Portable Paddle

thingiverse

After messing around with bearings and magnets for too long and wasting hours trying to make them work together, I decided to take a simpler approach where no bearings or magnets are required. Tension is now derived solely from the plastic itself, making it possible to print just three parts: two pins (I used nails in my case), some wire, and the female part of a 7mm bullet plug (which I sourced from my spare parts box after unsoldering it from LiPos). If you want to be able to adjust the gap, you'll need two M2 bolts. I happened to have some leftover ones from a helicopter project. In the pictures, you can see everything needed to assemble this device. For a cleaner look, you can use epoxy instead of hot glue. I prefer hot glue, but it does leave behind a mess with the strings it produces. Once assembled, however, it's not visible at all. To connect it to your keyer or rig, you can use an audio cable with a 3.5mm plug if you're using a socket like I do. You can see that in the pictures too. Alternatively, you could simply solder the cable directly to the pins and center piece. Just remember to put the cable through the hole in the case before soldering it together, and don't forget some kind of strain relief (like a cable tie or hot glue/epoxy). For me, this paddle works incredibly well. I don't have extensive experience with it yet, though. Since I printed it in PLA, be sure not to use it when the temperature exceeds 60C. Other than what you see in the photos, I made a slight modification to the case design. There's now a slot where the center pin fits snugly into it, preventing it from pushing against the opposite contact when working with a very small gap. Print Settings: Printer: Flashforge Creator Pro Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: 0.2mm Infill: 20% Notes: Flip the case 180° to print it. If you use a glass bed like I do, you'll get a shiny finish. Post-Printing: Just put that thing together.