Contributor
I use the Pentel Side FX because the lead advance is right at the barrel, not the top, and I can advance the lead without changing grip and moving the pencil from whatever I'm laying out. When the lead breaks, and it will because I use QSWO almost all the time, a simple click and back in biz.
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Stand for something, or you'll fall for anything.
Contributor
Those were my go to before the switch to the pentel 1k, I liked them for the long erasure but found I never make mistakesso I switched...
Originally Posted by Ken Fitzgerald
Contributor
And over 20 years estimating I have tried a few. These are the ones I didn't just toss.
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Stand for something, or you'll fall for anything.
Member
I’ve tried all kinds of pencils but the best one is still the Papermate mechanical yellow pencil.
Don
Contributor
I use the El Cheapo Bic Xtra Precision pencils with .5 mm lead. Like others have mentioned, the elves love them, so I usually purchase 2 dozen at a time. They work well with my Woodpecker items and I like a really a very fine point, even when just scribbling a note for myself.
Member
Change the lead; different brands have different quality. I have a couple dozen mechanical, mostly 0.5mm and some 0.7mm. For incra you need 0.5mm
Member
I use 2mm mechanical drafting pencils with hard lead. (Yeah, I still design on paper.) They stay sharp a nice long time. The Alvin Tech-Matic is a good serviceable unit.
Get yourself a drafting pencil sharpener, while you're at it.
Surprised how many respondents must not have read the OP. Those that answered with 0.5 mm lead did. That is what is needed to fit in the tiny holes in the Incra instruments. Pentel seems to be the most commonly available lead.
Member
Will the point of a combo square scribe fit through the holes in an Incra? (I don't know since I don't have an Incra.)
If so, then the point of a similarly-sharpened drafting pencil also should fit.
Member
My Incra t rule is a precision device including the holes for the lead. It might be possible to sharpen a thicker lead to a fine enough tip but it is made for 0.5mm lead and I think it would be frustrating to use anything else. If they made the holes large, then the mark would not be at the indicated dimension.
Yes, I am sure it would. However I would think you would be reaching for the sharpener every other scribe. Nearly 40 years since I used a mechanical pencil for drafting. Even then most of my work was with ink. Nearly 100% of to-scale drafting these days is with CAD.
Last edited by Ole Anderson; 09-28-2019 at 9:52 AM.
NOW you tell me...
[OP]
Contributor
Received the UnaNanodia 0.5mm H lead, loaded up my Incra and Pentel mechanical pencils, boy what a difference, I tried marking with all the pencils and didn't break one piece of lead.
The Woodpeckers pencil needs 0.9mm, so I'm going to order some of that size as well.
Thanks for the recommendation.
Last edited by ChrisA Edwards; 09-29-2019 at 3:10 PM.
Another GraphGear guy here; .5 for Incra rules and .9 for general shop use.
"A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".
– Samuel Butler
Contributor
Penciljpg.jpg
This is the one I use daily. It's made by Berol. I bought several of them when I was in college 30 years ago, and still have all of them. This one is a .7mm; I have .5 and .9 as well as one .3. I use Foray HD lead in them. I bought a box of 100 packs at a close-out at the University book store one year. I think it will last me forever.
[OP]
Contributor
I received a pair of Zebra De;Guard pencils today. These are designed to make breaking the lead almost impossible. I tried them with my marking squares and just by themselves, they pretty much works advertised, I was unable to break the lead.
I've gone from being a frustrated OP to a happy camper.
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