Pencil extender/hook/lanyard combo

thingiverse

I use pencils because they can write on soaking wet paper — essential for field ecology surveys — but I also wanted some extra doodads to make pencils even more convenient for me. This pencil extender press-fits onto the end of your pencil, increasing its length so that you can use it right down to the stub. It has an integrated hook for attaching it to your pocket or strapping, plus a lanyard hole for tying the pencil to a clipboard or hanging it around your neck. Print Settings Printer Brand: Printrbot Printer: Simple Black Rafts: No Supports: No Infill: At least 20% Notes: Print vertically, as the STL is oriented. Infill needs to be at least 20% so that the hook can withstand some flexure. A print at 10% produced a completely hollow hook which snapped easily. Post-Printing The lanyard hole is designed as a hexagon for printability, so it's a good idea to deburr/countersink it to soften the edges for your lanyard material. You will need to shave some paint from the end of your pencil to make it fit, but don't take too much off; remember that this is supposed to be a tight friction fit. You can also glue the pencil into the extender if you like. How I Designed This Specification I own an old pencil extender from who knows when, styled very much like the ones below: These are 'bullet' style extenders, and the metal bullet part on the left is a hollow shell that is friction-fitted to the end of a pencil stub. When you want to use the pencil, you remove the bullet+stub and replace it backwards into the body, giving you a long handle on the end of your pencil stub. I'll definitely reproduce this design in a future upload, but for my fieldwork I wanted something that came in one piece so that it would be tough and easy to access. I also wanted to put it on the end of a fresh full-length pencil so that it could add a hook and lanyard hole to any pencil, which the bullet extenders typically lacked. Notable design decisions You'll notice that there is a small hole in the side of the model. This is a pipe that vents the pencil hole to the outside, allowing you to fully insert the pencil without trapping air behind it and causing it to pop back out. I call the hook a 'hook' and not a 'clip' because it can't actually clip anything, and this is by design. I know from previous projects that a friction hook made from PLA will simply stop working; the plastic conforms to the shape of whatever it's clipping, all your friction is lost, and then you have a worthless clip. Instead, I thought about how I used Sharpies and realised that I never actually use the clip to fasten the Sharpie at all: I put the Sharpie in my pocket and use the clip to stop the Sharpie from falling in. A hook does this job in exactly the same way, and as an added bonus, the angled-in design of the hook adds some grabbing power to it anyway. Version history and source Version history v1, 03 Dec 2015: Initial release. Tinkercad source document https://www.tinkercad.com/things/gL3dejJkrhj-pencil-extender