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The Ultimate Android Stylus = +FREE!

4 replies [Last post]
Wed, 06/17/2015 - 21:54
questccg
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Looking over what kinds of stylus are offered for an Android phone, I came to an "interesting" conclusion:

  • Why not use OLD DRIED FELT TIP PENS as the Ultimate Stylus?

Ok so I have not tried it, but felt is a softer material and my guess is that it would not scratch the surface of the phone...

BUT the problem is that I have no way of currently testing this...

People wondered what to do with their dried up felt tip pens - especially since they used to dry out naturally!!! This is a 100% recyclable purpose for them...

I had one of those sets of 60 pens that were all dried out... Think how useful they could be! Just thinking GREEN! :)

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Thu, 06/18/2015 - 01:38
#1
Soulfinger
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You know that you can restore

You know that you can restore dried pens and markers with water, vinegar, or rubbing alcohol, depending on the medium, right? You may be able to continue using your old pen set.

Plus, considering that a stylus can be had for less than a dollar, there's not much need to find an alternative. I'm also fairly sure that the tip must be conductive to work with a capacitative touch screen, so a pen may work for a resistive touchscreen but not ones designed for the human finger.

If you want to be green, get yourself a Cross or a nice Montblanc, and a set of refillable Copic art pens, instead of relying on disposables. A good pen makes a difference.

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Thu, 06/18/2015 - 08:59
#2
larienna
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I have tried using dry erase

I have tried using dry erase marker on card sleeves and it left marks afterward. I suspect that for device with plastic surface, it could be an issue. Those made of glass should be less prone to scrath.

Personally, I would remommend just buying a stylus. I bought one with rubber tip for my tablet a few weeks ago and it cost me 5$ and it works very well.

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Thu, 06/18/2015 - 17:30
#3
richdurham
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sorry mate

There are two technical hurdles to overcome in creating a stylus for current capacitive touch screens.

  1. You need to use a nice anti-static capacitive material. I don't think felt-tip pens meet that criteria.
  2. It needs to be of sufficient diameter to trigger the sensors response. That's 4mm. That's a big felt-tip pen.

A recent work-around to the tip size is to fake it by using a smaller tip that generates its own electric field to fool the device into thinking there is a +4mm tip touching it.

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Thu, 06/18/2015 - 18:10
#4
questccg
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Interesting!?!?

richdurham wrote:
1. You need to use a nice anti-static capacitive material. I don't think felt-tip pens meet that criteria.

Was not aware that static would be a problem. Not sure that felt-tip against plastic will generate static or not?!?!

richdurham wrote:
2. It needs to be of sufficient diameter to trigger the sensors response. That's 4mm. That's a big felt-tip pen.

That's the freaken problem: they're to FAT! 4mm is the size of a pinky and is TOO FAT! I wanted something like 2mm (medium tip size)...

Thanks for that link, that's exactly the sort of stylus I was looking for! :D

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