Home made Stylus for Nook

[jgaf]

I've been waiting for week to get my materials to make the home made stylus, finally the most important piece arrived. This took hours to get it to work right. It was a lot easier to get a working stylus for an iPod Touch, but after some tinkering, screaming, sweating and fails I got a pretty good working one. Check out my youtube video (sorry for the bad quality, did on a digital kodak camera very baaad):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujdsEt5zX8I

 

[mgs526]

http://lifehacker.com/5836870/build...n-the-cheap-with-a-ballpoint-pen-and-a-sponge

Here one I read about, don't know if it would work or not though.

 

[MISRy]

I just use a chop stick. Must be hundreds of them floating around my house of different styles, materials, points. Same at work just not so many. I hang on to one for a while, lose/misplace it and it'll take me a day or two to settle on another. No muss no fuss.

 

[EverythingNook]

Quick question, can you please tell me where you got all the materials?

 

[jgaf]

Quick question, can you please tell me where you got all the materials?

The most important piece, the conductive foam, I got it from ebay. Just search conductive foam, I got a 4" x 4" still have more than half left. I'm thinking that the wire and metal casing are unnecessary, so any pen or pencil casing should do. What I have discovered so far is that the Nook stylus I made requires a large surface, like you see in the video. I wanted it to be really thin at the beginning that's why it didn't work, since the NC screen isn't as responsive as we would all want.

Anyways, the wire I used, I got it from an old coaxial cable (TV cable). Also, I got the idea from this video, which is a lot more instructive than mine...I just wanted to test it in the NC:

http://youtu.be/4YE8rGuLCtU

 

[EverythingNook]

I think im going to try a sponge before i get conductive foam.

 

[Harlley Sathler]

Very nice! Did you tried to slim the tip of conductive foam?
What is the notebook software are you using on the video?

 

[jgaf]

Very nice! Did you tried to slim the tip of conductive foam?
What is the notebook software are you using on the video?

At first I was trying to get the tip to be the thinnest possible, so it would mimic a ball point pen, but apparently the LCD in the NC need a bigger surface to respond to touches. I was able to get a thin version working on an iPod Touch 3G no problem. I'm going to try to make a new following the video that inspired me, I just need a more flexible wire to make it. Anyways, the app I used is called Handrite

 

[Crwly]

I'm not sure why you'd go to the trouble when you can get a stylus for a couple of bucks on Amazon...

 

[Harlley Sathler]

Because of curiosity and creativity and inventively spirit?

These are what moves us, geeks, ahead. I did some styli myself and be proud of this.

 

[EverythingNook]

I'm not sure why you'd go to the trouble when you can get a stylus for a couple of bucks on Amazon...

Most of them dont work very well with the nook.

 

[jgaf]

I'm not sure why you'd go to the trouble when you can get a stylus for a couple of bucks on Amazon...

This experiment cost me less than 2 bucks, since I used everyday materials around the house. The only thing I had to buy was the foam, which I still have more than half left, maybe for making more or using them for other stuff like transporting cpus xD

Edit: Oh and you might find the foam in everyday electronics too, like HDD casings, tv remotes, etc. So you could get a working (proven to work on NC) stylus for free.

 

[EverythingNook]

This experiment cost me less than 2 bucks, since I used everyday materials around the house. The only thing I had to buy was the foam, which I still have more than half left, maybe for making more or using them for other stuff like transporting cpus xD

Edit: Oh and you might find the foam in everyday electronics too, like HDD casings, tv remotes, etc. So you could get a working (proven to work on NC) stylus for free.

Where exactly in remotes, like where the battery goes?

 

[jgaf]

Where exactly in remotes, like where the battery goes?

Not quite sure I remember reading it somewhere. I have seen some in an external hdd casing, it helps to reduce static

Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk

 

[phantom9000]

http://lifehacker.com/5836870/build...n-the-cheap-with-a-ballpoint-pen-and-a-sponge

Here one I read about, don't know if it would work or not though.

it works and it was really easy to make

 

[Blue6IX]

Yesterday I had my Nook sitting open on my desk, and plugged in my phone.

The cord dragged over the screen of the Nook, and the keyboard happened to be open. Everywhere the cord touched it tapped a letter.

I tried it again with the cord plugged in to AC, but not the phone...and nothing.

Plugged the phone back in, and was able to tap keys again using the cord.

Maybe we could get a battery-operated stylus that just runs power down to the tip .

I'm thinking triple-a battery, small insulated wire down to, then acting as, the tip, and simply return up to the other end of the battery.

No clue if this would be bad for the screen or not, but as long as it's a low level of power, can't see why it would be.

We have some very creative people here who have the skills to not only make something like this happen, but regulate the flow of power through the wire from the battery.

My thought is that since the screen isn't so great for a stylus on the Nook, maybe enhancing the tapping power of the stylus would help.

For anyone who has no clue what they are doing but wants to try anyways, DO NOT use exposed wire, and in any event i'm not responsible for what happens with the use/misuse/abuse of this information.

Any thoughts on this?

ETA:

Maybe a small triple-a flashlight would make a good starting base for this project, a lot of them go real cheap anymore. Just do away with the light itself, and replace it with a wire. You get a switch already built in and all that way.

 

[GuTsaV]

Text...

That was interesting, but I must ask, will a powered stylus perform any better than bought ones or homemade foam ones?

 

[Harlley Sathler]

I tried it again with the cord plugged in to AC, but not the phone...and nothing.

Plugged the phone back in, and was able to tap keys again using the cord.

Without the phone, there is no current flow on the cable, and no magnetic field around it, and so, no capacitance distortion.

 

[Blue6IX]

Without the phone, there is no current flow on the cable, and no magnetic field around it, and so, no capacitance distortion.

Yea, this I didn't know until I found out by accident. I had always just assumed there was, but now know that unless something is drawing power it's in a static state.

That was interesting, but I must ask, will a powered stylus perform any better than bought ones or homemade foam ones?

That is the question that I posed. If no one else is curious enough to find out, i'll get around to this eventually.

I have a handful of pen-light flashlights floating around here, it would be a simple matter to replace the led with a wire and find out.

When I find time to solder one in i'll let you know how it goes. My job is taking up way more time then i'd like in my life at the moment, so who knows when that'll be.

 

[Harlley Sathler]

I have a handful of pen-light flashlights floating around here, it would be a simple matter to replace the led with a wire and find out.

When I find time to solder one in i'll let you know how it goes. My job is taking up way more time then i'd like in my life at the moment, so who knows when that'll be.

If you replace the LED by a wire, you will get a short-circuit on the batteries, what means that even if it works as a stylus, you will get your batteries hot and discharged very quickly.

Not to say that is dangerous if the batteries get hot!

Another way would be apply the Ohm's Law and calculate a resistor to replace the LED, but I don't know if this idea (a powered stylus) would be an energy efficient circuit...