For sale: Custom 3D printed shift knobs with integrated buttons

[Fat Charlie]

Wiring things so a failure of the aftermarket system results in the car reverting to its stock confuguration is a good practice, too.

[cowmeat]

The wires are electrical taped to the stick shift shaft on my Insight and on both of my son's Insights, and there haven't had problems with any of the shift knobs. I'm pretty sure the shift knob on Turtle was the first one Daox ever made, and it's still functioning fine.
You do have to be careful when installing the shift knob so you don't pull any of the wires loose while turning it on the shaft (which is way easier to do with two people rather than by yourself), but once you tape them (or heatshrink them) onto the shaft there shouldn't be any of those issues.
A safer alternative when installing might be to just pull the shift knob apart (carefully accounting for each tiny piece), screw the lower piece on the shaft, then replace the buttons after feeding the wires down through when it's already in place, and then screw the top half back on.
I check mine regularly to make sure the ring of the collar isn't rubbing through the electrical tape, and since the threads on the shift knob on Ron Burgundy do allow it to move around a little, I plan on removing the top half and gluing the bottom half to the shaft.

[Baltothewolf]

Ooph, sorry for the late reply. Yes the knob rotated, and I believe this is what caused them to get cut. I had them fashioned in a way to relieve stress from the wires, however that wouldn't have helped them not cutting either way.. I really, REALLY hate driving my car without this shifter knob. It sucks not being able to EOC.

Charlie, I'm glad I did it the way I did. When I buy another one and reinstall it, I'm going to put switches in place somewhere so I can just flip them incase something like this ever happens again and it will instantly return the car back to it's original state.

Doax, if you do revise the design, try to make it a little bigger. The small size always bothered me anyway.

[RedDevil]

As an afterthought:
Make sure you use very finely stranded copper wires, like hair thickness.
The coarse strands in Balto's picture won't bend easily, and break if they are bent repeatedly. Their stiffness may force them into harms way where more flexible cables would be pushed aside.

Use wire meant for an appliance where the wires do get bent a lot, like computer mouse cable or headphone leads. Because even if you have installed a proper wire relief in the knob, the wires will bend a lot down at the shaft hinge.

[slats]

Could you make one to illuminate the 5 Speed gear pattern. If so, I would be interested in one.


Thanks.

[Daox]

Just a heads up for those who may be interested in these, they will be unavailable for the next 3 weeks or so. I'll be out of the country to help at an orphanage in Africa. I won't be back until very late July.

For those of you who pray, I'd appreciate your support. Thanks!

[Fat Charlie]

I know you're gone right now and this may sound like a dumb question, but where in Africa and which orphanage? I've got a friend who's been at one in Zimbabwe for quite some time.

[Daox]

I was in Pemba, Mozambique for most of the trip. Iris Global is the name of the organization that hosted us. I stayed at their main base of operation in Pemba (which is an orphanage, school, church, food pantry, free clinic, etc). Super awesome trip! Glad to be back in the first world again though.

[Fat Charlie]

I'm glad everything went well.

Yeah, hearing the English you're used to hearing is more relaxing than you think!

[Xist]

You have visited the South, too?