3D Printed Pencil Extenders: A Simple Lesson in Design Thinking, Sustainability, and Iterative Problem Solving

Once upon a time, pencils used to be nice and long. As they serve as tools for ideas, sketches, and notes on paper, they gradually become shorter over time. Eventually, even the smallest hands can no longer hold a pencil that has been reduced to a tiny stump steadily enough to do its work.

But that doesn't mean we retire them. At least, I don't.

Pencil extenders can easily be bought from stores. However, with 3D printers and modelling software at our disposal, we can put our heads together and make our own.

Figure 1a shows a pencil holder I made quite some time ago. As students use the pencils, however, they gradually become shorter and shorter—to the point where some are simply too short to be used comfortably.

Figure 1a                      Figure 1b

That inspired me to design pencil extenders and, subsequently, a holder for them (see Figure 1b), allowing these pencils to continue serving their purpose for as long as possible.

The images that follow (see Figure 2) are screenshots of the pencil extender holder model from Tinkercad, alongside photographs of the finished 3D print doing its job. If you're interested in the design process behind the pencil extender itself, you can read about it here: Click HERE.

Figure 2

Learning Point

So what's the point of showing you this?

Design doesn't stop at any stage. Every solution solves a problem within a particular context. As you may already know, every solution often leads to a new problem, a new design challenge, or even an opportunity to extend the original idea.

In this case, I had my pencils neatly lined up and ready for students to use. But what happens when they become too short? I created an extender for each one so they could continue to be used. Then another question emerged: if full-length pencils deserve a holder, why should these shortened pencils in extenders be left lying around? They deserve storage too.

Figure 3 shows the complete setup—from brand-new pencils to those nearing retirement and now fitted with extenders.

Figure 3

What do you think comes next?

• What new design opportunities do you see? 
• What potential improvements or extensions can you foresee?

Have a go. Let me know in the comments what you think.

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