Steampunk Finger Stylus

by robbtoberfest

137K809208

Intro: 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.

209 Comments

Honda Enoch 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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

Honda Enoch 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

Conductive paint.

VIGNAUDM 7 years ago

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 11 years ago

Never heard of it.

robbtoberfest 11 years ago

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

Honda Enoch 11 years ago

Cool. thanks :)

Tubebird 7 years ago