DIY Stylus Tutorial

Here is my promised DIY stylus tutorial. It's so easy to make and works even better than either of the commerical styluses I've used.

What you'll need:

- a metal barrelled exacto knife, like the kind artists/graphic designers use. You can find them at hobby shops and craft stores easily.
- #0000 steel wool
- scissors

Instructions:

Get out your exacto knife:

You'll have to unscrew the top, leaving you with a barrel that has interior threading:

Once you have your empty metal barrel you'll also need a package of #0000 steel wool. The #0000 fineness is very important! Any other thickness will scratch your iPhone/iPod/iPad screen and nobody wants that. The #0000 grade is used in polishing glass so your screen will be fine. When you go out trying to find this grade of steel wool ask in the painting supplies section of your hardware store. We had trouble finding ours until we did that:

Take out a pad of steel wool. When handling the steel wool you might want to wear a pair of thin rubber gloves. I've read that the tiny bits that come off can get in your skin. I am a reckless person and don't wear gloves when I handle it but you may want to take precautions:

Pull off a long tuft of the steel wool:

Cut the tuft into two pieces; one twice as long as the other. You will probably not use the whole tuft for this, just eyeball it:

Separate the bigger tuft into two and roll the smaller tuft into a ball:

Take one of the pieces from the tuft you separated and put it over the small ball as if you're putting a wig on it. Repeat with the other tuft but place it over the top of the first piece like you're making a cross, or giving the small ball a Cousin Itt wig:

Once the longer pieces are placed over the small ball take the loose ends and start twisting them together. The twist is loose in this photo but it will start to look like a steel wool q-tip head:

Twist the ends until they're tapered enough to start screwing into the threaded hole of the exacto knife like so:

Keep twisting the steel wool into the barrel until you're left with a small nub of steel wool at the tip. This is why you made the little ball; it gives the tip a nice little cushion that's held firmly in place by the stuff you've screwed in. The tip will probably look pointed because you've been pinching it with your fingertips to screw it in:

To shape the nub so that it's more rounded and gives enough contact with your screen just push on it with a fingertip or press it against a flat surface:

There you have your very own DIY stylus! If you think the nub is loose or still too puffy just repeat the last couple of steps until you're satisfied.

To answer a couple of questions: The steel wool nib lasts quite a while before needing replaced and since you use such a tiny amount the package of steel wool will last you a very long time. You shouldn't have to put any more money into the life of your stylus after buying the initial supplies (unless you already had them laying around the house to begin with in which case free!)

The steel wool WILL NOT scratch your screen, I swear. As long as you're using #0000 steel wool it won't harm it. You're on your own if you use any other thickness than #0000.

Any metal barreled body for the stylus will work; the exacto knife ones are great for this because you screw the steel wool inside and don't need to use any kind of tape or adhesive. If you have a fancy metal pen barrel or something you want to use instead go for it; you'll probably just have to find an alternative way to keep the steel wool attached.

Here's a blurry video of me using the stylus to mess around a little just to give you an idea of how responsive it is: