I have an older tablet that came without a pen, and I've recently started using it for drawing. My finger works for basic input, but it's too imprecise for detailed sketches. I made a temporary stylus from a cotton swab and aluminum foil, but the cotton has to stay damp for the screen to detect it, and it eventually falls apart.
Before buying a replacement stylus, I'd like to know whether I can make a reliable one from household materials. Do commercial touchscreen styluses use silicone, conductive rubber, or another material? What could work as a safe, reasonably precise tip?
3 Answers
A simple homemade option is a piece of soft metal wire connected to your hand, but be careful: an exposed wire can scratch the glass. It would need a rounded, smooth end and should be used gently. A damp cotton tip works because the moisture conducts electricity, but it’s fragile and not very practical.
Most tablets use capacitive touch, so the stylus needs to conduct a small electrical signal from your hand to the screen. A soft tip made from conductive silicone, conductive rubber, or fabric containing metal fibers can work. Ordinary rubber and pencil erasers usually won’t register because they aren’t conductive.
Commercial basic styluses generally use a soft silicone or rubber nub mixed with conductive material. They work about as well as a fingertip, but the tip has to be fairly broad, so they won’t provide the precision or pressure sensitivity of a tablet-specific active pen. A cheap capacitive stylus is probably more reliable than a homemade cotton-and-foil version.
I was hoping to build one from things already at home, but I’ll probably try an inexpensive capacitive stylus instead.
I tried a pencil eraser, but the tablet didn’t detect it at all. That makes sense if it isn’t conductive.