I wish I had done a build log for this remote. I did a lot of video around it, so will be putting together a build video that I’ll put up on Youtube and link here, but it won’t be for a while (the remote is tangential to another project).
The thing I think could use improvement in the Hoyt design is that the cylindricity of the remote doesn’t give you very positive location feedback in your hand - so you have to carefully adjust how you hold it so the thumbwheel is always in the right place.
This version solves that problem by giving your fingers a natural place to rest that will always put the thumbwheel in the same location relative to your thumb.
The downside of course is that makes it no longer a uni-handed remote. I’m left handed but I hold the remote in my right hand. I assume that right-handed people hold the remote in their left hands. Maybe they don’t. In any event, if you’re goofy handed you might have an issue. It wouldn’t take much to make one with the tail on the opposite side.
This did require re-printing the inner cage. The original cage was designed to be pressed into the bamboo as interference fit, but in this case that’s not necessary and made the remote wider than I wanted. I removed the bumps on the bottom and was able to decrease the overall thickness of the remote from 1.19" to 0.97"
If you look closely you can see little bumps in the remote. Those are because the Hoyt screws are too long and I didn’t realize that until they became unusually tight.
Lastly Shiny shiny! I wanted to make an almost full circle for the LEDs and I still think it would look a lot better (especially if I made the lense a bit less translucent) but for this one I chose to extend the lenses from point to sliver moons. These lenses were 3D printed.
Super tidy remote @dougm I am definitely give it a go one my pcbs get here. Any chance of seeing the interior I want to get a feel for what size cell I can cram in.
hmmm cram…
Also, it takes a bit of finagling to get the USB port in and get it around the screw bosses. It’s not to bad to get it together, but getting it apart again is pretty tricky
It wouldn’t be that hard for a properly equipped shop to CNC the shell, I’d love to see it cut out of the same plastic that Pelican cases are made from, and in Orange. Not sure that plastic is particularly machinable though.
You went all out. Machining is certainly more involved than 3D printing. If the material for the pelican box can be found than you should be able to CNC mill it. You just need the right bits.
tomiboi78 I’m just starting down my 3D milling journey. I’ve pretty much got 2.5D worked out, to the limits of my machines (which are all small and some are even home made)
But 3D milling and especially 2-sided is a much deeper pool.
It’s a pretty big challenge actually because the way 3D modelling works is that everything builds on the first element. So I make the basic outline of the remote, then I chamfer it, shell it and put holes in it and screw bosses, etc. So if I change the basic shell then all of the downstream stuff goes red and has to be redone.
In this case a lot of stuff doesn’t move, so it might not be that bad, but it might
not impossible, but a good solid 4 hours of work or so.
