Pen Tower Silent Spinning Fidget

I was working on a new version of the Tweezer Tower for my wife and as I created a new spinning base I could not resist the temptation to divert to something fun for me… the spinning Pen Holder (Tower) Fidget. It is nice to play with while concentrating at my desk. And, it keeps my pens and markers handy too.

This is a generally straightforward product design and requires only the top Pen Holder portion to be snapped onto the Base. The Pen Holder seems to float on the Base because it is balanced on the small pointed apex of the Base. As long as the load of pens is relatively balanced the Pen Holder spins freely and quietly.

I designed a Gripper ring with a fine zig-zag’ish pattern on the bottom and it turned out to work quite well. It can be installed in the Base to help create a little bit of stickiness so that the Base is less inclined to spin on the desk surface. It works brilliantly but of course, must be printed in TPU or something similarly soft. And, if you do not have TPU handy it works quite well without it too (as long as your desk surface is not too smooth).

The Gripper ring press fits into the groove in the underside of the base and can be a bit of a tight fit. Use a small screwdriver or similar to get it installed if necessary.

I had loaded the Pen Tower up with various pens and similarly shaped objects of varying weights and they all seemed to perform well. It will even spin with just one heavy pen in it.

Printing

I have tried to make my main print settings visible on the Cura screenshot but in case they are difficult to read I have summarized them again here…

Material: I don’t think it will matter what material you use for the Pen Holder and Base. I used PETG. You can opt not to use the Gripper but if you do it must be printed in TPU

My Setup:
Nozzle = 0.4mm

My Settings:
Layer height = 0.2mm
Line width = 0.4mm
Wall count = 4 (1.6mm)
Infill = 40%

Support:
Designed to print without support. No support is required.

Print Orientation: As shown in the screenshot(s).

Assembly Notes

The components should all snap and press together as per the accompanying diagram without any post-print processing.