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Show HN: TheKnob – sound volume control knob made of concrete and RGB lights

theknob.co

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Re: Show HN: TheKnob – sound volume control knob made of concrete and RGB lights

#31

Post by lukevp »

aspenmayer wrote: post #20
lukevp wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you made your own board pcb and ordered them populated with everything but the rgb ring and switches, I bet you could get the soldering time down to 2 minutes or so per device, especially if you made custom jigs to hold everything in place. I could see a price point of $100 totally reasonable for this, especially if the user can easily swap knobs. Bulk manufacture of the concrete knobs should be easy, as long as y…

In all fairness, it looks like user DIY Perks on YouTube already did the work to make the prototype. I’m not sure what’s different about this version; I’m sure it could even be superior. But let’s put credit where it’s due. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ5vhShdVjo

Thanks for sharing. They’re obviously inspired by that one from a materials point of view, but the technical implementation is far different. There are some major limitations on the YouTube one. First of all, it’s a potentiometer not a rotary encoder, so it has a start and a stop. Second, it is controlling an audio signal directly, not using a PC, so it is not usable in the same way. Audio would need to be routed through the knob. This wouldn’t work for a setup like mine that has balanced outs directly from a sound card to my monitors. I would want a digital control. I’m not sure why the YouTube video recommends a linear pot specifically either, an audio taper pot should be used which is logarithmic. The one in the OP also has a push button which opens up more functionality.

Re: Show HN: TheKnob – sound volume control knob made of concrete and RGB lights

#34

Post by Avshalom »

egypturnash wrote: post #16

So it's a PowerMate ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin_PowerMate ) except made from concrete? (Huh, apparently Griffin stopped making them in 2018, so I guess there's room for a replacement. I covet one every time I remember they exist but I never quite covet one enough to actually want to spend the money getting one...)

Microsoft makes one still

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/surface-dial/925r551sktgn?...

Re: Show HN: TheKnob – sound volume control knob made of concrete and RGB lights

#35

Post by DanBC »

jedimastert wrote: post #23
tkzed49 wrote: post #14

Seems like this is inspired by DIYPerks' video from a few years ago, is it not? https://youtu.be/sJ5vhShdVjo

I was just checking to see if someone else had posted the link. I think that the concept of a knob made of concrete could definitely be made through independent invention given that concrete is a popular aesthetic right now, but it still wiggles it's eyebrows...

DIY Perks is credited in the Thingiverse page.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4424564

> So, driven by the idea, I began to look for some inspiration and finally found this awesome video made by DIY Perks youtu.be/sJ5vhShdVjo I am starting to develop.

Re: Show HN: TheKnob – sound volume control knob made of concrete and RGB lights

#36

Post by jbverschoor »

tsomctl wrote: post #18
rubyn00bie wrote: post #6

Really neat little project! I would have loved to paid more attention but easily the most unusable website I've used in a while. Like seriously, it's awful if you scroll up an down a couple times because you're pushing URL changes. Then because everything animates it starts chugging a long, doing weird shit, like not going back. It's a single page it doesn't need to change the fucking URL or even worse animate those…

Not sure what pisses me off more. That, or the music autoplaying.

Or breaking the back button

Re: Show HN: TheKnob – sound volume control knob made of concrete and RGB lights

#37

Post by Gibbon1 »

jbverschoor wrote: post #36
tsomctl wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what pisses me off more. That, or the music autoplaying.

Or breaking the back button

Be nice if there was a DNS that blackholes websites that break the back button.

Re: Show HN: TheKnob – sound volume control knob made of concrete and RGB lights

#38

Post by serf »

it's already said in this thread, but wow am I impressed with how many things are working against me on this website.

1) scroll is totally hijacked into discrete intervals, those discrete intervals count as page loads (destroying web history and any chance of using the back button),

2) auto-playing media that isn't default-muted that starts with loud music rather than a soft lead-in or voice,

3) and after you trudge through the mess, the site doesn't really work at reasonably average resolutions, explain much, or offer a product.

The straight thingiverse link[0] that's on the site is a better, more descriptive advertisement for this project than the project's site itself -- not good.

[0]: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4424564

Re: Show HN: TheKnob – sound volume control knob made of concrete and RGB lights

#39

Post by Anther »

asguy wrote: post #7

As an aside: this is the first time I’ve seen scrolling the page implemented with history. This feels like an anti-pattern; I had to hit back 4 times to return to HN.

Every time I pushed back, my iPhone auto played a video full screen. Most annoying.

Re: Show HN: TheKnob – sound volume control knob made of concrete and RGB lights

#40

Post by DanBC »

aspenmayer wrote: post #20
lukevp wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you made your own board pcb and ordered them populated with everything but the rgb ring and switches, I bet you could get the soldering time down to 2 minutes or so per device, especially if you made custom jigs to hold everything in place. I could see a price point of $100 totally reasonable for this, especially if the user can easily swap knobs. Bulk manufacture of the concrete knobs should be easy, as long as y…

In all fairness, it looks like user DIY Perks on YouTube already did the work to make the prototype. I’m not sure what’s different about this version; I’m sure it could even be superior. But let’s put credit where it’s due. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ5vhShdVjo

Your link is for a potentiometer and a cable.

The submitted link is for an actual HID, using this: https://www.dfrobot.com/product-1075.html and these: https://easyeda.com/brainhublab/theknob_v2_copy

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