For naming, I’m leaning towards:
Version 3 with rumble motor added to top left corner. Its a Jinlong 3V motor, pretty powerful, through-hole with excellent characteristics, but its 2.44 USD a piece!
@Pharap : as per your suggestion I modified the hat to have 4 holes symmetrically. It makes PCB layout much easier, leaves more space for components and generally works just better
why are you going for the large analog stick? wouldent a low profile one make more sence?
(psp, 3ds)
Thats a very good question. I wonder if I can find that component somewhere else
It indeed seems so.
I think it would be best to test that before finalising it.
I have two main concerns with a motor:
(These issues are why I suggest that a ‘rumble’ feature should be implemented as ‘boots’ rather than a ‘hat’.)
Presumably the reason for the 4th hole being absent in the original design was because it would interfere with the PCB?
Wouldn’t having 4 holes like this require altering the mold?
I know you can fill unused space within a mold, but I’m not sure how you’d manage to double-up holes like this.
Though I agree not having the holes on the main body and just putting them on the ‘arms’ (or should that be ‘brim’ of the ‘hat’? :P) probably makes fitting the PCB in easier.
I agree with this, in the current designs the joystick does look a bit on the large side.
Although it depends on what’s available and how much what’s available costs.
My biggest concern with a large joystick would be how much pressure is being put on the pins.
I don’t know how much the pins have been stress tested,
but I know bent pins can be a real problem.
One thing I’ve thought of in the past is to put ‘sideburns’ on the hat to spread the load a bit.
(Though I imagined them being shaped to fit around the Pokitto more. I’ll try to draw something by hand later to give a better idea of what I mean.)
Though the downside to this is that I don’t know how it could be pulled off without altering the mold.
It probably can be done somehow, but hardware manufacturing isn’t my forte.
Don’t forget the SD card slot, it’s already hard to extract,
The L bracket on the other side should be fine
I also did my own 3d prints before wedging the top and bottom of for a snug fit
That translucent case led (pun intended) me to think about a RGB-led. Would it be hard to add?
Normal one or a powerful one?
I do not know. Depends on how much it will affect to the battery consumption with all the other parts (rumble). Also is it more expensive to make a translucent 3D printed case?
Just calculated. That thumbstick component will cost 5,1 USD per piece. Realistically anyone manufacturing anything has to calculate 2x the cost to cover expenses. So that means 10 USD just for that component
Taxes and shipping … makes it very hard.
Oh that’s a shame, there a couple more variants on those I seen around
Also there’s capacity pcb version or custom one with magnet halleffectsensors but I guess nothing is going to Be cheap
The problem is getting the component.
If I buy from Adafruit, the cost goes up 2x because of taxes, customs and shipping.
I think that we should take the price point into consideration, when selecting features for the JoyHat. What is a good price point in your opinion (excluding postage costs and 3D printing costs)?
I think less than 10 euros would be great. Less than 20 euros would be ok, but might be too high for some.
I just calculated it. I would like to keep it <15 eur.
If we drop the rumble motor, it works. The rumble could be optional.
EDIT: the low-volume PCB is also a challenge to cut down from a cost point of view.
Looks like the hat will be between 10-15 EUR. Naturally, if you print your own hat, you can reduce that still.
I think RGB LED’s are surface mount?
When the features are about fixed we could have a poll for pre-orders.
Dumb question but can I request for esp8266 pads on the SPI? I doesn’t have to be populated but it might be handy to have
You would like the SPI pins to be brought out? In the JoyHat?
