carbon fibre would be more of a traditional manufacturing route.

But ninjateks armadillo is almost as strong and light and much easier to print.

Got a picture of the reacher you have now ?
That would help us work out the right printer for you.

I presume the budget is for the printer ?

With projects like that I generally end up using a variety of materials - some scavenged some printed. There's no point printing the long shaft, so look around for something cheap to use that you can attach printed parts to - or whoever's helping you can :-)
I find that budget/pound/buck stores are great places to find inspiration, also hardware stores and garden centres.