Pencil Stylus Needed

[cabindoors]

Have any of you ingenious Shopbotters designed or have found a pencil stylus that will fit in the chuck of the router? I am in need of one and thought that it would be very useful for many of you.

The pencil will then outline (on the material) any path of the shopbot program. Obviously the pencil should be held perpendicular to the material and be spring loaded to move up and down in the Z axis slightly. It should not move at all in the xy directions.

If you've made one please let me know

Tom

[gerald_d]

I made a stupidly simple thing years ago, but didn't limit myself by trying to get it into the chuck/collet. It mounted alongside the router. Basically two horizontal hacksaw blades acting as leaf-springs (one blade above the other, forming a parallelogram with the pencil).

[wayneo]

Tom,
I saw a spring-loaded one discussed or advertised someplace, but can't remember just where now. I will do some digging when I get home and see if I can find it. Seemed to me it was a rather simple, but clever idea and I believe it mounted directly in the router chuck.

On an aside, I think it might be useful to have a small laser that could be mounted in the chuck. This way you could locate various positions quite accurately on a piece to be cut. I have seen some small battery operated lasers. Maybe somebody knows if there is one that will fit within 1/2" and is centered accurately......???

Wayneo

[bleeth]

I stumbled on this while searching for something else:

To attach a pencil to your router is very easy.
If your router uses a 1/2" shank all you have to do is take some 1/2" doweling and cut it about 3" long,if you are close to a hobby shop pick up some nirod,it is used on rc aircraft to move the control services,try and get the biggest you can it comes in different colors I think blue is the strongest.what this does is one tube slides inside each other.now bore a hole the same size as the outer tube of the nirod ito the doweling.Dont bore all the way through,leave about an inch,next talk a spring out of a pen and put it into the dowel,slide the outer nirod tube into it you may have to glue it in place.Now take the inner nirod tube and slide it into the outer tube so that it hits the spring,cut it to the right length,take a lead from a pencil and press it into the end of the inner nirod it only has to be about 1/2" long, dont glue it in you will want to be able to change it as it will wear.Now just put it in your router and set your z depth just so the lead compresses the spring about 1/8 of an inch.I find this works very well because it keeps constant presser on the drawing surface,make sure you allow the correct z up for amount of spring travel.For the pencil leads you can either cut one out of a pencil or go to a stationary store and buy replacement leads.The hole assembly is only a few bucks and works very well.Happy drawing.
Greg Berscht

[tomj]

How about using a "Sharpie" permanent marker? It should fit into a 1/2" chuck and the felt tip should give enough so you don't have to worry about any springs of any sort. Although, the marker would wear out-but then you would have to sharpen a pencil fairly often too...could be a quick and dirty soulution unless you are depending on the finer line that a pencil would give you.

Tom

[stickman]

May I ask the reason for the marker or the pencil?

Jay

[jay]

I needed a pencil to make a template for a sign I was about to install. I took a one inch diameter piece of dowel x 3" long and drilled a 1/8" hole down the middle so that a 1/8" dowel could be inserted in the top to fit in the collet.

I then drilled out the bottom 2/3 just a bit larger than the pencils I had in the shop. Then take a small washer and with hot melt glue, glue it to the pencil just under the bottom of the 3" piece of dowel. Your pencil should be shorter than the hole you drilled up into the dowel to allow for some upward movement of the pencil so that it will not break or get jammed into the spoil board in your 'Z' happens to move.

You can now use larger washers to add what ever weight you desire to the pencil point depending on the pressure you need to leave a line.

As the pencil wears down you can still sharpen it in either a pencil sharpener or with your pocket knife.


5478

[cabindoors]

Wow, Thanks for the ideas!

I like all of your ideas. I never even thought about using weights to hold the pensil down. I assummed it had to be spring loaded. dah.

Also, if Dave or Jay could make one for me I'd like to try them. How much would you charge me for making one?

Also, A laser would not work for me in this case but IT WOULD MAKE A GREAT WAY TO ZERO TO A CORNER OF A BOARD!!!! since my eye sight is not as good as it once was.

Thanks again!

[bleeth]

I'm sure you can handle it Tom-They are both pretty low tech. Hunk of dowel in a vise and a hand drill is all you need.

[jay_p]

Wayne,

Here is a "drill/mill" laser that might work. I can't make any personal claims as to it's accuracy, but it is adjustable. I have considered buying one, but haven't yet.

http://www.avengerproducts.com/laser.asp

Jay