Sketching Stylus for Ipad From Ready-made Materials

by thin-k-up in Circuits > Apple

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Sketching Stylus for Ipad From Ready-made Materials

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We were experimenting with various ready-made materials to create a stylus for a continous sketching experience. We wanted the stylus,
1. to support changing wrist angles in smooth sketching (rather than only 45-90 degree holding position) and rendering
2. to offer a sustainable alternative to head part of existing high end styluses like wacom bamboo and alupen
3. to have a real-pen-like weight balance for better sketching experience


Material and Tools

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To build this stylus you need:

- metal knob (from ikea house or similar)
- a bolt and some nut (all same thread size with knob)
- a piece of textile (any textile that works when using between your pad and your finger)
- a rubber band

For retro cover: 
- a Rotring (or similar) mechanical pencil (broken ones are preferrable) 

Tools:
- a craft knife (for cutting the rero-cover, for cutting the piece of textile you might also prefer a scissors)

Preparing the Cover

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The only step where you would need some hand work is preparing the cover (if you want a cover). So, if you want a cover, disassemble your mechanical pencil, and use the plastic tube as a cover for your stylus. Cut the tube to a shorter size than of your bolt. Do not forget: the plastic cover should be much shorter than the bolt as you should be holding from the metal when sketching. After cutting the tube, put the bolt through the tube and fix it with a nut. We placed some more nut between the metal knob and the plastic cover, as I usually change holding position when sketching. If the plastic cover is much larger than the bolt, you can fix it by pushing paper or similar material between the bolt and the cover. 

Finish and Play

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Assemble the round head (the knob) with the bolt, cover the knob with a textile piece and fix the textile piece with a rubber band. You are done. Change the textile whenever needed. Your sustainable 2$ ipad stylus is there. It also works with other tablets, we only tested it on ipad in detail. Enjoy sketching and rendering.