A DIY Radar Controller

Last time I ordered through Fritzing they used another PCB manufacturer and one PCB cost me about $50, so yes, this is a much better price. They use Aisler for the PCB manufacturing now.

1 Like

Hey Troll, what is your material of choice when printing at Shapeways? I’ve got a few things now in the mail too, hopefully I can get a bit of a feeling of it all, but what would you recommend for panels and buttons?

I mostly use “strong and flexible” as it is very…strong…and flexible…! :wink:
Seriously, it’s rigid but has a little give, meaning it’s not brittle and won’t break easily.
It’s also easy to cut and sand, and can be totally smooth with some sanding and filler. I have cut M3 threads into it, successfully.

1 Like

Ah fantastic, used that for the adapter. I whipped up a prototype for a INS’ish button, and have chosen both the string and flexible and the clear acryl.

Have you tried the PLA one yet? I want to do some quicker prototyping and kinda have been looking at 3D printers…

1 Like

I haven’t tried the acryl, but it should have better resolution and finer detail. Slightly harder than the S&F, and will be more prone to cracking. But for knobs and buttons, it should be perfect.
I haven’t tried PLA, and yes, I also want a printer :wink:

1 Like

Sold(i)ering on…

Now… Will it work…?
Ladies and gentlemen! Place your bets!

5 Likes

YES!

2 Likes

You are correct, sir! :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Hoorah! So what’s the next wager? :wink:

The mode selector switch unit, with switch guards installed. Time to start painting.

5 Likes

Ok, in retrospect I should’ve found a scroll wheel before I designed the handle. I just decided on a 5mm thick dia. 30mm wheel and determined that I would scrounge one up later. No such luck… What to do, what to do? Just do it!

I drew up a pattern which I printed and glued to a 5mm alu plate. I carefully hand drilled the center of each hole.

Drilled the holes in the drillpress. 3mm holes and a 6mm chamfer drill, and then cut the wheel in the scroll saw.

A couple of hours and a few gallons of elbow grease later…

In place…

9 Likes

Wow! Sweet!

I’m gonna wanna steal your brain and tools :slight_smile:

2 Likes

You can have the brain, or what’s left of it. Don’t think I’ll be missing much.

But come anywhere near my tools… :skull_crossbones:

2 Likes

Threw some paint on the handle today…
Needs some sanding and respraying and resanding and respraying…
But I think I’m going to like the end result. :wink:

4 Likes

Shaping up nicely. Any plans on what gimbal/sensors you are going to use?

Yeah, it’s in the first post :slight_smile:
I have a spare VKB Black Mamba pincher gimbal. Leftover from when I got the cam gimbal upgrade. I got some TLE5010 magnetic sensors that are a direct replacement for the VKB sensors.

1 Like

Nice! How did the tolerances for you end up with the PA 2200(white strong flexible etc…) material? For me it’s a bit over the place, and removing 0.5mm of material is harder then it sounds, going to go at it with Proxxon tools and some dust protection.

I wonder if my modelling process has had any influence on the tolerances. The inner diameter of 22mm is 21.5 but the other diameter of 36mm is almost bang on.

Anyway, learned a lot about production tolerances and how to account for them! :wink:

I think it may have to do with how you convert the 3D file.
I convert mine to stl and I get the choice of surface deviation, standard deviation ( and a few other). I force surface dev. to 0 and then play around with standard dev. until I get it as small as possible without breaking the max poly limit.
My first models looked more like LEGO bricks, with a lot of visible polys, until I learned how to convert the files properly. :slight_smile:

1 Like

Wiring… Or making a birds nest. We’ll see…

1 Like

That is a… interesting projects plate you’ve got going there :wink:

1 Like