Have you lost your stylus? Do you need additional accuracy when drawing on a tablet or have trouble using the touch screen while wearing gloves? There's no need to waste money buying a new stylus if you can make your own with common household items.
Step
Method 1 of 4: Get to Know Your Touch Screen
Step 1. Find the type of touchscreen used by your device
There are several types of touch screens and your stylus may not work with all types.
- iPhones, iPads, Androids, Kindles, and many other smartphones and tablets have capacitive touch screens, which require an electrical conductor (like the human body) to recognize where contact is occurring.
- The Nintendo DS, Nook, and some other phones and e-readers use resistive or infrared touch screens, which only require pressure to identify where the contact is. You can use anything as a custom stylus-just be careful not to scratch the screen.
Step 2. Test your screen if you're not sure
Touch your screen with the tip of the pen cap. If your device responds, then the touch screen it has is resistive or infrared. If there is no effect, then your screen is off.
Method 2 of 4: Making a Stylus with a Sponge (Capacitive Screen)
Step 1. Gather the ingredients
Find a clean washing sponge (not a scrubbing sponge) and a ballpoint pen with a removable lid.
- Cheap plastic ballpoint pens will work, as long as you can easily remove the cap and remove the ink.
- A slightly clear ballpoint pen will make it easier for you to see what you are doing.
Step 2. Cut the sponge the width of a ballpoint pen
You can estimate this size by holding the pen to the sponge and marking the measurement with a marker, or just estimating it.
Step 3. If the sponge has a rough side to rub (like a Scotch-Brite sponge), cut or tear it
Anything abrasive can damage your screen. You only need the sponge part.
Step 4. Wash and dry the sponge
Some sponges have added soap in them, so it's safer to rinse the sponge in warm water. Squeeze out all the water and let it dry.
Step 5. Remove the plastic cap and the inside of the ballpoint pen-the pen tip, ink tank, and spring if it's a pressure pen
You will only have an empty pen holder.
You should be able to pull out the ends with just your hands. If you're having trouble, try using sharp-tipped pliers
Step 6. Insert the sponge into the ballpoint pen
Pinch the sponge to make it smaller and push it all the way to the bottom of the pen.
Step 7. Let the sponge protrude 0.3 to 0.6 cm from the tip of the pen
Use your fingers to spread and soften the sponge.
Step 8. Hold the stylus near the tip for it to work
Your finger needs to touch the base of the ballpoint pen that is in contact with the sponge. If you hold the empty part of the pen, the electromagnetic waves will not flow through the sponge and your touch screen will not recognize the touch of the stylus.
Method 3 of 4: Making a Stylus with Aluminum Sheet (Capacitive Screen)
Step 1. Gather the ingredients
You will need about 30 cm of aluminum sheet, any tape, and an unsharpened pencil. You will also need a sharp knife to sharpen your pencil.
If you don't have a pencil, you can replace it with a ballpoint pen, chopsticks, stick-anything that looks like a writing instrument. A pencil or other wooden object is the best option, as you will be cutting your stylus until it has a flat end
Step 2. Use a sharp knife to sharpen the tip of the pencil into a flat, beveled end
You won't sharpen a pencil the way you would use it to write. The beveled end should have a flat surface of at least four millimeters, about the size of a pencil eraser on your fingertip. Most touchscreens won't recognize a touch from anything smaller.
- The stylus can be used at this point, but you will need to hold it upright. You will not be comfortable holding it.
- Be careful when using a knife. Remember to cut away from your body. Do not move the knife towards you.
Step 3. Wrap the pencil with at least two layers of aluminum sheet
Fold the aluminum sheet neatly at the ends.
If you use a ballpoint pen, leave the cap on while you coat it
Step 4. Smooth the aluminum sheet over the beveled end of your pencil
It should be smooth and flat at the ends. Do not let there be wrinkles or lumps.
If the edges are uneven, your stylus may not work
Step 5. Wrap a piece of tape around the pencil
This will keep the aluminum sheet in place.
Step 6. Wrap the tip of the stylus with scotch tape
This will protect your screen from scratches that the aluminum sheet can cause.
Step 7. Try your stylus to make sure it works
If it doesn't work, try to make it flatter. Remember that you need a tip that is at least the same size as your eraser or your stylus won't be recognized by your touch screen.
Method 4 of 4: Making a Stylus with Wooden Chopsticks (Resistive or Infrared Screen)
Step 1. Gather the ingredients
You will need a chopstick, sandpaper, and something to sharpen the wood. A hand-twisted pencil sharpener is the easiest way, but you can also sharpen a pencil with a sharp knife if you don't have a pencil sharpener.
Try not to use an electric pencil sharpener-the chopsticks can break
Step 2. Sharpen the tip of the chopsticks (the small end that comes into contact with the food) with a pencil sharpener
Don't sharpen as much as you would with a pencil-you need to make it have a blunt end.
Step 3. Smooth the edges with sandpaper
The sharp edges may damage the touch screen (or harm you). Rub the ends with sandpaper until they are blunt. The result is painless when pressed against your skin.
Smooth all the rough edges of the chopsticks so you don't get stabbed
Step 4. Decorate your stylus with Washi tape or paint
Several layers of tape wrapped around the stylus can make it more comfortable to grip.
