X-ACTO Knife Handle and Locking Cap - V5 release

Xmas 2025 release: V5 "Universal Shorty"

Thanks everyone for the warm reception to my little pet knife project!

I've received many requests for the hole to be moved to accommodate variations in blades (annoyingly, it appears the slot-hole position isn't standardized between manufacturers). But simply moving the hole always felt like a bad solution - after all, each person would have to print many knife handles to find a fit, and unless I release a ton of variants with blade holes spaced at 0.2mm, people will never achieve a perfect fit.

After significant iteration and testing, I introduce the world to **V5 - the "Universal Shorty" ** - which hopes to fix this issue. Instead of having the retention pin directly horizontal (where it can only be perfect for one hole geometry), it is instead canted at an angle and is intended to jam against the blade hole, wherever the hole happens to be, over a total travel range of about 3.6mm.

Instructions: Install your blade as-usual, and then slide in a pin as far as you can - and simply cut off the excess. Don't worry if it doesn't go all the way through. The angle is designed such that the friction will keep the filament from backing out, and the blade should stay locked-in. In my testing on my old Ender and a few Bambu printers, it worked consistently.

Please leave a comment regarding V5, and whether this new retention system works for you.
I'm going to leave the V4 Shorty (ol' faithful) up, in case V5 doesn't work for people as well as I hope.

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"That's not a knoife, THIS is a knoife!"

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Like many other red-blooded humans, I have been reminded of my blood color by an Xacto knife that unexpectedly disassembled while in my bag. NO MORE! I present to you: the nicest Xacto knife you've ever used, or your money back*.

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This design is meant to solve the faults with the standard design:

1. The standard cap is a friction-fit device when protecting the blade. Boo. Comes apart all the time, leaving your blade exposed and the whole locker room laughing at you, how embarrassing.
2. The cap is easily lost since there's no place to put it while working.
3. The standard #11 blade is upswept on the cutting edge and parallel with the handle on the back edge. This is very annoying if you want to spin the knife to expand a hole. Instead, the blade triangle should be centered. This gentle sweep angle retains cutting stability while being much easier to drill with.

*this is free.

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