This 3D Printed Accessibility Mod Appears Deceptively Easy

I make customized modifications for avid gamers with bodily disabilities. Working underneath the title TheControllerProject.com I deal with points that people have, creating customized options, often 3D printed and I do all of it without spending a dime to the particular person in want.

My newest one appears to be like soooo easy, and it sort of is, however man it was arduous to give you!

The issue:

A gamer who solely makes use of their head, or a rod mounted on their head, to sport requested me if there was a approach to toggle the “A” button on their controller. They wanted to have the ability to have it simply keep on, or off relying on which sport they had been taking part in.

The concept:

Pay attention, I might have cracked open this controller and easily wired in a change. That’s a official resolution that will solely take two wires, 4 solder factors, and about an hour of labor. Nonetheless, that will imply that this particular person would want to ship me a controller every time they wanted it modified. What in the event that they bought a brand new console? What if their controller broke? What if others occur to have the identical want?

With all that in thoughts, I set a objective of developing with a 3d printed resolution that may be put in by somebody with zero electronics abilities. The movement is so easy, however it actually damage my mind developing with an answer to this, particularly one which they might function with restricted dexterity!

The answer:

The person was at the moment holding the button down with rubber bands. It was irritating as a result of they wouldn’t keep in place and wanted fixed adjustment. Getting them lined up with the button was a ache too. I began fascinated about a means to make use of rubber bands for the downward power, however making the entire mechanism extra mechanical and binary.

by placing the place that the rubber band mounts on a lever prolonged from the pivot level, it’s going to pull arduous downward on whichever facet of the pivot you place the change. Sort of arduous to clarify however mainly the rubber band will maintain it both open or closed.

After determining make the rubber band do the work, I began fascinated about this hinge. I might have printed a number of items and used a screw because the axle. I should still try this if the extra elegant resolution doesn’t maintain up over time. However, I believed I’d strive doing a print-in-place hinge. Which means that once you pull it off your printer, it’s already absolutely practical. All you must do is safe it to your controller and add a rubber band.

Take a look at the cutaway view of the hinge above. You possibly can see that there aren’t any angles higher than 45 levels going vertically. Which means that even a not-finely-tuned printer ought to be capable of print this with out helps. The result’s that the hinge works, proper up and about with no meeting required.

The downsides:

Properly, it’s large and clunky, and it might probably solely actually do the underside most two buttons. Should you positioned it to do the highest two, the rubber bands don’t actually have a spot to sit down. That’s an issue for one more time although.