Jump to content

Pencils, Mechanical or Otherwise


Asithappens

Recommended Posts

2 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

A mechanical abacus, perhaps a Rychlo Poctar?

Addfeet junior.  You can add up dimensions from thousands of feet down to 1/8" increments. It's how we used to verify dimensions on a floor plan so it would close for the civil engineers before they sited them.  I remember working in my first architectural firm, and the head guy would come around with one and check your work as you were dimensioning plans, by hand of course.

The slots are all increments in thousands, hundreds, tens, one feet and fractions. You'd use a stylus to add dimensions into the thing, and it would add them upon or subtract them depending on how you slid the stylus up or down in the slots with a corresponding number.  Great little tool I still keep it handy when contractors try to tell me their isn't room for something I've dimensioned, usually it's they've been less than accurate in their framing  layouts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, B1G said:

hp11c best ever.

Yes it is. You can see the trig function keys don't get used much anymore. CAD has turned it into a regular calculator, I'm afraid. It is the first calculator I bought as an engineer and it will retire with me later this year. I get a kick out of handing it to guys on the floor and watching them try to get an answer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Niji 500 was the hot shit when I was an engineering student about a jillion years ago. Typical .7mm lead but it had a cool feature. You push in on the pocket clip part of it, and it retracts the whole tip inside itself. Push on the ass end like a typical ink pen and it comes back out and locks in place. Even better this made a click going in and out, so you could sit around clicking it in and out and annoying everyone else while doing so.

s-l1600.jpg

Some other company was making them about 10 years ago, yasutomo or something like that.
The Pentel click eraser, mentioned earlier in the thread was also the hot setup.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, Shoxthemonkey said:

Yes it is. You can see the trig function keys don't get used much anymore. CAD has turned it into a regular calculator, I'm afraid. It is the first calculator I bought as an engineer and it will retire with me later this year. I get a kick out of handing it to guys on the floor and watching them try to get an answer.

I had an HP 48SX from 1992 until 2011 when it finally croaked on me.  Thing had been dropped off balconies, dropped into mud pits, even run over by a car and kept on ticking.  I wound up replacing it with an HP Prime but never got used to it; felt flimsy and never liked the way the keys felt.  I eventually went on Amazon and got a refurbished 48 SX which I still use today.

calculatorsource_2270_14011200

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use a 25 year old solar powered calculator (add, subtract, multiply, divide and sometimes Pi). I only need basic math functions for my work unless I'm doing some complex form that might require higher maths.. Then I call my engineer, and get him to help me make that shit do what I want it to do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Asithappens said:

May I kindly remind the forum that this is a post dedicated to all things pencil?

Thank you.

I’m starting a hipster group in Austin for abacus and slide rule aficionados.  It’s so fucking pure man!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a sensory issue with normal pencils. The sound of lead on paper is far worse than nails on a chalkboard. By the time I was in high school, I'd switched to Papermate #2 mechanical pencils, the ones that look like real pencils and where you twist the tip to extrude the lead. These days the only pencils I use are colored pencils for ticking and tying small sets of hardcopy workpapers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A bunch of old ass dudes on here with good penmanship no doubt!

Reverse Polish Notation calculators for the win!

 

I don't use pencils, but the Pilot Varsity pen is my writing utensil of choice.    It's a disposable fountain pen.

 

Pilot-Varsity-Black-NW-3_400x.jpg?v=1525

 

 

Edited by Doze
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Doze said:

A bunch of old ass dudes on here with good penmanship no doubt!

Reverse Polish Notation calculators for the win!

 

I don't use pencils, but the Pilot Varsity pen is my writing utensil of choice.    It's a disposable fountain pen.

 

Pilot-Varsity-Black-NW-3_400x.jpg?v=1525

 

 

Got a damned scribe in our midst.  

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’m a pen guy. Zebra F-402.  I’ve had the same one  for 20+ years either in my shirt pocket or in the whiskey glass I use for a pen holder on my desk. Been through a few refills but it’s the same pen.  A close second, and don’t judge me on this, is those fat red and silver pens they give you at the Marriott. I fucking love me a Marriott pen. Pure comfort in your writing hand. 

 Couple years ago I got a Cross pen as a gift. What a piece of shit. Skinny little thing is awkward to hold and very unstable.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, mulletpelini said:

Pancel talk not going away

I like your shirt.   I really like your pance, why don’t you take off your pance?  /bornineastLA

Edited by Lobo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Mr.Hovis said:

I remember seeing a post on the old site where someone etched a really detailed train and bridge out of the lead in a carpenters pencil. Thought it was pretty cool. 

That's all I got.

Tunnel.jpg?resize=750,716pencil-lead-carving-scale-600.jpg

Edited by retread
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...