Parts are cheap but our beloved Posti (Post of Finland) will no doubt charge an arm & leg for shipping.
I will begin releasing dimensions, 3D files and other details on Pokitto. These hats will come with full schematics & files for printing, if you prefer to DIY the whole thing.
No SMD (surface mount components) in this hat, its all throughhole. And ofcourse I will solder (or Aaro) if people insist on ready-made.
SMD soldering of simple components (resistors, capacitors, simple chips) is easy. SMD soldering of Pokitto LCD connector by hand is very, very hard because you get solder bridges if you hsve just a tiny bit too much solder.
I agree with @FManga that the link cable should be separate from this hat.
At least until we have an idea about how a link cable should function,
so we can get a better idea of whether it’s worth having on this hat.
I find it a bit odd that there’s a hole on the top left of the hat but on the top right.
And I think there should be two lots of those grey bars holding the hat in place.
(I like symmetry, is it obvious? :P)
Also maybe they should be on the back rather than the front (though obviously people can choose which side to put them on).
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
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.