That sketch came about after I thought through the design details in my head while shopping with my wife, I had to get it out of my head before I forget.
Version zero may look ok from the surface, but it has several flaws:
- As rightfully pointed out by SaberTrio (the makers of the hilt) folks, the connection pad needs to be aligned with the switch to work properly. Stuffing in the inner chassis would need some guesswork/skill.
- Imagine a Cosplayer runs out of battery & wants to quickly change it, that’s too many steps just to get it done, & Neo-pixel LED strips are battery suckers. In short, too complicated for users.
A product designer should strive to make it easier for the user. So it got me thinking…
There are many nice 3D printed chassis for various popular brands like Saberforge, Ultrasabers & so on, but none for SaberTrio (I currently own two of SaberTrio hilts: Arclyte & Aeryn). BTW, I am not in any way affiliate with SaberTrio but I love their craftsmanship, value-for-money designs, rather quick turn-around & faster shipping since they are based in Kuala Lumpur (while I am from Singapore).
For those who want higher end sound-boards (beyond Pico-crumble & Nano Biscotte 4 offered in their current range) that uses auxiliary switch, the current hilt designs has one switch port.
Another interesting aspect of their design is the use of screw-threaded switch port/opening, which in my opinion is better than gluing with a glue-gun. Screw-in switch can withstand some serious impacts but at the time requires a longer set of wires & twisting. I don’t really fancy messy wires & I want to do away with that.
My next version solves a few things beyond being cheap:
- Tool-less battery swap. Reduce to 3-steps, unscrew pommel, pop out the speaker holder & slide out the battery compared to version-zero.
- Since it is made of transparency sheets, it is easy to cut out access window to take out the SD-card on the sound-board/card. Doing that requires 2 more steps (on top of the earlier ones) of unscrewing the Neopixel hilt-side connector retention screw & AV switch. This is done less frequently, usually for changing sound fonts &/or configurations.
- Repurpose the CoverTec wheel screw hole for the auxiliary switch. That would mean epoxying the wheel to the hilt. Another way would be drilling another hole on the hilt.
Look forward to shopping at my favorite art supplies store to get the materials for my next prototype!
