create a mounting point on the pencil for the 1/8" bungee that connects the pencil to the slate. To do that use a small file to file a square trench in the plastic of the pencil, then you can use a small ziptie in the trench to secure the 1/8" bungee to the pencil. Knot the end of the bungee as you did previously, then tighten the bungee. Finally, tie the other end of the securing bungee to the bungee that secures the multiple slate layers. This it can slide on, giving you a little extra useful retention bungee length if you ever need it while allowing you to use a shorter length of bungee.
That's that.
The solution was to use a pair of pliers to bend the pencil holder out into a large enough shape to fit the new pencil. I then used a pair of small shears to trim the holder pieces to shorter stubs and then used a lighter to melt the tips of the holder stubs one by one. After each quick melt I used the new pencil as a form to mold the stubs into a useful shape. At this point they are nothing more than guides for where the pencil goes.
Next I drilled 2 pairs of 1/8" holes between the holder stubs and threaded in 1/8" bungee to retain the pencil. Knot on both ends and leave approximately 1/4" of bungee on each end, then slit open the fabric on the excess 1/4", snip off the 1/4" of rubber in the core of that excess, and melt the fabric covering left over so that it nestles against your knot as a hard plastic stopper.
Next, add the pencil. First thing is to create a mounting point on the pencil for the 1/8" bungee that connects the pencil to the slate. To do that use a small file to file a square trench in the plastic of the pencil, then you can use a small ziptie in the trench to secure the 1/8" bungee to the pencil. Knot the end of the bungee as you did previously, then tighten the bungee. Finally, tie the other end of the securing bungee to the bungee that secures the multiple slate layers. This it can slide on, giving you a little extra useful retention bungee length if you ever need it while allowing you to use a shorter length of bungee.
That's that.
