Stylus ideas

[rygD]

Looking good. Not my prefered colours though but at least the stylus looks usable and I can imagine that thing in a nice black finish.

I would prefer black or silver over red, but the colors don't change how it works.  

Is such a metal stylus actualy heavy?

It isn't heavy at all.  It weighs more than the stock stylus, but it is aluminum.  If you prefer more weight you have some options as discussed here.

 

[comradekingu]

Are you talking about those standoff screws? That might work.

 

[rygD]

I know it is too late to change the Pyra stylus, however I would be interested in what ED has to say about these.  Does anyone know if he ever got them?

Has anyone tried to make their own?  I haven't been to a craft store since I got mine.  Maybe I will take a look for something to add weight next time I am at a hardware store.

 

[Grench]

I know ED received two red styli.  As I told him in my communications, they are his free and clear with no obligation to use them or comment on them.  His comments would be welcome if he chooses to comment on it.

The 'best' example I created was actually using the tungsten dart barrels, though those were actually a bit too heavy - and too rough as the texture tears up my fingers over extended use.

I suspect that the, 'ideal' version of these is going to be a <5mm diameter dart tip on a solid stainless steel stand off with male threads on one end, female threads on the other with a flat top screw as an end stopper/catch.  The stainless steel stand offs would likely need to be manufactured to length, and with the needs to tap or thread both ends, it could wind up being difficult to do that at a reasonable cost.

But, with the materials I have from the last round of experiments, I should be able to come up with the proper specification for it.  I would also like to add some texture to the standoff/barrel.  Ideally it would have the end stopper/head 'built in', but that would require starting with 7mm dia stock and turning it down to 5mm for 98% of the length.  Sticking with the flat screw into the end might be more cost efficient as it would decrease those turning costs.  Then it would just be a matter of finding a machine shop that wants to crank them out in batches of 50-100 or so.

A larger catch might be that I'm not interested in starting a stylus business.  So far I've done the research on an intellectual lark.

So - if someone has a machine shop connection and wants to take over the idea, I will gladly give them my input to make their product the best it can be.

 

[rygD]

Well, it is better not to just have those tungsten darts sitting around unused, so I would be willing to take on off your hands.  (just a joke, I think you said you were using them for what they were designed for.)

I think stainless steel would give the right weight (might be too heavy for some people, however some of us were looking for more weight, and tungsten would probably be overkill for most).  No clue on the cost of custom steel standoffs.  Did you ask around or do any price checking?  I feel you are right for something completely custom in low quantities.

I have thought about the texture a bit, and I think a few lines going around it might work, or something like a couple of the space pens have (I had CH4 in mind).  It would need to be something that isn't too rough on fingers for prolonged use (more like writing than throwing a dart), so it might be better to have slightly rounded edges.  My space pen feels a bit too grippy and scratchy at times, and that is something that should be avoided.  If doing it like a space pen I think you can start with 5mm since it isn't that deep.  I could be completely missing what you have in mind for the texture.

I think you have the right idea and just need to find someone with the interest and a bit of money to make it happen.  I doubt it would be worth it if the finished product cost more than 10 or 20 bucks for a batch of 100.  I personally would pay up to around $30 for one.  Pandora/Pyra people are niche enough, and those that want a high quality stylus are obviously the minority.

 

[Grench]

RHS shows up on Ebay...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Openpandora...446194?hash=item361f3ed7f2:g:iwoAAOSwSbtZlg2Y

Not mine - not sure who is selling their Pandora. I find it amusing that someone is selling their 'New' Pandora and 3/5 pictures feature an RHS - which is distinctly not OEM equipment.

 

[rygD]

Kinda odd that it is in so many pictures if it isn't included with the Pandora. Maybe just some pictures they had. I wonder if those are pictures of the actual unit. The last few seem familiar, especially the one showing the pieces.

 

[Eight Bit]

Are you selling these @Grench ?

 

[Grench]

Are you selling these @Grench ?

Nope, not selling them. I just did this project as an intellectual endeavor. The three that I "sold" above were mostly about sharing the findings and getting some feedback on them. On average they cost $10 to make and $11 each to ship. So, what I asked for above was to help defer my shipping costs a bit to share the curiosity.

The parts are not hard to acquire - I laid out my journey through it pretty well above. The catch is that each part seems to be available in quantities of 10 and there are 6 parts per device. The net is I made 10 of them for about $100. If you include the cool set of darts and all of the other paths I went down there are probably $400 +/- in materials tested and rejected too. But, I have a really cool set of very skinny darts so it's not a huge loss.

After I get my Pyra I'll likely do some more experimenting to figure out the optimal stylus length for it. There are some internal case differences. I'll post my findings up here when I get there.