An open-source spacemouse for CAD

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2021-07-24 11:00:07

Following a discussion on Twitter the general consensus was that a 3D-printed open-source spacemouse that anyone could make would be a good idea.  These are used for input to CAD systems such as FreeCAD. It would also be useful (possibly in modified form) for gaming.

So we set up a repository in our Github space to hold designs, documentation and experiments. Others have forked the repository and made contributions, which we have merged in. We hope that more than one design will emerge to allow a certain amount of Darwinian competition.

Based on our experiments on our original force-sensor design we have created a new force sensor illustrated above. It works using a magnet and the Hall effect to measure small changes in distance as a spring is bent.

The actual device is on the left and the FreeCAD design is on the right. It consists of a printed part with two 1.5 mm x 15 mm brass rods inserted into holes to act as sliders. On the right the magnet is shown green, and the Hall sensor is blue. The curved part at the left end of the sensor is a printed spring. The four holes in the sides allow self-tapping M2 screws to be used to attach the force sensor to whatever is pushing and pulling it. The top left screw is longer than the others as it also retains the brass rods.

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