[General Accessories] gilrad:
__NOTE:__

Project is more or less finished. If you want to get in contact with me, it would be best to PM me. Also, there is a .step file on page 12 if your 3d printer can't do meshes.

Hello everybody and welcome!

Info

The Andraxis project is 3d-printable mount/clamp/dock/holder thing that, when paired with the awesome Android Sixaxis controller tool, will allow you to turn your Android phone into a real mobile game platform.

The project can be bought from www.shapeways.com, I will be doing my best to keep its cost under $30 USD.

This project is going to be funded entirely by donations. That means on the Shapeways shop, I am not going to get a single penny of profit from each one sold. This ALSO means if I don't get any donations, I won't be able to improve on the design. The total cost for each revision I make for myself, living in Japan, is going to be $30 + $20 shipping. If you want to help me out, any amount of money will help. Just click on the "donate" button to the left, or send some money to my paypal account: gilradthegreat@yahoo.com

What you will need:

Two standard 3mm screws. These are the same screws you can find in your PC case. One is to fasten the dock around the sixaxis controller, the other is used to lock the telescoping arm into position.

Some rubber tack or foam tape. Or if your cellphone has a silicone case, that might do just fine as well. Essentially, you need something that will give it extra traction to reduce the risk of slippage.

The Android Sixaxis controller tool, or some way for your phone to read the input from your sixaxis controller (can't Android 4.0 do that natively now?).

A sixaxis controller. If this project takes off, I might make different versions for other 3rd party controllers as long as they work on the software front. If you have a 3rd party controller you want to work with, give me its dimensions and as long as it doesn't require a drastic redesign I'll see what I can do.

Post-production:

The material used his highly porous and has a rough, gritty texture. The white, undyed material yellows somewhat when exposed to ultraviolet light (read: sunlight). Because of the porous and gritty texture, it also traps dirt and grime very easily. Pretty much, don't expect it to stay pristine and clean without any post-production methods. I hear varnish works well, but there's a whole section devoted to post-production at the Shapeways forum. I haven't experimented with the pre-dyed material yet, maybe it will fare better without any post-production.

Additionally, a number of the tighter interactions will need to be worked a few times to smooth them out. Examples being the locking clasp for the arm hinge and the sliding mechanism for the telescoping arm.

UPDT 11/8/2012

Looking at the competition (Gameclip, Icontrolpad 2), I would say my project is no longer "first there". So unless I come up with an awesome revision idea, there will probably be no more updates to the project.

As I originally planned from the start, along with the ending of this project, I will also be releasing the source so anybody who wishes to make their own modifications can do so themselves (or if they simply want to study it, though I'm terrible at notating stuff, sorry).

The file format is a .3dm file, this is a Rhino3d NURBS modeling filetype. If you can't use Rhino3d, you could still get the .stl file from the Shapeways website.

UPDT 5/23/2012

Due to a large number of pieces getting lost in the printing process, the project is now all one piece, with the arm boom attached to the main body by a small pip. A razor is required to get everything to fit together perfectly.

Just to clarify, Shapeways have been incredible with printing and sending replacements when they lose pieces, but it's inconvenient for everybody involved so I changed the design to minimize these complications.

Revision history:

Note: "Blind" means I haven't received that particular version yet, so I cannot comment on first-hand experience.

Revision 3

- Blind, but no major design changes so it should be fully functional.

URL: http://shpws.me/73sc

MODIFICATIONS:

- Connected the separate arm to the body by a small pip. If getting it clean is too time consuming or difficult, I could work with orientation; my initial intention is to make things easier on the Shapeways crew by making sure Andraxis doesn't take up much printer space when they're printing them.

- Added a little stand in the back. I pretty much eyeballed the dimensions so it's not guaranteed to work, but it should be fairly easy to remove if you have the right tools and it's not doing it's job and just annoying you.

- Shortened the bottom graspers. In my own experience having them extend over the face buttons sometimes meant they got in the way when playing games. Shouldn't be a problem any more, and with how sturdy the grippers are when given foam tape or a silicone case, I'm not worried about decreased gripping power.

Revision 2

- BLIND, though I didn't make any drastic changes to the design so it should work just fine.

- Shapeways link

REV. 2 DESIGN MODIFICATIONS:

- Added a screw hole to the side of the telescoping arm. This should allow it to be more pocketable, without having a big screw sticking out and making its pocket profile larger.

Revision 1 - Updated! 02/24/2012

- Received and fully functional!

- Shop url

REV. 1 OUTSTANDING ISSUES:

- The 2mm size correction from rev. 0 worked perfectly for the length of the project, but the thickness was not needed so now there is an extra 2mm of thickness. This can easily be corrected by foam tape or blue tack for now, doing so still makes it nice and tight. Will take 1mm off the thickness (going slowly to avoid having another non-working model).

- The 0.2mm correction for the sleeve was not enough. That or the dying process I experimented with trying out made the extending arm "swell" a bit. This is probably the biggest concern for rev.1 and is something you should consider if you don't want to wait for rev. 2. A good 30 minutes of sanding and "working" the telescoping mechanism should make it somewhat serviceable, but its still way too tight to expect it to work well for smaller phones. Will change it to a 0.5mm total correction.

- The support walls to the extended lower gripping prongs were mistakenly made a little thin. Its not a huge concern but since the prongs protrude out so much I want to make them as robust as possible. Will change from 1mm to 1.5mm. For those curious, the lower gripping prongs are now a total of 79mm wide. From my testing this has proven to be more than sufficient to hold the cellphone in place.

- The screw hole on the front clasp was made a little too deep. Its still perfectly serviceable (and able to hold it shut despite having two layers of foam tape padding the spaces between the controller and the project), but fixing this will make the clasp even more robust.

- The project information engraved on Rev. 1 is difficult to read. Will switch it to an emboss as what Rev. 0 was.

Other notes

- The screw holes are now a little tight. Unfortunately, a difference of 0.25mm is in the range of "random variance by the 3d printing process" so I don't think I would accomplish much by re-sizing it by 0.125mm. Its not a concern for the clasp screw hole because people aren't going to be unscrewing it all that often, but it might make the locking mechanism a bit of a pain to utilize. I'll keep it the size it is for now and observe if the screw hole gets easier to work with time.

Revision 0

- RECEIVED. Youtube video.

- Non-public.

REV. 0 OUTSTANDING ISSUES:

- The telescoping arm is too tight and its a real pain to insert into the sleeve. Added 0.2mm of clearance.

- The smaller screw hole is too small for any screws. On the other hand, the larger screw hole fits standard 3mm screws perfectly (they're the ones you would find on your PC case, for example). Removed the small screw hole, and resized the larger one by making it 0.25mm smaller to give it extra grip.

- The curves from the analog sticks are not high enough, and the face plate doesn't fit very well.

- Additionally, the hole for the Playstation button is too high. The face plate has been adjusted accordingly.

- The lower gripping prongs are too close-set and they don't extend out long enough. Adjusted from extending 6mm out, to 10mm. Widened the grip on each of the lower prongs from 10mm to 25mm.

- The clasp in the front is not needed. Replaced it with a screw hole.

- Despite having given extra space generously, the whole fit of the holder is way too tight around the controller. Added 2mm of clearance on all dimensions.

Other notes:

- The snap-in mechanism for the telescoping arm is a little stiff, but it works perfectly after its been worked a few times.

- The holder is designed to be used with rubber tack for extra traction (or a silicone phone case). The phone slipped out of the holster at the end of the video because I haven't gone to the store to get some tack just yet.

____

Disclaimer:

As you might expect, I take no responsibility if your cellphone drops out and cracks, or if the latest blind revision for some reason doesn't work (if you get missing parts, if the joint fuses, or if there are any other problems that are obviously the result of the printing technology, contact Shapeways and they should straighten things out). As long as I am able to, I intend to address any design issues that may come out, but especially in the early stages of this project you shouldn't expect a 100% working product.

BIG THANKS to:

xda user moviecut for sending a donation before I even had a working version to show!