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Hot take: I used to think a 0.5mm lead was too thin for construction docs
Last month in Phoenix, I was detailing a steel connection on a tight deadline. My usual 0.7mm kept smudging on the vellum. On a whim, I grabbed a 0.5mm Pentel from my kit, and the crisp lines saved me a ton of erasing time. It made the whole sheet look cleaner, which the engineer actually pointed out. Anyone else switch to a finer lead for certain jobs and stick with it?
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blair_taylor3229d ago
That Pentel 0.5mm is a game changer for vellum. I switched to a Rotring 0.35mm after a similar thing happened to me on a set of foundation plans in Tucson last July. The heat was making my 0.7mm lead smear like crazy, and the eraser was just making it worse. Now I use the 0.35mm for all my final markups, but I keep a 0.9mm in my bag for rough sketches and quick notes on scrap paper. Do you ever find the 0.5mm snapping too easy when you're bearing down hard on a detail?
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jessica1302mo ago
Oh man, totally get that. I switched to 0.5mm for all my redline markups on prints. The thicker leads would just blob on the Mylar, especially when you're writing fast. The finer point lets you cram notes into tiny details without it turning into a big gray mess. It just looks more professional when you hand it back.
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