X-Acto Pencil Sharpener Alignment Tool

thingiverse

I purchased a X-ACTO School Pro Classroom Electric Pencil Sharpener. It's an affordable option considering what you get and sharpens pencils efficiently. Unfortunately, it has a notable drawback: there are 6 different holes to align pencils with the sharpener blades, but they're so narrow that you can still insert the pencil at a severely incorrect angle and risk breaking the tip completely off or sharpening very unevenly. Due to the design of the sharpener, the correct insertion angle is not immediately apparent either: it's neither parallel with the ground nor aligned with any lines on the device. I created a much longer alignment tool that fits into the largest pencil hole and secures itself against the face of the sharpener. I've found this approach works remarkably well. The design includes 3 different sizes, matching almost every pencil I found around the house. If you'd like to remix or use the source files, please visit: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/afd573ef3fac888e4bebe2d5/w/23b0d74a9aa3378dab14c323/e/b5b6a7d8744228bcf93fbd43