WTB: 100pcs Custom USB HID boards for simple 2 button "joystick" - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: niels007
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2014, 02:37:36 pm
content: Hello!Decided to register after watching too many EEVblog videos! From what I read in the rules, my WTB post is not against the rules, in any case I don't want to be breaking them so let me know if I should go somewhere else!I'm a mechanical engineer.....Anyway I'm making a mechanical device that should act as a 2 button joystick Human Interface Device. There are a few USB joystick circuits for sale, but they all offer a lot of functionality that isn't needed here. There are two micro switches in the device, with a cable going out towards the 'to be' USB HID board. Packaged either as a small box, or integrated into the end of a USB-A cable, we can see about packaging at a later stage.It would require the simplest of USB HID chips with just 3 connections (Button1, Button2, GND). So when plugged in, Windows loads the default HID driver and a 2 button device is recognized.Most likely I would require 100 boards. Do any of you do these things from time to time and would anyone be interested in looking at this? Existing solutions are about 20 euro per board offering 8 axis, 32 buttons functionality so I'm hoping 100 units is enough to do a much 'undressed' solution at a lower cost.It may be a long shot but I thought lets ask! :-)Regards,NielsHeusinkveld Engineeringwww.h-engineering.net

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2014, 03:02:11 pm
content: Maybe this is a dumb question, but why not buy 100 mouse boards or complete mouses?

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 03, 2014, 05:24:48 pm
content: Too much hassle and almost no profit. PCBs alone would cost about 80-100 EUR (with slow shipping). + parts, + need to be assembled. Not to mention, need to be designed and prototyped first. So vaguely: ~100 EUR for final boards, ~40 EUR for proto boards (or need to be made in home), ~200-300 EUR for parts. Need to pay assembly house or assemble them by hand. Not much left for a person who will do all this. Maybe some hobbyist or student would be interested, experienced engineer unlikely would bother as they almost always have what to do.

author: niels007
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2014, 06:11:04 pm
content: That's very likely to be true, I'm clueless to these things and the time and costs involved. So the worst that can happen is I will learn a bit from the comments here.Excellent boards with too many features are ~20 euro, so if this 2 button board would be 19, it wouldn't be worth it. At a max of say 10 euro there would be 1000 euro in this deal, perhaps 1250, but more than that and I would just use the more advanced boards.The sum of your costs would be ~440 euro taking your highest values, so I guess it depends if the ~560 euro that remain are enough to cover the time spent in a reasonable way.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2014, 06:52:30 pm
content: Can you not just buy 100 ultra cheap USB keyboards and use the boards inside them . If you just need a pair of keypresses then a standard keyboard will also work, and is easy to test, along with being ultra cheap. Standard HID and has spare inputs as well, along with having a single output in the scroll lock LED.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2014, 07:10:53 pm
content: Sparkfun did a video about HID and USB and in the video embedded on the page he designs and makes a one button usb keyboard using a atmel chip (arduino etc ) :https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1004They're also selling a Pro Micro board (basically an arduino, with usb support directly from the chip) for about 20$, 16$ if you buy 100:https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12640They have a tutorial on their website, where they turn this board into a HID keyboard and they have the source code and everything made up:https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/337The schematic for the pro micro is available on the website, there's nothing stopping you from taking it and removing the extra stuff you don't need, such as the 0.1" holes on the sides for example and at the same time you could add a couple of pushbuttons on the board. Send it to a pcb company, 100 of those should fit onto a couple of standard panels so they shouldn't be more than 100$ (the pcbs).With the rest of the components, you would probably get the cost down to about 3-4$ a piece.

author: neslekkim
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2014, 07:46:44 pm
content: Is it something like this you are trying to do?http://fabiobaltieri.com/2011/10/19/fun-with-attiny-and-v-usb/

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2014, 01:57:16 am
content: In the US, I frequently see USB keyboards for sale at Dollar Tree for a dollar. They tend to be the ones with oversized buttons.https://www.google.com/search?q=ez+eyes+keyboard&source=lnms&sa=X&ei=5nyOU_LNHIyHogTS_4D4Cg&ved=0CAUQ_AUoAA&biw=1280&bih=945&dpr=1

author: Clear as mud
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2014, 02:50:21 am
content: Hi, I am Daniel, co-owner of a small business just getting started. Because we don't have anywhere near the level of income as most of the electrical engineers on this forum, the amount of money you mentioned is a powerful motivation to us. We are sure we can do this for you, given two to four weeks to work on it. We have recently developed some hardware that does almost exactly what you want, so we only would have to adapt it to your requirements, and the software side may be a little harder, but we can do this. We have enough money to build prototypes and make sure everything works before building the whole lot of 100 of them.The hardware we have developed recently is a small breakout board for a PIC18F24K50 microcontroller. I'm attaching some pictures here. It has automatic power source selection that defaults to the power jack, but otherwise can get power from the USB jack. The power jack input is 7 to 12 volts or thereabouts, regulated with a linear regulator.If none of the other options suggested so far really appeal to you, and you still want some custom boards built, let me know, and we can build something for you. I'll send you a private message, also.

author: idpromnut
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 06, 2014, 04:02:53 am
content: You mentioned the joystick aspect as well, but focused on the buttons that would be needed. I assume you need both, right? If so, what sort of sensors are used for the joystick's XY? Also, you should give an idea of the time frame that you are looking for delivery (2-4 weeks, 1-2 months, 3-6 months, etc).

author: niels007
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2014, 01:00:06 pm
content: Thanks for the replies guys,It seems much like one of the PM's I got a few days ago is looking promising, so my post has exceeded my wildest imaginations! Thanks!The product is a sequential gear shifter for racing simulations, so it has one button for upshifts and one for downshifts. Its pretty bare bones from an electronics point of view.Thanks again to all those who replied!Niels