How to Design & Print a Clipboard & Pencil Holder with Tinkercad

What do you do with a clipboard?

You write.

What do you write with? A pen or a pencil.

Since I often draft my work with a pencil, I thought—why not make my own clipboard pencil holder?

Modelling the Idea

In the example above, you’ll see how I like to model my designs. I copy and paste each iteration as I go, partly to document the process and partly to save time—if I need an edit, a spare part or want to revisit an earlier design, it’s just a copy-paste.

It also makes for a clean presentation. You can easily follow the steps of the clipboard pencil development.

Functional Iteration: Add a Grip Gap

One of the key refinements was adding a gap to improve the pencil’s grip. Unfortunately the PLA filament does not have the elasticity to flex. And so I ended up with a full ring design.

Put to Other Use?

Interestingly, I  also played around with placing it in different locations—on the side of the table, for example—where it worked surprisingly well.

Let's get that thing to work. The Hexagon Problem

Here’s where things got tricky.

The pencil slots were intentionally designed as hexagonal meant to match the cross-section of a typical pencil. I accounted for the exact dimensions of the pencil in my 3D model—but forgot about tolerance.

The 3D printer has a 0.4mm nozzle. That means it will print 0.2mm both sides of the printer head. As a result, the pencil didn’t fit, the hole was too small. After widening the hole by 0.4mm and more, it fit but was still a little loose. 

If I were to redesign the slot, I’ll make it round.

This clipboard pencil holder works just as expected. It fitted perfectly with the double clip. It’s magical when the pencil seem to float behind the spine of the double clip. Taking the pencil out and putting it back is a breeze. Overall I quite like the outcome. 

Above: Close-ups of the back view

Lesson Learned: Prototype the Pencil Slots First

Here’s a key insight from the process:

Next time, I’ll isolate and print just the part that holds the pencil—and do it in a range of slightly different profiles (round, hexagon, and so on) and sizes. That way, I will be able to test all the options at once and pick the best fit before embedding it into the full design. This will save filament, time, and frustration.

---

Your Turn

I hope you enjoyed this creation.

If it sparked your curiosity, why not try designing your own clipboard pencil holder? It doesn’t have to be based on mine—but feel free to borrow the idea and evolve it into something that fits your way of working.

And if you do, I’d love to see what you come up with. Share your designs with me! 

------------

Want to learn Tinkercad and start designing? Feel free to contact me at mrdanielsos@yahoo.com.sg for more details.