My DIY Vectrex Light Pen

[Carey85]

So, I just decided to make my own light pen from the original plans available from USENET dating from the mid 1990s. It turned out pretty good but is not without its flaws. Since this was a prototype, I used a 2cm wide perfboard while the plans call for a 1.5cm board. I enlarged the 3D print to accommodate the board at the expense of making the pen a little difficult to use, mainly due to hand cramping. I figured it would be fine, but it wasn't. I can easily remedy this by sanding down the sides of the board a little to make it fit into an original sized housing without difficulty. I plan on making 10 of these and making them available for sale at a reasonable price, giving the buyer the option of an 'unfinished' 3D printed pen case, a sanded/polished 3D printed pen case, or an Expo dry erase marker case, all with a strain relief fitted. I will be using an OPL801-OC phototransistor mounted upon a flexible perfboard for the job. I will be using a 1 metre 4 conductor 4mm diameter black cable (one conductor unused) attached to a 3D printed right angle controller plug that is much better than a butchered Sega Genesis plug. The material will be black PLA but I may purchase small quantities of different standard colors in the event that you would want to be festive. I'm hoping to have these available within the next 1-2 weeks. They will all be manufactured at once and available for immediate sale on both AtariAge and Ebay. I am not taking orders at this time and have not settled on a final price but it will be approximately 1/2 of the more professional injection molded reproduction light pens available. I will accept international orders. Thanks for looking.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by Carey85

[Carey85]

So, got all the pen cases and top clips printed. Working on getting the settings just right for the TPU rubber strain relief but we're getting there. All of the boards are fabricated and almost ready for final assembly.

 

[Carey85]

We've officially gone gold with production number #0001. Testing worked out just find. She's a good pen. I originally budgeted each build at 25 minutes and the additional post processing time for the strain relief and the ~10 minutes that it takes to sand and file the connector plug to fit ballooned production time to 45 minutes per pen. I am still going to be selling these for $30 as originally promised, but after my time and the ~$15 of parts in each pen, this is really just a labor of love. Thanks for looking.

[mikesk8]

Are those already ready for selling?  I might be interested (depending on shipment costs to Europe)  

[Carey85]

Yup, I made 10 of them. The first one I'm probably going to keep but the other 9 will definitely be available. Some have sold already. If they continue selling, I'll continue making them. As simple as that. Currently training myself in TinkerCAD to see what other cool stuff I can cook up so stay tuned.

[scotty]

I would be interested in 1.   Go Bucks!!!  O-H!!!!!

 

[Carey85]

Sorry for the late reply but I am currently out of pens. I've been working on a new design but have been unable to implement it because of an ongoing family emergency. When they are available again I will let it be known.

[Carey85]

I have a few more up for sale right now. Waiting on parts to make more.

[abeckett]

I would love to buy one! Are you still producing these?

 

Anthony

[Carey85]

On 12/23/2023 at 4:07 PM, abeckett said:

I would love to buy one! Are you still producing these?

 

Anthony

Yes, I am. I have tweaked the design to slim it down a little and now include a nifty little dust cap for it. My sale thread is here: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/355541-3d-printed-vectrex-lightpens-built-with-modern-components/