Cardboard pencil holder "Stabb-it"

Here's the Stabb-it, a cardboard pencil holder two school colleagues, Kim B. Deland and Simon Hamel, and myself made!
Easy to build with laser cutting (or with an x-acto knife) and fun to use, you literally "stab" the pencil holder with your drawing/writing stuff! Submitted by DIN 2012, Université de Montréal, industrial design program, for the Instructables Sponsorship Program.

You will need:

1 cardboard sheet of approximately 385mm (15,16 inches) of height and 590mm (23,12 inches) of length. (I found mine in the recycle bin and adjusted it to fit inside the laser cutting machine)

1 4 inches long bolt with a diameter of 3/8 inch

1 3/8 inch nut

1 3/8 inch washer

The illustrator file provided with the instructable for the laser cutting machine (there's also a pdf version

Step 1: Laser cutting

Send the illustrator file to the laser cutting machine with an accordingly fitting size cardboard sheet depending on the size of your machine if the suggested cardboard size doesn't fit. You should end up with two spare cardboard squares out of the 24 on the .ai file since you'll be needing 22 of them later on. (the two extra squares are not included in the picture)

Stabb-It.ai1 MB

Stabb-It.pdf194 KB

Step 2: Assembly

Simple stuff now!
Stack the 22 cardboard squares on the bolt.
Put the washer.
Put the nut.

Pretty simple isn't it? :)

Step 3: Stab the Stabb-it and twist it!

Now that your Stabb-it is complete, feel free to stab it with your pen, pencils, and other small tools! As it gets older and wears out, it will start to look like and old book with old pages and get a new look!
You can also twist your pencil holder and obtain interesting shapes and have your own little modern art sculpture on your desk! :)

chibimaddy says: Oct 10, 2012. 7:35 AM

Fab idea. I will make one, I have a need for this for things other than pencils. Thanks for sharing!!

bananaboxdesign says: Jul 7, 2012. 9:29 AM

This is wicked, I made one, I took the idea of using the cardboard but changed the idea of using the bolt, I also added some wooden ends. anyway, its a great design, very simple, eco friendly and looks cool!

pipsqueakboy in reply to bananaboxdesignSep 8, 2012. 4:36 PM

I like the way you don't have the bolt in your design, but the one thing it lacks is the ability to twist the pieces in a spiral, which is cool.

Raton_malhabile (author) in reply to bananaboxdesignJul 20, 2012. 4:58 PM

Thanks a lot! It looks really nice with the wooden ends! The contrast between the cardboard and the wood looks great! What did you use to hold everything together?

bananaboxdesign in reply to Raton_malhabileJul 21, 2012. 2:30 AM

Thank you! I just used hot glue to stick it all together.

Kawthar Xoubi says: Aug 6, 2012. 3:31 AM

very neat and look great!
i am thinking to try this but with number of thin polystyrene boards

bramblebee100 says: Jun 22, 2012. 4:23 AM

thanks a lot....it's so simple and yet useful.But i think it doesn't just can hold pencil and pens right? like maybe a short ruler,scissors,important notes,etc.