Personal Pencil Production Plant

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/9661763]

[Robb Godshaw] put together a pencil production line for home use. The whimsical assembly line starts with a graphite rod and extrudes clay polymer around it. From there it’s down a conveyor belt to get stamped and then into the oven made from a hacked toaster. The final step is to cut out a plug of eraser and attach it to the back-end of the pencil. This low-speed assembly line reminds us of a Rube Goldberg machine with all the wasteful steps cut out.

36 thoughts on “Personal Pencil Production Plant

  1. It’s a hell of a hack, and many hacks could called useless although I still like most of them, but this just seems way too pointless. My first thought was, “I hope this guy is independently wealthy, ’cause I’d hate to think this is what he does in his spare time after work.”
    I feel so conflicted.

  2. @Wait a minute, is that tin foil holding that eraser to the pencil??

    I think its aluminum tape? I wonder how good the tap holds, i know when i erase stuff i press pretty hard on my eraser.

    I wonder how much after the initial build it costs to actually make 1 pencil, if it was cheap enough and i used pencils i’d definitely would build one.

  3. Cute, but it’s less than useless, the erasers are just kinda sitting there with foil to look pretty, can’t actually use em.

    The “Just for you” is cute tho.

  4. Is this a joke?
    That isn’t at all automated. The whole video is stop motion animation. Am I seriously the only person who noticed this?
    And Ticonderoga isn’t an iconic phrase, it’s a brand. If you’re trying to make your own crappy pencils you might as well put your name on them.

  5. Hilariously awesome.

    “That isn’t at all automated. The whole video is stop motion animation. Am I seriously the only person who noticed this?”

    Yes, you are the only super genius among us plebs who managed to notice that. Please, continue to point out your incredible insights in the future.

  6. You are all correct. it isn’t fully automated. I suppose i misspoke, it was late when i made the video. every step requires human interaction, but it is limited to pulling levers and cranking the green plastic gear. I did not have a video camera, hence the stop motion. The final cost of each pencil is about $150, which is very impractical. the rainbow ribbon cable does nothing. The clay pencil, once baked can be sharpened normally. the eraser holds on fine, and can be used like a regular pencil. Aluminum tape is quite strong.

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