UPSB v3
Pen Modifications / Penometer
a pen that recognizes movements
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Date: Mon, Feb 15 2010 18:05:54
What if a pen was made that can recognizes tricks. It could count the number of rotations and stuff. That would be awesome. Kinda like a pedometer. What do you think?
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Date: Mon, Feb 15 2010 18:09:37QUOTE (tmiya88 @ Feb 15 2010, 01:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>What if a pen was made that can recognizes tricks. It could count the number of rotations and stuff. That would be awesome. Kinda like a pedometer. What do you think?
that is virtually impossible. It might be possible but we might still not have that much technology. Who will make one. It will be very expensive as well. So i guess this is a good idea but i dont think it will be possible or it will be even used, -
Date: Tue, Feb 16 2010 02:02:05
That could be possible, but what I'm thinking of would be very restrictive though. If you had magnet at one end of the pen, and spun it near a sensor that senses each time the magnet goes by (like those bike pedometers), it could function as a pedometer that counts the amount of times your pen spins, but like is said that would be pretty restrictive, maybe useful for counting thumbspins or something. Another idea would be if you had a led or something that emits infrared light at one end of the pen, and you had a camera that picks up that light, you could maybe make a program that could count the amount of revolutions that pen makes, or possibly write a program that can recognize tricks. Actually, that method doesn't seem too restrictive, but a lot of time would be needed to make something like that.
Interesting idea though. -
Date: Tue, Feb 16 2010 03:36:35QUOTE (zincabopataurious @ Feb 15 2010, 06:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>That could be possible, but what I'm thinking of would be very restrictive though. If you had magnet at one end of the pen, and spun it near a sensor that senses each time the magnet goes by (like those bike pedometers), it could function as a pedometer that counts the amount of times your pen spins, but like is said that would be pretty restrictive, maybe useful for counting thumbspins or something. Another idea would be if you had a led or something that emits infrared light at one end of the pen, and you had a camera that picks up that light, you could maybe make a program that could count the amount of revolutions that pen makes, or possibly write a program that can recognize tricks. Actually, that method doesn't seem too restrictive, but a lot of time would be needed to make something like that.
Interesting idea though.
Alternatively you could use your eyes. -
Date: Tue, Feb 16 2010 14:55:31QUOTE (yocuppajoe @ Feb 15 2010, 10:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Alternatively you could use your eyes.
meh im to lazy for that lol -
Date: Tue, Feb 16 2010 15:48:00
that would be an engineering feat. Doubt anyone is going to put the R&D in for that one.
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Date: Tue, Feb 16 2010 16:26:17
There could be a software method... But writing a program for processing videos for counting revolutions etc would be really time consuming, and the video would have very strict requirements on quality, fps, colors etc.
However, there could be an option of using the remote movement sensors I guess, like the ones they use in movies for moving humanoid type creatures created by 3D graphics - then the program would be quite simple, and could have some nice features like rebuilding the combo in 3D programs. I just dunno how the sensors work, and I doubt they would be small/light enough to fit into/on the pen for the pen to be still spinable.
Or the hardware method, by putting electronics directly into pen/somewhere near the pen, damaging weight/spinning freedom(twould be possible with PIC processors, but really hard to make so small to fit a pen)
And again, either way it would be rather expensive, and for most tricks, unnecessary imho -
Date: Wed, Feb 17 2010 06:55:48
I made this
Your guys methods are all different and interesting to read. what I did (deutherius was close) was used a PIC microprocessor to interface with an analog accelerometer to detect centripetal force, and derive tangential velocity. I call it ComboSense
But if collecting and processing the information is the engineering feat, the question is what to do with it? in this version, its used to control some LEDs of different colors at the tips of the pen:
Everything is solid state (no moving parts) for reliability and weight optimization (1 gram total weight) and the circuit board is very narrow , the idea is fitting inside most any pen bodies. Its also optimized for low power operation, so more of the battery capacity can go to the LEDs instead of the processor.
Pinky and the brain:
the PIC microcontroller crunches the spinning data , hundreds of times per second, and keeps an averaged running score. As you spin, points get added and LED's get brighter or change color to a 2nd or 3rd stage. If you mess up your combo or spin too slow, points get subtracted from your score. at higher stages, you have to spin faster just to keep your level (and mistakes cost more score) The idea is to make it a challenge game, or training tool.
heres a youtube that helps explain the idea (i am sorry for my very beginner penspinning ability) -
Date: Wed, Feb 17 2010 16:22:47
LOL i never noticed the cat until the end haha. But that is really cool.
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Date: Thu, Feb 18 2010 05:43:56
cool stuff
can you explain what you mean by smoother? did you actually derive an objective formula for smoothness? -
Date: Thu, Feb 18 2010 15:16:06
hehe,ur stuff was actually mentioned in ellusionist,i found out about the LED inserts a few hours ago,and now i saw this,
it might not be worth it though,the micro LED is 70 USD.i was planning to buy it,but the price is too high,for me. -
Date: Thu, Feb 18 2010 16:58:14
hi zombo,
basically what I did was set up a series of counters, when you are spinning at a good clip, the counters are all set to zero. if your combo has a mistake or drop in it, it senses spinning has stopped and starts the "penalty counter". once the penalty counter reaches a certain number (meaning your spin STILL hasnt got going again) then it subtracts some of your score. as you reach higher "levels", this penalty increases. but if you spin smoothly then you don't have to worry about it.
so, there's two ways to reach the 2nd color - one really long fast rippin spin (like s777 style) would transition through to top level, or, a slower, longer, but very consistently smooth combo to reach 2nd color (you could for example just do 30x double charge to reach it)
hi cardswithpens,
thanks for checking it out, sorry that it is too expensive right now (i'm doing everything myself) if it becomes popular I can get them built by computer and the cost should go way down (but only if you're making like 1000 boards unfortunately) if you have your own pen you can get just the insert also. so you do card manipulation too then thats still my favorite. -
Date: Thu, Feb 18 2010 17:08:43
It's very similar to the mechanism in the Penmawashi. Faster + smoother = more bright. nice to see the innards =p
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Date: Thu, Feb 18 2010 17:32:32QUOTE (Penwish @ Feb 18 2010, 12:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>It's very similar to the mechanism in the Penmawashi. Faster + smoother = more bright. nice to see the innards =p
Thanks penwish, I had a penmawashi and it didn't really seem to work very good
that could be because I cant spin very fast though. I dont have any idea how it works, I tried to break it apart to find out and it was all glued together without knowing how it works I can't argue that mine is that different haha, but, the idea of an insert that gathers the data , might be significantly different - because LEDs are being controlled, it looks similar in function to penmawashi, but the actual ComboSense system is just detecting spin data like the original posters "penometer" idea - what you can do with it the potential is far beyond just LED.
for example you could link pens and set up "battle systems" between them, with the CS inserts communicating wirelessly to compete with other spinners (or your right hand vs left hand) It wouldnt be that much further to have messages written in the LED disc, and even sounds, but that might be a bit ridiculous. You could also have a running graph on the computer showing performance in real-time but Ive no idea if that makes sense at all, what would you do with that info. Maybe in tournaments a central computer could control whose turn it is by lighting up the relevent pen. I noticed in the footage of the recent world tournament, that tons of people were watching from mall balconys and its kind of hard to see whats going on in PS from a distance. maybe some bright LED mods inserts will help laymen appreciate what is happening (and if fast spins change the color of LED, maybe that helps understand too. it looks like the pen is on fire when it shifts to a red color)
hey Cardswithpens if it helps with price, everything in the store is "on sale" right now its a bit cheaper today!
Penwish, if you'd be willing to stock some in your store, I can provide them at huge discounts I hope that some good spinners will get one and can make a video since I still SUCK 
Can I send you a couple free ones to check out and see if you like them? even if not, i would still be interested in feedback on how to make them fit into existing mod pens easier (I dont know much about modding, and most of my pens are bought from either your store or Pendolsa)
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Date: Fri, Feb 19 2010 13:37:37
hehe,i cant buy it in a specific day.but for sure i will buy it some time,maybe like 1st week of march or the end of march.or somwhere this summer.and hey,i do XCM for my magic,i like card magic better than manipulation.but i can do a lot of manipulations though.
.but is the LED gonna fit like RSVP's or something that thin? -
Date: Fri, Feb 19 2010 16:01:31QUOTE (cardswithpens @ Feb 19 2010, 09:37 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>hehe,i cant buy it in a specific day.but for sure i will buy it some time,maybe like 1st week of march or the end of march.or somwhere this summer.and hey,i do XCM for my magic,i like card magic better than manipulation.but i can do a lot of manipulations though. .but is the LED gonna fit like RSVP's or something that thin?
I don't have an RSVP modded pen, but I think the micro stubby would fit inside it (4.6mm wide) the only problem would be where do you put the battery pack. -
Date: Fri, Feb 19 2010 16:10:42
Hmm fletch you ever thought about getting a quote to mass produce? Great idea/concept. mass producing may make the pricing more manageable for more spinners but you may want to get a feel/response first. I would send it to kam or eso for review than me. They have more of a general influence on psing than I do.
Yeah RSVP will be tricky. Actually any clear body will be tricky unless you can hide the wiring/batteries under a grip or insert -
Date: Fri, Feb 19 2010 16:52:34
well the most of my mods are black(colortwin)will the light still be noticable.i have a buster but i dont use it much.and i use a bonkura kt quite often
EDIT:is the battery pack big,i can use it in the back so that my mx will be back heavier.xD. -
Date: Fri, Feb 19 2010 16:53:30
any Fully opaque body will be tough unless that sucker is super strong
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Date: Fri, Feb 19 2010 16:54:07QUOTE (fletch @ Feb 19 2010, 05:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I don't have an RSVP modded pen, but I think the micro stubby would fit inside it (4.6mm wide) the only problem would be where do you put the battery pack.
´The cap, I guess... But MXs are already back-heavy, so it would need some compensation in the front... I'd let iMatt or Guitrum or any other good modder to try out -
Date: Fri, Feb 19 2010 21:38:19
I hope that imatt or guitrim can try it out... I believe (my best guess) that iMatt was the first to bring penspinning into the "transistor age" with his timer-operated color changing LED mod. hey doesnt guitrim live in WA? maybe we could meet up and he could spin the **** out of these things, I'll bring a laptop and reprogram changes in real time... that sounds like fun! actually if anyone in Washington (seattle area) reading this I would really appreciate that
I found an RSVP mod I'd gotten from penwish a long time ago,this is a "clear, vibrant dr. KT" mod, the micro insert fits with plenty of room to spare! You can actually still have room for a graphics insert around it. There could be some potential for cool inserts designed to have lit-up colors behind them. 
The battery (flex-wire batt for the micro boards) is shown in the pic, although it will not fit inside the RSVP its damn close. its actually smaller diameter (7.2mm) than the outer diameter of the RSVP barrel (9+mm). So I don't know how the end-cap works, but if it goes over the barrel, then you should have TONS of room for the battery.
My concern would be (looking at it in this pic) is the length of the board, this is the micro "stubby" (105mm) and it looks like its a bit long for the barrel... but maybe if you're spinning it with a cap on there's room to move it partially into there. Or into a grip, or tip, or whatever. This is an unpopulated circuit board btw (it doesnt have the parts on it, just there for size reference)
Penwish, I have emailed Kam to ask if I can send him one, I should ask Eso though thats a great idea. most of my limited modding knowledge is from watching his review of the modrod and how important weight distribution was. And I basically learned PS from his tutorials so I owe him big-time
to answer the 2nd question, I have also quoted mass production and it just gets insanely cheap... I think if I was making 1000 of them the mfg. cost could be less than 10 bucks per board (completely built!) which would bring the actual selling cost right in line with Penmawashi's $20 or so price. Maybe I will try to go on "shark tank" and ask for the startup money. The only reason I had the time to prototype this far, was b/c I lost my job (unfortunately this is a double-edged sword, means I'm low on $$$)
edit: penwish is right, the black barrels pretty much stomp out ANY light coming through. (just tried it with a black Airlow) but if you have an x-acto knife you can cut little "vents" or just whittle a hole over the lights, which shouldn't affect spinning, and allows light through. -
Date: Sat, Feb 20 2010 07:06:54
well technically the rsvp u have is cut,the length of the rsvp full barrel is longer than the micro board thingy.and also i think its best to put the battery pack in the cap of an rsvp,then make a hole,get rd of the inktube,and use the hole to connect the wires and stuff,(if you still need it,i have no idea)to the battery,and make somethin like momenum mx or nx mmt,so that the mod aint back heavy.the only problem now is,if the micro board "thingy" will fit through the narrower side of the rsvp,(tip side).and if the micr led thing really doesent work with RSVP's,ill just try it on my firefly mod.and it really could fit and yet ill have a Firefly LED mod like Kam.xD
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Date: Sat, Feb 20 2010 23:46:07
this seems totally impractical. so many tricks have the same type of motion. how would a "penometer" distinguish sonic 34-23, sonic 34-12, and sonic 23-12? unless it had some sort of optical sensor thing, it wouldnt be able to do that, and i dont even know how you would build an optical sensor into a pen
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Date: Sun, Feb 21 2010 00:07:40
What the hell?
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Date: Sun, Feb 21 2010 00:26:01QUOTE (AwonW @ Feb 20 2010, 04:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>What the hell?
exactly what i though
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Date: Sun, Feb 21 2010 02:33:15QUOTE (blahblahting @ Feb 20 2010, 07:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>this seems totally impractical. so many tricks have the same type of motion. how would a "penometer" distinguish sonic 34-23, sonic 34-12, and sonic 23-12? unless it had some sort of optical sensor thing, it wouldnt be able to do that, and i dont even know how you would build an optical sensor into a pen
If you wanted to do that effectively, you'd need high-speed, accurate, telemetry - on both the pen and your fingers. the most practical method to accomplish this would be with a multi-angle camera room, and painted-on reflective markers on the outside of your hands and pen (think Avatar actors, little white + marks on their faces all over) However the software would be head-clutchingly difficult to debug and thinking economically, who in their right mind would buy the powerful server system (with multiple cameras) just to use this? a friend of mine worked on something similar at Boeing, she was controlling swarms of micro helicopters by a central server, they could fly in formation, avoid each other, and you could even walk through a cloud of these hovering things, SWINGING A TWO BY FOUR (not kidding, we really did this) and the server crunches all this data to get them out of your way, then back in formation when you pass. So it can be done. But, it required an entire room full of cameras and like 10 engineers working for months.
Another way to do it (without modifying your hands or pen) would be spinning inside a 3-d scanner, there are cheap desktop models of these, but they typically have refresh rates too slow for how fast you guys spin, and a restrictively small area where your hand would have to remain. You could solve the refresh rate problem by basically stacking tons of them around (multiplying the hardware and phasing the scans) but this could get expensive. Again, you'd have to be an amazing programmer to keep up in real-time. The problem is that its a shit-ton of data, maybe you could do a session, pass it to a server cloud and have it return your combo stats.
To address the practical question - maybe we have different opinions of what is practical (this is okay). in the CS system, the pen is just sensing centripetal acceleration and calculating instantaneous tangential velocity. It never knows what move you're doing, only how fast the pen is spinning. In my opinion, simple = fun. spin the pen, the pen lights up, easy to understand. to me, practical is a completely different set of issues, which I've tried to optimize.
Mass / mass distribution - should be overall as light as possible, with minimal mass in the center, and most concentrated at the extremeties
Power consumption - needs to have a small battery, that lasts long, and has most of its energy going to the LED's
Shape - as narrow as possible to fit in any pen (the idea is replacing the refill cartridge)
Reliability - surface-mount, solid-state, well within DRCs, ESD protected; and gobs of bypass capacitance
Cost - as few parts as possible, and cheap electronics sourced in quantity
Fun - simple program that works for n00bs and pros, and can easily be reprogrammed
edit: Your idea is still a cool one, and I'm not trying to bash it just because its ambitious. Actually, you could program some simple move-recognition into the ComboSense after-the-fact without modifying the hardware. the 8Mhz processor is screaming fast, way too powerful for what its doing, this was overdesigned on purpose. The architecture is the popular PIC 16 series, and the programming ports are easy to access. However when sensing acceleration and crunching data, remember that there is a 6.6 sextillion ton problem (you're standing on it) that's already been difficult enough to code around, but I am willing to open-source the software if there is interest, and we might be surprised at what people come up with, as the hardware isn't the limiting factor.
edit2: thought of a cheaper, low-tech way to do this (but is anyone still reading?) while out @ Wendys getting a chocolate twisted cookie-dough frosty. you could have small wireless transmitters on different frequencies at a couple spots in the pen, would still need wireless transmitters along your fingers too (this could be done by taping small wires on the fingers and you can still spin fine). then as few as three , inexpensive recievers running at relatively low speed could approximate the positions close enough to recognize most moves. The disadvantage of this method is physical complexity, you'd have to tape up, and power, your fingers, and have circuits in the pen as well.
The problem would be with transitional moves (at what point does sonic sell its soul and become a devil's sonic? need fuzzy logic) and what happens if you do an original move, it wouldn't recognize it. -
Date: Sun, Feb 21 2010 17:02:11
uh what is the weight of the whole thing??? will it make the mod center heavy?
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Date: Sun, Feb 21 2010 17:26:25QUOTE (Kirby @ Feb 21 2010, 12:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>uh what is the weight of the whole thing??? will it make the mod center heavy?
I tried to design around this problem first and foremost! because the PenMaWashi, was a bit difficult to spin, I think because the body is very heavy and the batteries are right smack in the middle (or b/c i suck ballz0rs at PS). well Eso had a very buddhist view to this issue (in his gen1 modrod review), it isn't good or bad, but just will perform differently with different moves. to me though I think its ideal to have minimal weight in the middle for like, baks and stuff.
the supertips insert weighs about 1.4 grams total and is slightly noticeable.
the micro one however weighs 1.08 grams and can even be hacked (pics of this soon) to get under one gram! like 0.98 or something, with all parts and connectors on there and everything. And to keep the mass distribution out of center, all the electronics are stacked up at one end, the board is skeletonized for the rest of it (meaning routed channels out of the circuit material to save weight)
note that the battery pack is 1.24 grams but this is designed to hook up at the extreme tips. still something to think about (sometimes I just stuff my spare battery pack in the opposite grip, and it balances nicely)
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Date: Mon, Feb 22 2010 19:03:01QUOTE (fletch @ Feb 22 2010, 01:26 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I tried to design around this problem first and foremost! because the PenMaWashi, was a bit difficult to spin, I think because the body is very heavy and the batteries are right smack in the middle (or b/c i suck ballz0rs at PS). well Eso had a very buddhist view to this issue (in his gen1 modrod review), it isn't good or bad, but just will perform differently with different moves. to me though I think its ideal to have minimal weight in the middle for like, baks and stuff.
the supertips insert weighs about 1.4 grams total and is slightly noticeable.
the micro one however weighs 1.08 grams and can even be hacked (pics of this soon) to get under one gram! like 0.98 or something, with all parts and connectors on there and everything. And to keep the mass distribution out of center, all the electronics are stacked up at one end, the board is skeletonized for the rest of it (meaning routed channels out of the circuit material to save weight)
note that the battery pack is 1.24 grams but this is designed to hook up at the extreme tips. still something to think about (sometimes I just stuff my spare battery pack in the opposite grip, and it balances nicely)
so,your saying that most of the weight of the Micro inserts will be in one end.wont that make it harder to do topspins and stuff.its best to have the weight in both ends,it feels better when spun,than having the weight in the middle.
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Date: Mon, Feb 22 2010 22:48:24QUOTE (cardswithpens @ Feb 22 2010, 02:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>so,your saying that most of the weight of the Micro inserts will be in one end.wont that make it harder to do topspins and stuff.its best to have the weight in both ends,it feels better when spun,than having the weight in the middle.
I'm not sure if I said that exactly... the micro insert itself (not thinking about the battery yet) is designed to be very light, and fit your pen by replacing the refillable pen cartridge.
These cartridges weigh between 0.72 grams on the light end (airfit in this case) all the way up to 3 grams for the metal jacketed style like Dr.Grip. The micro insert is closer to the light end of this at <1g. In this pic, I hacked it a bit to make it even lighter and to look cool. At 0.2 grams difference it may not even be noticeable. If you'd like to show off the circuit card, by losing the graphical insert, you can actually save the 0.2-0.3 grams there.
Please note that the electronics and connectors are all at the tips, to keep the center mass absolutely minimal!
Now, lets talk battery. This weighs 1.5g or so in the flex-wire version:
If you have a symmetrical mod with phat grips, you can just add weight into the opposite tip (or an easy way, just stuff a 2nd battery in the opp side grip. this isnt hooked up, but can be your handy spare if the 1st battery dies).
But ideally we can add ComboSense functionality "transparently", meaning by replacing existing weight your final product handles the exact same as before.
To look at a good example of this let's take this Ayatori mod - note that in the tip, there isn't really room for a battery. However the tip is heavier than the back body, so in order to make it spin nicely there has to be a back-weight added in. Why not simply replace the back-weight with a single flexwire battery?
close-up view to compare sizes:
And in the case of this Ayatori, the pen refill is actually 1.17g, so you're actually lowering center mass by converting to ComboSense (of course the tradeoff is, you're losing the ability to write with it)
finally, for no reason at all, here's a picture of my cat.
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Date: Tue, Feb 23 2010 04:48:33
Fletch,
all I have to say is that your cat has to be smarter than me if he's been spending all that time with you!
cris -
Date: Wed, Feb 24 2010 02:59:47
Hey Cris, thanks, that's Max! he's the man.
I made a FAQ video to answer some of these questions.
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Date: Fri, Feb 26 2010 20:40:51
darn, that looks so cool.
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Date: Fri, Feb 26 2010 20:52:40
I gotta say, even though it may not be apparent, I believe this could be huge for pen spinning. LEDs aside, just the fact that you can track the intensity of your spin would be highly useful. And, the fact that it weighs around only 1g, that's very impressive.
I can't wait to try it.
Keep up the good work Fletch
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Date: Sat, Feb 27 2010 01:49:03
For everyone criticizing it: Sure it may have a few small flaws, but think about how awesome this is compared to most other penspinning 'innovations'. I'd love to see more stuff like this..
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Date: Sat, Feb 27 2010 02:52:49
... Fabulous. The concept, the execution, and the product. Great job. You did make a great point on how this circuit board can fit into many pens, so that any mod can turn into a ComboSense pen [which is for now, a motion LED pen].
Personally I don't think this will be widely used in battles (too technical and style is subjective).
Here's a concept, maybe you could have two sensors that save their locations on the pen, (relative to something else, though) so that with a program, you could "replay" your combo at all angles. -
Date: Sun, Mar 7 2010 09:46:52
thanks for your guys comments, it has taken a while to get this far in the design, and it'll be longer before its probably a really elegant design. heres how the board got skinnier, lighter, and longer so far ... what's the next step?
Ive been trying to improve the flex-wire battery hookups, so it cant be plugged in the wrong way (although I dont think that blows anything up) this is a pretty good hook-up but its still a bit large...
its really taken forever to figure out battery ideas, this is some of the weird versions I tried that all didnt work for some reason or another.
this new style is the kind I'm sending to Kam, iColor, and Raine to test out. it should be a solid easy connection to make and can be modified to fit, especially if you have a soldering iron
If the battery connector is still to bulky to fit, you can chop it down. Heres a pic showing a connector chopped in stages. if you want a REALLY micro hook-up , just break/cut the connector open and you can install the pins directly into the connector (example shown the 3rd battery).
The search for smaller connectors continues... -
Date: Sun, Mar 7 2010 11:04:43
Hey fletch, I love how much research and effort you put into this. It is far from the usual "I put a new combination of caps, grips and tips onto this body I found...and I'm gonna tag my name onto this 'new' mod" deal a lot of us are getting tired of. I look forward to testing one out.
As a modder, I can kind of see a limitation as it currently stands. Different people have different preferences in terms of length of the pen. That being the case, shorter pens may not have room for the ComboSense circuit board, while longer pens may have the LEDs too much towards the center, which is not appealing and will add to the center mass. My suggestion would be to somehow make the circuit length flexible (maybe split into two and connect them with soft wires).
Also, just wondering...is it possible for the circuit board to be black? I think that might look really cool on some transparent bodies -
Date: Tue, Mar 9 2010 22:10:52
Hey Kam, in the words of my lab mentor "I am picking up what you are laying down". I designed a new version broken into two small boards, shall we call them Combo Pods? Just ordered the electronics to check out and some smaller connectors, and will design the new boards this week. These should be even skinnier than previous models, and operate on a lower voltage rail, so the battery pack will also get smaller. exciting!
PS I think by the time you read this a couple CS boards might have arrived at your PO box address, let me know if they make it okay.
edit: just saw the question, yes black is a color option, although you can also just spray-paint or whatever any of these boards. I think the best looking colors are red and light blue
edit: to answer cardswithpens, its surprisingly strong, if you "hacks" it to save weight it becomes a bit more fragile, but still way stronger than it needs to be. -
Date: Wed, Mar 10 2010 11:34:44
if the micro insert is that thin,wouldnt it break easily?
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Date: Wed, Mar 10 2010 23:49:46
I just got mine. It's really nice, though I can't find a way to put on caps onto the super tip. Oh well, I'll have to mess around with it.
You could have it to be retractable/size-adjustable (I don't know how you would.) or like you said, have two parts. It really depends if you want it to be one unit. -
Date: Thu, Mar 11 2010 01:35:36
Glad it made it there iColor, the supertips cap is an easy fit over the board/battery part, but the tough part, is getting it onto the supertips body ! its got to be really snug so you can still grip that side w/o it falling off every drop. basically try to wiggle it a little when pressing on and it should go. I hope that works! PS be careful with the wires on the micro version, Raine's had one break, I am on a new fix in the design for this.