Steampunk Finger Stylus

I use a touchpad GPS regularly at work and lost the pen stylus a long time ago; it was inconvenient anyway trying to hold the stylus, GPS unit, and drive an ATV at the same time. So I made some finger stylussss?Stylii? from old water jug handles for work. For this Instructable I added some extra parts for fun Steampunk styling.

*update: This was used for pressure responsive touch screens like a Nintendo DS; to make this work for capacitive screens I would suggest adding a conductive coating like copper foil tape.

Step 1: Cut Handle Out of Water Jug

This is simple, just cut out a small section from the handle of the jug. Slip it over your finger and use a marker to draw a shape to make a pointer. Cut out the shape of the stylus pointer with some scissors.

Step 2: Plain Stylus Finish

Briefly hold the tip of the stylus in a flame to round it and keep it from being scratchy.
That's it for a plain finger stylus. Go to the next step to Steampunk it.

Step 3: Paint and Hot Glue Extra Stuff

Getting a sense of Steampunk style takes a little intuition and internet browsing for ideas. Steam water tanks, brass, copper, rivets, hoses, gears, adjustment screws, leather, and levers come to mind when I think of this design style.
I spray painted a base coat of silver onto the stylus; then I added some gold Victorian style picture frame stickers from the hobby store sticker section. Finally, with hot glue I added some circuit board components and a brass screw.

Comments

[Honda Enoch]

Ok, Does this work? It does not make sense. A standard stylus is metal with a special rubber tip. It uses the electricity from your body (your hand) and makes connection to the screen to work.

I have taken them apart and put the rubber tip on a plastic pen and it would not work. it has to be metal.

[robbtoberfest]

Honda, this is already dated somewhat; older touchscreens are more pressure sensitive rather than conductive like on most screens today ;)

[Honda Enoch]

Ah I see. I was wondering.

I wonder if you got some of the rubber tips from stylist pens and put on the tip and ran a wire from it to your finger if it would work.

I'll see what I can do and let you know. :)

[robbtoberfest]

Conductive paint.

[VIGNAUDM]

pour faire de la peinture conductrice mélanger reste charbon de bois de BBQ avec de la colle à papier peint

.to make the conductive paint mix remains charcoal BBQ with wallpaper glue

[Honda Enoch]

Never heard of it.

[robbtoberfest]

http://store.sbs4dcc.com/metaylor18silverconductivepaint.aspx

[Honda Enoch]

Cool. thanks :)

[Tubebird]

nice idea

[samuelblair6662]

That is really cool....

[Liesel Herondale]

These are really cool! i made one for each finger lol

[TheBestUsernameEver]

wow.... AWESOME!!! N n

[Portaldominates]

I love it! I made one but I'm not even going to bother posting pictures... I had to use sharpie instead of paint.

[ishner]

to all the talk of conductive paint:
why not just make it out of metal?

preferably brass to keep with the steampunk thing

[sbrimer]

metal on the touch surface?

[twilightfox]

You have the best game for the DS ever! the final castle is so fun

[kakang_anip]

is that works for phone?

[wafflemaker878]

Awesome! Gonna make one. Where can you find those stickers?

[boocat]

http://www.markrichardsusa.com/products/stickers/peel-offs/

[ilikecake3]

If I want this to work and I use conductive paint, do I need a special tip?