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

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1432055776

A bunch of you have already bought some of these from me, but I figured I'd make an official thread so everyone knows and I can point people to a thread. I am making custom 3d printed shift knobs, and they are for sale. They have the EcoModder emblem on them as shown above. You can get them with with 1, 2 or 3 buttons. The switches are customizable. I have a few different switches depending on the application. I have momentary switches (NC and NO) and toggle switches (push once -> on, push again -> off). The knob comes prewired with about 12" of pigtail wire (no connectors).

The switches can be used for numerous things. The most popular is a kill switch. However, a start switch would be nice The Insight guys put their clutch switch and a regen button on the knob. Almost any function you'd like can be put on the knob with a switch.

Prices
1 button - $25 shipped
2 button - $30 shipped
3 button - $35 shipped

Please PM me if you're interested. We'll need to talk a little about your application before figuring out what switches to use. I also need to know the thread size for your shifter shaft for proper mounting.

If you have something else you'd like to do, customizing the knob or doing something else wacky feel free to PM me. We can probably figure something out.


Here are a few pictures from the development and installation of these knobs.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1432056520

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1432056520

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1432056520

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1432056520

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1432056520



I am also open to doing other 3d printing if you have something you'd like made up. I've been sharing the things I've been making here:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ter-30670.html

Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - OBD1Kenobi's Album: Just some random pics - Picture

Very nice work. I have been making mine out of 8 balls. (I threw in a link to one of them). Pool balls are 2-1/4" and they seem like the perfect diameter for feel. I was actually starting to make one out of aluminum with the Ecomodder logo on it. It was going to have a green back lit momentary kill switch in it and the logo was going to be lexan. The car has since blown the head gasket and needs my attention more than the shift knob so it's on hold. I hope you sell a lot of these, keep up the good work!

I couldn't imagine driving my Insight without it! Well worth the 35 bucks!

I'd say that after buying three of them I'm probably your biggest customer for now at least.

Daox, you want to sell a couple of hundred of them real quick? Double the price of the three button version, include instructions for the Insight guys to hook up the three buttons to them, with enough wire and a relay for the injector kill with the shift knob . . . . .

Also, how hard would it be to make an ABS version of my pod mirror housings? I wouldn't mind shaving some weight from them, since they're formed from Bondo and weigh a lot considering their tiny size.

Doax, you have received a PM.

On a more related note, I love my shift knob so much! It has payed for itself already I'm sure, just in convenience alone.

Thanks for the kind words guys. I had hoped a few of you would chime in. :)

Cowmeat, I'll PM you about the mirror housings.

Legendary. Posting to add to my threads, and compliment how cool this is.

Why are you selling Elio Motors shift knobs? ;)

Too cool, I'll take one with three buttons for my electric hot rod! One button for the differential locker, one for the brake line lock, and one for the series/parallel motor field shifting. But what about the planned ultracap boost pack contactor, and the pusher trailer clutch, and pusher throttle up/down, and the pusher kill switch? AArgh, the possibilities!

Ready to make a button-festooned e-brake handle cover?

BTW some shifter handles have multiple thread inserts to cover multiple years of shifters. I'll have to come back with my needed thread pattern(s).
EMPI Shift Knob, Black Vinyl, fits 7, 10, and 12mm Shaft, 4540 - Aircooled.Net VW Parts

Seriously though, how's the texture. Anybody tried to sand it smooth and/or clearcoat it?

You can see and feel the texture from the layers.

I haven't worked with it really at all, but acetone can and will smooth it (by melting it). I'm not setup to do that at this point in time. You could do whatever you want with it though from bondo to paint.

PM sent.

Giggling started.

I bought one, but have not done much with it. I figure that I need to finish replacing the head gasket on Bacon before I fix things that are not broken on Chorizo. Also, now that my driver's window is not stuck, I probably now have a "broken" list.

It looks awesome, though!

It just came today. It's beautiful!

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...9&d=1433180542

One of my favorite purchases for my project!

EXCELLENT quality. Thanks for making these for us!

What parts are you using for switches? I'm trying to find similar small switches, especially the toggle type that have a decent current rating.

There really isn't anything small enough to fit in the knob that has a real good current rating. My highest rated switch is 2A (D2F) and its a momentary. The toggle I use (TL2201EEZB) is rated for 100mA.

Mine didn't survive the California summer. It warped and won't stay on my shifter anymore. Don't get me wrong I'm still using it, but I have to be really careful now. Has saved me a ton of money and trouble having all the buttons right at my fingertips.

Can you get me some pictures of that Balto? I'd like to see where it failed and try to improve the design.

I do find it odd that yours warped. Has anyone else had this problem?

I have a 3d printed part attached to the engine on my Metro and its surviving after months. The ABS starts to soften around 175F, that is really hot! Time for a window reflector/shade I think. Think of your poor IMA pack. :(

I haven't had any trouble with the original beta-test version on Turtle (n.k.a. Dr. Horrible) or with the one I now have on Ron Burgundy, and there's no way it's any hotter in Cali than it is in central Florida.:thumbup:

Then again, I use an SUV sun shade to cover the rear windshield over the IMA compartment, a regular size sun shade on the front windshield, I throw a towel over the leather seats (since I have a sun roof), and I crack the windows about 2 inches (courtesy of the rain guards). It's actually not too hot when I get in the car in the afternoons.

My problem is other wiring... My beautiful shift knob hasn't had a chance to show its stuff. :(

But my UG gives me overheat warnings in the high 160s on summer afternoons all the time.

After a 110F day it slipped right off the shifter. I believe it warped enough to make the thread fail. It's not noticeable enough in pictures, but the inside were the thread is, is slightly warped. Also I got tint halfway through the summer and I use a front window shade. If I would have gotten tint sooner I don't think it would have been a problem. I think ill just buy another and reinforce the thread with an insert. Although my regen button gets stuck so much I can't risk using it either, forgot about that.

It gets 110F in central Florida? Wow I didn't know!

Are most people using an external relay? Or is 2A enough for most jobs, especially kill switches. I did find one momentary switch that handles 10A, but it's a little bigger (PB1973ABLKBLKEF0). The other approach I'm taking is to use a tiny relay (CP1SA-12V-X) but they get a little pricey.

Some guys are using relays. I'm not sure which because I don't supply them. However, its always easiest if you can just kill a logic circuit with a kill switch. A small switch can easily handle killing the signal to the crankshaft sensor or something like that.

I'm sorry Doax, but I cannot support your product any longer unless you update it to make it more safe. It almost got my boyfriend and I killed on the freeway today.

I was on the way home from the fair climbing a 6% grade and I was coming up on a truck ~70mph in the slow lane and I decided to go into the lane next to it, which was also occupied by a truck. I go to press the clutch button to turn back on my IMA system and I instantly lose power. I now have a semi barreling up behind me at 55+mph that's pissed because I just cut in front of him, not realizing my car is dead and I have NO IMA SYSTEM to help me move out of the freaking way. I flipped on my hazards and luckily he was paying attention and went into the fast lane, avoiding me and the truck in the right lane had passed and luckily nobody was behind him, so I moved into the E-Lane and ripped my shifter out as fast and hard as I could.

It appears the wiring got cut/damaged by the shifter rod and the hot from my injectors grounded to the clutch signal, causing it to get stuck thinking the clutch was pushed in, so no assist, and it was grounded to that, so it flipped the relay, cutting the power off to my injectors. IMO this was a freak accident, and I wouldn't be as bothered with it if only I was in the car, but my other half was in the car and his life was put in danger because of this design flaw.

Here is some pics.

http://imageshack.com/a/img538/2130/ibYtYZ.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img661/6315/8WRML4.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img540/9821/ooRZqQ.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img909/1778/gSr6EU.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img673/1764/DWF3zt.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img537/5568/bcm8O3.jpg

it's a simple design meant to bypass a system already in place by the OEM. don't endorse the product. use at owners risk.

Really? Lol. Sorry I gave any feedback I'll just remove my post -.- (not really).

Thanks for the photos Balto, they really help. I'm very sorry to hear about the situation the knob caused. I will definitely do what I can to fix the problems with the knob.

From the pictures, I can see two problems. First, it looks like the threaded section actually separated from the rest of the knob. This is what caused your knob to be so loose. The good news is this probably isn't heat related (which is good because I can't fix that part). I should be able to print the part at a higher density which will make it stronger so this does not happen again. The second issue of the wire being sheared/cut is a separate issue. I would imagine the knob rotated and eventually cut through the wire. Does this sound right? The busted threads may have added to this. The knob on my car has rotated as well, mostly when real warm. I haven't had it even start to cut into my wire yet, though I have checked. I haven't implemented the fix for it yet, but I am going to try using some blue loctite (which should make the knob still be removable) next time I reinstall it. This should prevent it from turning.

I do think this all can be solved, but I have had problems like these (not with your knob, which I don't own).

Of the three custom shifter knobs I have made, all three have rotated a little eventually. Especially but not only in the heat. I used to have my injector kill on the shifter knob. The knob never cut the grounding wire that ran through the switch on the shifter. But twisting of wires as I moved the shifters thousands of times eventually caused an unsettling failure in LA traffic. That was the majn reason I moved my kill switch to a dash panel where it is always stationary.

The wires should be locked inside the knob so the soldered wire ends do not move.
Like a pull protection in a home appliances plug.

Best to use a shielded cable and lock the shielding.
(as the shielding takes the strain of twisting the cable beyond the lock, the wires inside are subject to very little of that)

An observation, there appears to be no wire relief. At a minimum tying the wires in a knot will reduce stress on the wires where they are soldered to the terminals.

A jam nut under the knob if shifter design allows will help keep the knob from rotating.

In my thread where I show how to install the knob, I believe I advocate taping the wires to the shifter shaft. This completely eliminates any pulling on the soldered connections. A knot is a good idea as well. I also like the jam nut idea.

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

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.

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.

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.

Lighted Gear Shift
 

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


Thanks.

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!

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.

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.

I'm glad everything went well.

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

You have visited the South, too? :)