Simple 3D-printed NRF remote - Arduino controlled

Speed, battery and range / distance that would be so cool. And yes, that`s all we need… :slight_smile:

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Thanks @solidgeek! I´m in Portugal btw

Are you going to do a YouTube tutorial on how you made and assembled everything, including programming?

Not sure if he will but programming the arduino nano is dead simple you just download his repository open the .ino file (arduino project file) and write to USB. Since he’s using the nrf modules he’s probably using one of the RF24 libraries too so you’d need to download and extract that to your libraries folder and maybe one for the display as well… actually now that I’m writing this up a YouTube video would probably be a good idea :wink:

Beyond getting the libraries though you basically load up the ino project file and hook up the nano via USB to a computer then select the port and board type in the arduino interface (drop down menus) and then hit a button to compile the code and upload it to the board.

I did a general walk through including the programming steps here for my own remote but only wrote it up and you can skip over all the physical assembly and FTDI stuff, the arduino IDE stuff will be the same though just his code instead of mine:


Actually not sure if the hall sensor requires the manual calibration and setting like mine either I imagine that is the same too though since it depends on how powerful your magnet is and exactly where it ends up at the top and bottom end.

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Yes I most certainly can :smile: The only reason why I haven’t is that I am using my VESCs UART port for the Metr.at bluetooth module. I will try to add it tonight :slight_smile:

@Silverline I am not sure about distance, I would have to calculate that by the values the VESC outputs. I will look into it :slight_smile:

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Guys, as I don’t have 3D printer - would you know approx cost of printing it in UK? I’ve heard of printing Hubs. Can you give me a rough estimate on how much it would cost me to have it done it one of the hubs ?

You can easily check it yourself, if you upload the STL models to https://www.3dhubs.com/ and find a local hub :slight_smile:

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On it ! Thanks!

Let me know what you find out :slight_smile: 3Dhubs normally are very cheap, at least in Denmark :stuck_out_tongue:

Ok - anything between £18 and £30 in pla/Abs. Any tips on print resolution and type of material and printer ?

I do not know about what printer to choose (I am using a CR-10/Afinibot A31), however, I use a resolution of about 150 microns (0,15m per layer). I have printed all parts in PLA, however, it would probably be better in ABS (or something with similar strength).

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Bliver din STL fil ændret mere nu ? Ellers kunne jeg nemlig godt finde på lige at printe den for sjov :smiley:

Would suggest using ABS, PLA is good for getting the shape of something perfect (not much warping right off the printer) but doesn’t really hold up over time (very brittle and prone to crack easily also gets worn down by relatively low temperatures).

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I’ll go ahead with ABS the - perhaps 100 microns? And then sand it down for smoother finish?

Yup a little sanding works really well you can also look into making an acetone “vapor bath”. If you put ABS into a container that has a cloth soaked in acetone in it (not touching the model) the acetone will evaporate in the container and the bit of it that reacts with the outside will “melt” the layer lines, you just need to be careful not to leave it in there for too long or with too much acetone (just soaking a paper towel is pretty safe just check it every hour leave it outside or somewhere well ventilated so you don’t get a build up of acetone in a place it could explode). It’s a bit more dangerous than just sanding (though you also don’t want to breath bits of plastic) but has a great result on ABS (doesn’t work on PLA but sanding works well there).

Look into the acetone vapor bath option on the net and will find more details you also don’t want to really touch the model right after it’s been in the acetone vapor since it will remain “melted” for a while so you need to take it out without bending it or take the acetone cloth out and let the acetone vapor out of the container and give the model some time to sit (maybe an hour the acetone will evaporate pretty quickly).

@Silverline Altså jeg kan ikke love, at der ikke er noget der bliver ændret i fremtiden - men jeg er tilfreds med designet på nuværende tidspunkt :stuck_out_tongue: Kunne være fedt hvis du gad, altid godt at høre andres mening når de får den i hånden!

@wafflejock I have used carbon infused PLA for the bottom part, and I am going to print the prototypes in that PLA as well. Don’t you think that would be durable enough?

@MontPierre Looking forward to seeing the results!

I have done some testing with the UART library today and found that the VESC 6 has changed a bit, regarding the UART communication. Because of that, I don’t have a means of testing how my remote works with a VESC 4. However, I did manage to pull basic data from the VESC 6, such as input voltage, used amps, regen etc. Until I get my hands on a VESC 4 I am not going to be able to test the remote completely :slight_smile:

I will start working on displaying the data on the OLED display in next week! Pictures will be coming :open_mouth:

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Nice yeah I mean for prototypes it is going to be good enough initially I just wouldn’t expect long term durability out of them. I printed risers out of PLA that are going to go under a lot more impacts and stress typically and they eventually crumbled but held up for a decent amount of time considering the material properties (over a month of regular riding which was more than I expected really, think they were 25% infill and about .5" thick).

About Carbon infused PLA I haven’t used that but have heard it works well, there’s also the annealing process that is supposed to help a lot with overall part strength:

For the most part ideally the controller isn’t going through too much but occasionally I end up tossing mine or smashing it into the ground. After a year of love, and a few bails, it has started to show some age (granted my printer was in bad shape when I made it in the first place so layer adhesion wasn’t great to start). My guess is if your printer nozzle is clean and everything is extruding and sticking well then they’ll be tough enough especially with the carbon infused filament (I’ve also heard carbon infused and metal infused filaments can cause the hot end nozzle to wear down more quickly so watch out for that or use a hardened steel nozzle).


ABS just tends to be a bit more “mushy” and impact resistant so it’s less likely to crack and more likely to bend a little bit in most cases, Nylon is more extreme where it will flex a lot and won’t really ever crack, down side is it’s really hard to print with if you’re making anything large. I printed my x-carriage out of nylon and it’s no bigger than this controller and it came out well but warping and stopping water absorption is a battle with Nylon.


Really if you plan to make a lot of these I’d look at using your PLA to make a mold out of silicone then pour the parts. The initial investment in silicone is somewhat high (and there is a little learning curve) but once you have a mold you can use it for 50 parts or more and each part takes about 10-15 minutes to cure (and you can easily color the plastics or choose harder/softer plastics). This gets rid of the layer adhesion problem, you just make one nice model out of PLA and sand it down and use it as the original to make a mold then can make them pretty easily at will (just need an area you can mix up the chemicals and clean up easily). I’m in the process of doing this with my own enclosure parts but am working on 3D printing parts of the mold box too since silicone is so darn expensive and the battery boxes are pretty big and lots of empty space.

If you want to try it out this is a sample kit of the silicone and plastic it is probably enough silicone to make the molds for all the parts for your controller if you get everything right the first time around:

If not maybe one to try and one to get it right if you’re like me :slight_smile:

The time and effort with a mold is up front and you get a lot more parts a lot quicker in the long run.

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Hi! Nice build… i like it a lot :slight_smile:

I’m also running an arduino based remote with code from RollingGecko. I like to share what hardware I’m using. For lipo chargin/protection and 5V boost (all in the same PCB). Never had any problem with it.

I did not see how you turned on/off the remote but I’m using a soft switch board for this. I can then power up/down the remote using on of the push buttons on the remote… holding it pushed for a long time. (instead of using an on/off switch). http://www.ebay.com/itm/3V-12V-Solid-State-Switch-Control-Module-Power-Soft-Start-Switch-PCB-for-DSO-068-/141768160000?hash=item21020a7300:g:l60AAOSwTapV7P5M

My plan was to integrate a small display as well but the form factor of the wii nunchuck im using is not optimal for this. I do have all the data send from the VECSs to the already… I just need a way to visualize it. At the moment I’m using a vibrator with different patterns to signal low battery etc. :smiley:

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@Fatglottis This is turning into awesome project! Thanks for sharing you’re knowledge and experience! I’ll try to see if I can come up with nice 8bit graphics for the remote battery status and etc.

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Hi! Thanks for sharing :slight_smile:

I have been looking at the exact same model for battery charging and boost, however, there were a few things I didn’t like about it. First of all, I needed something thin, not any higher than 5-6mm. Secondly, I needed a way to turn of the boost converter while the battery still was connected to the charging circuit, otherwise, I would not be able to charge the battery, while the whole circuit was turned off. How did you solve this?

The TP4056 board is also current-limited (0-1000mA depending on R_prog), which I think is a nice feature to have, so you do not charge your battery with too high of a current. Charging a 400mA battery with 1A could kill or even worse make the battery explode at some point :open_mouth:

I like your idea with the solid state switch, however, I think the PCB takes up more space than I got the room for at the moment. However, it opens the possibility to use a normal push button (small tactile switch), which I quite like.

I would like to see your software sometime if you are willing to share :slight_smile: !