CW Morse LLC: Lightweight Single Paddle

[foggycoder]

Yes, this is a 3D printed paddle. But the quality if far superior to the cheap Chinese double paddle posted elsewhere in this forum:

• the pivot has two ball-races
• the contacts are all brass
• the adjustment screws turn in threaded brass bushes
• the supplied stereo cable has gold-plated plugs
• the supplied adjustment allen key stows in a hole in the underside of the key so it doesn't get lost
• it has a nice big paddle

There's no spring tension adjustment and the spring action is very light. It would be better if the cover was a slightly tighter fit.

As you might expect from a plastic paddle, it feels rather flimsy (although it is very solidly built). This feeling of flimsiness may derive from its light weight.

It cost $42.95 USD plus $14.50 USD shipping (£48.01 GBP). I then paid Royal Mail £9.09 VAT and £8.00 handling fee (£17.09 GBP). So the total cost was £65.10 GBP, which is not cheap for a plastic paddle.
It took 3 weeks to arrive.

I use it as my paddle for portable operations. It has stood up well to being stuffed into my knapsack with all my other gear.

The above comments sound rather lukewarm but I'm very happy with it - I had a very modest budget and I don't think I could've done better at this price point.

 

[MI0PYN]

This looks similar to the 3D printed paddles being produced by a ham in Scotland, the UMPP by GM0EUL, but they use magnets for tension rather than a spring.

I think I'd struggle to pay that much for a 3D printed key, and the £17.09 is a good illustration of the inherent danger of buying stuff from the US, but it does certainly look interesting.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[G4HAA]

The one thing I would say about 3D printed keys is you need to know what the filament was they used.

Leaving aside some of the specialist ones that have wood particles in and the like, the two main ones are PLA and ABS.

ABS is a true plastic, so it's completely waterproof, but PLA is some kind of protein that's designed to be bio-degradable and will dissolve in water, so you have to make sure not to get keys made from that type of filament wet, or stored in damp conditions. The material absorbs moisture, so in a close tolerance design it could cause issues with say jamming or sticking of parts.

Many of the 3D designs come from a site called "Thingyverse", which is a huge repository for 3D model files. I used to use it myself a lot when I went through my 3D phase!

Here's the search results page from Thingyverse for Morse keys >> https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=morse+key&type=things&sort=relevant

To be honest Ross, the one you have there looks well thought out and quite good. You say it feels flimsy but sometimes this is simply because they are single paddle keys, where the centering can feel 'mushy'.

I have a few single paddle Morse keys, built from hard plastics, brass and wood, and they all feel a little 'odd' compared to twin paddle iambic models.

It can take many many hours of printing time to produce a key such as that, and quite an investment in equipment too, so I would say the seller isn't ripping anyone off at that price at all.

73, Mark... :w:

 

[Kd5txx]

I've recently been using one for my lightweight QRP backpacking kit.  Yes it could be a little tighter of a fit, but it is a lightweight inexpensive tool that works very well and at the current price, is what I need for use in an environment where it could get wet etc.