DIY Slates

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psiborg1812

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Messages
296
Reaction score
18
Location
Arlington, Texas
# of dives
200 - 499
Hey guys, the folk i work for need a bunch of slates, but aren't too happy about paying for them. Are there common plastic materials that will do just as well as the ones from the scuba shops? Thanks in advance!
 
Thin wall PVC pipe works nicely. Cut a length of 4 or 6 inch pipe in half length ways. Place it between heavy, flat objects ( I use 2- 12inch tiles off the padio table and a brick). Put it in the oven at around 250 deg F for about an hour then turn the oven off, allowing it to cool undisturbed. The plastic can be sawed on a table saw.
 
take em, drill a couple holes in them for thin bungee to hold a pencil and bolt snap. Use super glue and glue a $10 wally world compass on there and you're good to go.

Opposite of what Herman said, you can take the thin wall PVC and stack it on top of itself for a wrist mounted slate
 
slate

plastic is ordinary plastics from waste water tubes - white (kitchen)

I made one very similar to this the other day. I had all the parts as scraps from other projects so all it took was about an hour of my time.

I used 2 inch PVC and put it in the oven at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes in order to soften it (after cutting it lengthwise to split it) and then formed it around a 4" pvc pipe. I used the 2" PVC because it's a little thinner than the 4".
 
The thin wall waste water pipe is around 1/2 the thickness of pressure pipe- around 1/16 inch.
 
Try a piece of PVC Fencing. it is already flat. worked for me. the compass is a nice touch. I think I will add one.

Thanks
SoCalRich
 
Azek or Versatex (Composite trim boards) scraps work great for slates. I have made a few out of 1/4" material, and I have also cut 3/4" boards in half as well. I can make them in any size or shape I want and If I want to curve them I can do that with a heat gun rather quickly.
 
I've tried with the plastic from 20 liters paint cans. This type of plastic has a lot of unmolding compound to avoid the painting from sticking to the plastic wall, so a pencil also slip and makes writing underwater a nigthmare, even if you sand the writing surface.
I've finaly made my slate with a piece of plastic from a broken plastic chair, the part where it's flat. This type of plastic works a lot better.
The rest of the parts needed are scrapped things.
 

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