I've been trying to make a holder for a mechanical pencil for my mill. I wanted to check for anomalies of a drawing on a flat piece of material. It's hard to see what's actually going on in mid-air!
I've tried ball point pens (unpredictable results regarding ink flow)
I've tried pencils (lead rubs away prior to finishing drawing at stationary z-axis)
I've tried ultra-fine tipped markers (tip collapses and are too long to fit in center spindle without cutting; hence messy)
So, I got the idea to make it spring loaded but I don't have the correct drill bit size needed to bore for the mechanical pencil or it's internals to slide in a holder.
I've search the net again and found Ken Jenkins plotter pen idea (which is almost identical to my trials and efforts), but the site shows "Last changed October 1, 2003".
http://kj.cloudcitydigital.com/pages/CNCplotterpen.html
I sent an email to the link listed on the page above, but it got kicked back as no longer available.
ANYONE making one of these for sale?
I've search the net and found lots of patents but no one selling a pencil holder.
And Yes! I have searched these forums already, LOL!
Vogavt............