Lately I’ve become interested in making my own handheld portable paddles. I own a N0SA and a BaMaTech key, both of which are great, but I wanted the challenge of making my own. After much research, I was surprised at how few homemade, handheld paddle projects I could find. So, I’d like to share what I built, but more importantly, would like to hear from other activators about handheld paddles they have built so I can get ideas for the next iteration of my homemade paddle.
The paddle I built uses copper clad PCB for the paddles, both of which have a fine silver plate soldered at the contact points. As well, the negative pin, which is a brass rod, had fine silver tips. Spacing is set by the thickness of the washer, and of course, travel tension is simply a function of the PCB thickness, length, and width at the narrowest point. The key works extremaly well.
Please share your compact handheld paddle projects, especially if you’ve incorporated more sophisticated paddle tension and travel adjustments.
Dave
Nicely done. Thanks for buying one of my paddles, but I have said for years that a lot of it is over hype.
After all, it is just two simple switches. Your design should last years, can take a lot of abuse and you can repair or modify it at will as you made it yourself.
Plus, you get the satisfaction of knowing all the contacts you make with it are due to your own building skills. I could easily be put out of business if more ops followed your lead.
Larry n0sa
Homebrewing paddles is a blast, and not all that difficult when you think about what you need to accomplish. I have designed a few 3d printed models that I’ve shared.
Heck yeah! I’ve made a lot of paddles (and printed quite a few of @K6ARK designs). In fact, making paddles was one of the reasons I got in to 3D printing.
I also have one of @N0SA 's paddles, a very old one that has been on MANY summits.
Just another fun and interesting aspect of CW / Morse Code!
Hi Ivan. Thanks for sharing your paddle. Question: The hex sandoffs you are using for the paddle pivot points look like plated or stainless steel. How are you attaching them to the paddles. I can’t tell. It looks like solder, but I’m not sure.
Hi Dave! Yes, hex standoffs are soldered to the paddles. They are plated and good for soldering. Paddles are made from double-sided pcb covered with green stop mask. The contacts are made from an old relay that I find in junk box. They are also soldered to screws and central hex standoff.
Very nice brewing, hat off to Dave & Ivan. Allowing me to share with you my latest KH-1 imitation. I learn the Te-ne-ke from Steve G0AT and the capacitive switch from Internet. For both keys, I use a simple carving knife to shape a tiny piece of high density foam, which hold together with superglue and has a mat black paint. Each key is around 3g.
