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-- Making your own 3 in 1 pen. (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=3454)

I had received many people asking for details on how to make their own 3 in one pen for $3 as I had mentioned earlier in a post. Here is the scoop:

> In one of your posts, you hint at making a 3 way stylus for $3. Details?
> Mike

Hi Mike, I don't have the part numbers handy but go to Walmart or a stationary store and look in the pen refill section. There you'll see a variety of refills that are metal with a _black_ plastic back end. You need two different ones.

One is long and the metal is much thinner than your Visor Stylus It fits CROSS pens. The plastic on that one is ridged and has a screw on end. Just pull the black plastic cap off of the metal barrel. I got two for $1.39 I think. There are serveral makers. I think I even remember seeing ones that used a plastic barrel which is probably even cheaper and the end cap is likely to be the same. This end cap you pulled off of the refill becomes the cover for the pen tip. The rest of the pen refill you can save for some other fun project.

The other refill you need is shorter with a thicker barrel that narrows down towards the writing tip. The plastic is shorter and more pointy on this one. This refill is the same diameter as the Visor pen. I tried several and they all worked: "PaperMate Lubriglide Med Pt USA K7" are the markings on one; "Sanford� No. 51411 1.0 99.AB JAPAN" are the markings on the other. THe PaperMate one is slightly longer and I like it better. Other than that they look virtually identical.

Here's what to do:
...Take the plastic back end from the Cross refill and pull it off.
...Slip that over the writing tip of the PaperMate.
...Pull out the PaperMate's plastic back end.
...Bend a short length of paper clip to fit into the Papermate's back plastic.
...Reinsert the PaperMate's back plastic where it came from.

How far in the pen refill sits in the two plastics determines how long the final stylus will be. I like mine so it sticks out just a little from the top. Even with it flush to the top it is still easy to get out (I have finger nails) and if you wanted you could do a little custom plastic molding to add a hook like the Visor stylus has. Frankly, I don't like the Visor hook because it rubs on the webbing of my hand between my thumb and first finger so this is a big improvement over that.

Voila, you have a nice silver and black pen/stylus/resetpin. Cost, about $3 and about 5 minutes work. That $3 actually gives you two stylus -- what a deal!

In addition to this, I have a second 'real' pen in my Visor case/wallet. The case I made carries my Visor, checks, money, credit cards, spare batteries, etc. It is hardly bigger than the Visor and a regular pen is too long to fit (ugh). I wanted to have a nice pen with it as well as the stylus pen just because I like having a nice pen. I have several nice Cross pens and decided to modify one to fit. This doesn't fit into the Visor but it is nicer for real writing when I have longer work to do by paper and pen since it is heavier, longer and thicker (and prettier). I took the top barrel of the Cross pen off and using my finest jewelers saw (sort of like a very fine toothed hacksaw) I cut off about 3/8"(?) reducing the length of the pen so it now fits into the wallet yet is still a joy to use. It doesn't actually look all that different (shorter). This is a much more expensive way to go and it doesn't fit inside the Visor but I thought I would mention it since it does create a pen that fits inside the case.

Enjoy,

-Walter

PS. Of course! You are responsible for your own actions and I take no responsibility if you poke yourself, burn yourself, scratch your screen, blow up the world, etc, etc, etc!

PPS. I have gotten such a huge response from people emailing me for details I'm going to post this. I hope you don't mind if I use you're querry.


------------------
Walter


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