“A 6DOF DIY HID. A what? A 6 degrees of freedom, do it yourself, human interface device. In other words, a 3D mouse, or an open hardware SpaceNavigator. You know, one of these thingies CAD designers use to zoom around.
All the existing DIY designs out there I could find are not actually 6DOF. Some are literally a knob on a joystick. So I set out to make a better one.
This one is based on a stewart platform made from potentiometers. It was designed so that any idiot with access to a 3D printer can build one. You might even get away with some careful jigsawing!
Bill of Materials
- 3x arm-Body + arm2-Body, 3D printed or maybe cut from 3mm triplex.
- 1x top-Body, 3D printed or maybe milled/chiseled from wood.
- 1x PCB Aisler
- 6x potentiometer, 6mm flatted shaft Farnell
- 1x Arduino Pro Micro Sparkfun AliExpress
- 12x ball joint rod ends, 2mm, half pad AliExpress
- 6x push rod, 2mm, 30mm length AliExpress
- 6x torsion spring, 1mm diameter, 3mm length, 90 degrees, 8.5mm outer diameter AliExpress
- 2mm nuts and bolts
- 0.1” male & female headers”