Keychain Hole Puncher

Overview

This is a fully 3D-printable small hole puncher that you can store on your keychain using the provided loop-hole, or just keep in your backpack/pocket. PLA filament works great for this, as it is among the harder filaments, less prone to deformation due to softness. If you would like to experiment with other filaments, start with trying PC or GF/CF composite filaments and let me know how it works :)

Design

For the piercing component, I went through several different tooth designs and settled on this V-shaped one with a hole down the middle which seems to do a good job cutting the hole all the way through. I have tried 4 teeth (intersecting V-shapes) and it worked well for up to 4 sheets, but did not do very good when cutting single sheets, and left the hole cutout hanging on the page. The V design works well for single sheets and double sheets. Additionally, I tried just a cylindrical shape with no teeth, but it did not work and instead just “chews” the paper.

Usage

This can easily handle single sheets, but it seems to max out at 2 sheets, going beyond that yields worse results and even damage to the model. Due to the gap between the exit hole and piercing component, 2 sheets is the maximum with this model. There are two ways to press that yield the best results, one way is putting it down on the table and pressing down where the 4 horizontal lines are. Another way is to press on both sides (left and right) of the exit hole.