Good review, and solid design. It definitely looks like the person who made this put a lot of thought and effort into this. The reason the button snapped off is the same reason the overall quality of the build seems a bit rough. They obviously used FDM for the whole build. That style of printing leads to a final form that is like a stack of wafers bonded together. When you put a lot of force (or even a little force) unevenly on the surface it (like sliding your finger off for a short hop) it can separate the layers. Looking at how that broke off, on the weakest connection near the top of the button, that seems to be exactly what happened. I think this seller may get better mileage/qc from just using premade injection molded buttons. Generally seems really cool, I just think the vendor needs to work on some of their qc. The build had some pretty noticeable defects in the body, but obviously that didn't seem to concern you much so I doubt it's a deal breaker. Honestly the price seems very fair to me knowing how much time and effort an individual has to put in to put out anything near this quality. Also, cool channel. I love controller tech so I'm definitely gonna check out the catalogue.
Oh god. The buttoncaps for the Flatbox have that same flaw where they break off in the switch like that. Sometimes you can melt the bits broken in the switch back on to the cap with a soldering iron and then pull it out so the switch can at least be salvaged and you only have to trash the broken cap (which can be reprinted easily enough). On the choc switches they're totally plugged. Maybe it's easier to get the broken plastic out on these MX switches. But the buttons on my Open-Frame1 seem a lot sturdier, so I'm surprised to see caps for an MX switch break like that. If I were you I'd probably just not use their caps. It's cool to see the extra buttons for select and home. That'd be handy for opening the Steam menu when playing Rivals of Aether on a Steam Deck as well. $200 is a no-go for me, that's similar to what it cost me to build five complete Open-Frame1s. It would be cool if they open sourced their design. I like the simple look of the case. I get switches popping out a lot with the case design I used for my Open-Frame1 builds and it's maddening. But if I solder in the switches I lose easy-ish access to the BOOTSEL button on the Pico inside for situations like a bad firmware flash. (I once tried putting GP2040-CE instead of HayBox on one for better PS3 compatibility but then I couldn't figure out the bindings to get it back into BOOTSEL mode so had to pull all the switches and take it apart). I'm thinking I either have to drill/melt a hole directly above the button in the top of the case so I can push it with a paper clip, or wire up a second BOOTSEL button that's accessible from the bottom where you can unscrew the panel (there is a big hole in the Open-Frame1 PCB meant for mounting a brook adapter with a zip-tie that I should be able to fish a wire through). If the PCB had put the Pico mounting point on the bottom or if the case had been designed differently this wouldn't be a problem. I think the simpler design of the Flatbox case has been more reliable. It's a simple two-layer sandwich and it goes around the switches, not between them. If you need to access the microcontroller you just take out the screws and lift off the top and everything is exposed, and it's easy to put back together after. The case I use with the Open-Frame1 (made by davy326) is also acting as a switch plate and the switches need to go in last. This is kind of the core issue with them popping out. Any sort of flex or warping or shock to it makes them come loose from the hotswaps. My prints may not be coming out perfectly also which probably doesn't help. I was able to build these things, but PCB design and 3D modeling aren't in my skillset, so fixing the issues in the design(s) isn't something I can do, I just need to kinda salvage what I have already made now. I have reported these issues but seemed to get ignored. Would be nice to see more competition in this space (as far as open source DIY leverless with enough buttons for Smash). Especially as the current hardware and firmware seems mostly biased toward Melee, which I'm not especially interested in playing.
Article thearcadestick.com/bubblebox/
Good review, and solid design. It definitely looks like the person who made this put a lot of thought and effort into this.
The reason the button snapped off is the same reason the overall quality of the build seems a bit rough. They obviously used FDM for the whole build. That style of printing leads to a final form that is like a stack of wafers bonded together. When you put a lot of force (or even a little force) unevenly on the surface it (like sliding your finger off for a short hop) it can separate the layers. Looking at how that broke off, on the weakest connection near the top of the button, that seems to be exactly what happened. I think this seller may get better mileage/qc from just using premade injection molded buttons.
Generally seems really cool, I just think the vendor needs to work on some of their qc. The build had some pretty noticeable defects in the body, but obviously that didn't seem to concern you much so I doubt it's a deal breaker. Honestly the price seems very fair to me knowing how much time and effort an individual has to put in to put out anything near this quality.
Also, cool channel. I love controller tech so I'm definitely gonna check out the catalogue.
I made my own buttons for my 3d print which avoids exactly this issue
Oh god. The buttoncaps for the Flatbox have that same flaw where they break off in the switch like that. Sometimes you can melt the bits broken in the switch back on to the cap with a soldering iron and then pull it out so the switch can at least be salvaged and you only have to trash the broken cap (which can be reprinted easily enough). On the choc switches they're totally plugged. Maybe it's easier to get the broken plastic out on these MX switches. But the buttons on my Open-Frame1 seem a lot sturdier, so I'm surprised to see caps for an MX switch break like that. If I were you I'd probably just not use their caps. It's cool to see the extra buttons for select and home. That'd be handy for opening the Steam menu when playing Rivals of Aether on a Steam Deck as well.
$200 is a no-go for me, that's similar to what it cost me to build five complete Open-Frame1s. It would be cool if they open sourced their design. I like the simple look of the case. I get switches popping out a lot with the case design I used for my Open-Frame1 builds and it's maddening. But if I solder in the switches I lose easy-ish access to the BOOTSEL button on the Pico inside for situations like a bad firmware flash. (I once tried putting GP2040-CE instead of HayBox on one for better PS3 compatibility but then I couldn't figure out the bindings to get it back into BOOTSEL mode so had to pull all the switches and take it apart). I'm thinking I either have to drill/melt a hole directly above the button in the top of the case so I can push it with a paper clip, or wire up a second BOOTSEL button that's accessible from the bottom where you can unscrew the panel (there is a big hole in the Open-Frame1 PCB meant for mounting a brook adapter with a zip-tie that I should be able to fish a wire through). If the PCB had put the Pico mounting point on the bottom or if the case had been designed differently this wouldn't be a problem. I think the simpler design of the Flatbox case has been more reliable. It's a simple two-layer sandwich and it goes around the switches, not between them. If you need to access the microcontroller you just take out the screws and lift off the top and everything is exposed, and it's easy to put back together after. The case I use with the Open-Frame1 (made by davy326) is also acting as a switch plate and the switches need to go in last. This is kind of the core issue with them popping out. Any sort of flex or warping or shock to it makes them come loose from the hotswaps. My prints may not be coming out perfectly also which probably doesn't help.
I was able to build these things, but PCB design and 3D modeling aren't in my skillset, so fixing the issues in the design(s) isn't something I can do, I just need to kinda salvage what I have already made now. I have reported these issues but seemed to get ignored. Would be nice to see more competition in this space (as far as open source DIY leverless with enough buttons for Smash). Especially as the current hardware and firmware seems mostly biased toward Melee, which I'm not especially interested in playing.
can you review the kraken box ? by saveyourgames
Hopefully!