PointCTRL - Finger Mounted VR Controller

[Ala12Rv-Tundra]

On 9/10/2022 at 2:17 PM, Indyplumber said:

I just discovered this product while researching my options for VR vs IR with touchscreens.  WoW!  This looks amazing.  I'm curious what the current lead time is for this as compared to the initial release.   Is it still a year to receive?

 

I strongly think so but you can read the latest news on PointCTRL official Discord, besides joining the community and learn more about the device.

[Mars Exulte]

What's the production holdup? If it's a year backlog, and I guess had been for sometime now, they can't ramp up production or something? Damn. Even 3d printing this stuff doesn't take THAT long.

-Edit

Just checked their discord, as of a few days ago they are shipping for July 2021. So about 13 month backlog.

Edited September 14, 2022 by Mars Exulte

[Gruman]

PointCtrls are build by Miles and his family at his home (AFAIK). This manual labor can only be scaled up to a limited amount.
Outsourcing this production to a EMS and 3d Printing Company would clear the backlog within 4-8 Weeks.

This would clear up Miles to do other handy endeavours for the sim community. But it's his baby.

I got my V1 and happy.

[MilesD]

10 hours ago, Gruman said:

PointCtrls are build by Miles and his family at his home (AFAIK). This manual labor can only be scaled up to a limited amount.
Outsourcing this production to a EMS and 3d Printing Company would clear the backlog within 4-8 Weeks.

This would clear up Miles to do other handy endeavors for the sim community. But it's his baby.

I got my V1 and happy.

I understand the frustration, I did not expect there to be this much interest in PointCTRL for so long. 

However, PointCTRL is still a very niche product, and it's not like there are several thousand back orders. A large part of the initial delay was supply chain issues, which I have mostly resolved by going directly to manufactures. 

The most time consuming (and enjoyable) part of PointCTRL is the customer service. The next most time consuming parts are assembling the finished PCBs, inspections, testing, and continual firmware updates, all of which would be difficult to outsource - especially with the low production numbers required. PointCTRL is made up of 7 different PCBs, with both reflowed and hand soldered components. The steps that would be most easily outsourced are the ones that take us the least amount of time. Those components, along with the cases, are always way ahead of shipping. 

My 3D printers are mostly idle because of the speed I can pump out the enclosures, and populating the boards with components is not an issue either. It's the Point of Sale and service, something I can't really outsource, that are the reason why things aren't going out faster.

The PointCTRL community is stepping up and helping each other more, and better video and instructions would help mitigate some of the customer service. It's just that I really don't want to sell more than I can support. I currently have very little to do with the PCB assemblies, and in the upcoming months I am going to focus on developing a GUI and better instructions and videos. As those of you that have seen my videos can confirm, it's not my strong suit.

Moving forward, having better directions and instructional videos would significantly increase the ship rate. I would not be happy selling a product that I could not effectively support.

Thanks,
Miles

[Mars Exulte]

4 hours ago, MilesD said:

I understand the frustration, I did not expect there to be this much interest in PointCTRL for so long. 

However, PointCTRL is still a very niche product, and it's not like there are several thousand back orders. A large part of the initial delay was supply chain issues, which I have mostly resolved by going directly to manufactures. 

The most time consuming (and enjoyable) part of PointCTRL is the customer service. The next most time consuming parts are assembling the finished PCBs, inspections, testing, and continual firmware updates, all of which would be difficult to outsource - especially with the low production numbers required. PointCTRL is made up of 7 different PCBs, with both reflowed and hand soldered components. The steps that would be most easily outsourced are the ones that take us the least amount of time. Those components, along with the cases, are always way ahead of shipping. 

My 3D printers are mostly idle because of the speed I can pump out the enclosures, and populating the boards with components is not an issue either. It's the Point of Sale and service, something I can't really outsource, that are the reason why things aren't going out faster.

The PointCTRL community is stepping up and helping each other more, and better video and instructions would help mitigate some of the customer service. It's just that I really don't want to sell more than I can support. I currently have very little to do with the PCB assemblies, and in the upcoming months I am going to focus on developing a GUI and better instructions and videos. As those of you that have seen my videos can confirm, it's not my strong suit.

Moving forward, having better directions and instructional videos would significantly increase the ship rate. I would not be happy selling a product that I could not effectively support.

Thanks,
Miles

 Thanks for the information. Congratulations on your success, and I understand your position. Thanks for your efforts!

[MilesD]

I wanted to share Stri][kers video. While the wood is not required, it really does add to the immersion and ease of use. I had a plexiglass panel I was using before I moved my pit, and I do miss it. I have to get back on that.

Thanks Stri][ker!

[FPascal4]

MilesD, I think I'm confused about the ordering process for the PointCTRL. I recent resubmitted an order for an advance kit. From the description on your site, I was expecting to receive an invoice for the order and a position number in the queue. Did I misunderstand?  When do we get invoiced and assigned a waiting list position?

-Freeman

[Lt_Jaeger]

You should have received an email with submitting the order, stating the order date. The queue is determined by your order date. The dates currently delivered can be found in the discord. 

That said, there is a huge backlog in the  delivery (~ 1 year) due to various reasons (one men show, waaaaaay more successful and thus demands on pointctrl ever imagined by Miles, problems to source the necessary parts etc etc). Miles currently being sick doesn't help either.

 

Long story short, there will be a kinda long waiting time, even so Miles is on his heals to cut it down, but rest assured, it is worth it. 

[nessuno0505]

@MilesD My pointCTRL has broken, the usb female port has detached from the HMD

 

As you can see, the usb port has a broken pin. But even with a new usb port, I do not have the right tools to solder it. Is it possible to have a new block with the PCBs and the camera as a replacement? If you search on the internet it seems these arduino pro micro have very fragile USB ports, maybe I'll put a bit of hot glue on the new one as a reinforcement.

Thanks.

Edited October 10, 2022 by nessuno0505

[Durkin]

For those wanting to know more about these the Discord channel is the best place. The last order shipping update has him shipping orders place July 7 2021. I placed my Order July 8 2021 so have been waiting 15 months but should be getting an update soon I hope. Miles was out with Covid for a few weeks and that slowed him down.

From what I see it is the device to have if you are doing VR. Worth the wait.

[dburne]

2 hours ago, Durkin said:

For those wanting to know more about these the Discord channel is the best place. The last order shipping update has him shipping orders place July 7 2021. I placed my Order July 8 2021 so have been waiting 15 months but should be getting an update soon I hope. Miles was out with Covid for a few weeks and that slowed him down.

From what I see it is the device to have if you are doing VR. Worth the wait.

Indeed it is well worth the wait.

[Ala12Rv-Tundra]

On 10/10/2022 at 8:29 PM, nessuno0505 said:

@MilesD My pointCTRL has broken, the usb female port has detached from the HMD

 

As you can see, the usb port has a broken pin. But even with a new usb port, I do not have the right tools to solder it. Is it possible to have a new block with the PCBs and the camera as a replacement? If you search on the internet it seems these arduino pro micro have very fragile USB ports, maybe I'll put a bit of hot glue on the new one as a reinforcement.

Thanks.

 

Another tactics are magnetic usb ports, or installing a short extensor so once you are done flying, remove the extensor instead of from the pcb fragile conector. 

Also installing the adhesive pad with a cable tie as a stress relief. 

Check discord where others share their methods. 

And yes miles provide plenty of spare parts, sadly it's a common issue

[nessuno0505]

I've contacted MilesD on Discord for a spare part and I'm waiting an answer, nevertheless I always kept the USB cable inserted; probably the weight alone of the cable has soften the soldering of the USB port until breaking it.

[Ganesh]

Am 10.10.2022 um 20:29 schrieb nessuno0505:

@MilesD My pointCTRL has broken, the usb female port has detached from the HMD

 

As you can see, the usb port has a broken pin. But even with a new usb port, I do not have the right tools to solder it. Is it possible to have a new block with the PCBs and the camera as a replacement? If you search on the internet it seems these arduino pro micro have very fragile USB ports, maybe I'll put a bit of hot glue on the new one as a reinforcement.

Thanks.

 

You can try soldering. A bit fiddly but doable with good eyesight or a magnifying glass.

 

 

[Ganesh]

Other concern:
One of my FCU-buttons have hangers and another on the AUX has said goodbye completely.
Hangers means that they remain pressed and only release again when a new press is given. With a probability of about 20% it is very annoying during flight operations.
Question: will it help to use tuner spray? Ahh.. no risk no fun. Will try it...

[MilesD]

18 hours ago, Ganesh said:

Other concern:
One of my FCU-buttons have hangers and another on the AUX has said goodbye completely.
Hangers means that they remain pressed and only release again when a new press is given. With a probability of about 20% it is very annoying during flight operations.
Question: will it help to use tuner spray? Ahh.. no risk no fun. Will try it...

Well that won't work, v1 or v2?

 

[Ganesh]

Thats right Miles, didn't do anything.
I still use the V1, V2 lies untested in the drawer. You wanted to send me an old spare FCU with the V2 delivery/package at the beginning of the year, but unfortunately you forgot.
I wanted to give the V2 to someone else and keep the V1 since everything is already assembled and good enough for me.
Are V2 FCUs compatible with the V1 HMD? Then I could order a new set of FCUs from you.

P.S. After a long DCS-break due to lack of hardware, i'm back now.
All unsolved cases are also still there. At least i have a few more frames now

Edited November 2, 2022 by Ganesh
P.S.

[nessuno0505]

22 ore fa, Ganesh ha scritto:

You can try soldering. 

I'm waiting for a replacement sent by @MilesD, about 20 dollars, absolutely a fair price and a wonderful support (as always) 

[MilesD]

4 hours ago, nessuno0505 said:

I'm waiting for a replacement sent by @MilesD, about 20 dollars, absolutely a fair price and a wonderful support (as always) 

Did I send you tracking info?

 

[MilesD]

5 hours ago, Ganesh said:

Thats right Miles, didn't do anything.
I still use the V1, V2 lies untested in the drawer. You wanted to send me an old spare FCU with the V2 delivery/package at the beginning of the year, but unfortunately you forgot.
I wanted to give the V2 to someone else and keep the V1 since everything is already assembled and good enough for me.
Are V2 FCUs compatible with the V1 HMD? Then I could order a new set of FCUs from you.

P.S. After a long DCS-break due to lack of hardware, i'm back now.
All unsolved cases are also still there. At least i have a few more frames now

 

Talk to me Ganesh,
So it's the original v1 that's missing button presses? That thing must be going on 3 years now. The v2 with the latest firmware has more accuracy and is a smother experience. I would mount the whole v2 set up. 

Miles

[hannibal]

when is your next multiplayer mission @MilesDim off next week, would like to join your dcs session!

[nessuno0505]

10 ore fa, MilesD ha scritto:

Did I send you tracking info?

Yes thanks, the package results in "pre-shipment state - awaiting item".

Edited November 3, 2022 by nessuno0505

[Ganesh]

vor 17 Stunden schrieb MilesD:

Talk to me Ganesh,
So it's the original v1 that's missing button presses? That thing must be going on 3 years now. The v2 with the latest firmware has more accuracy and is a smother experience. I would mount the whole v2 set up. 

Miles

Well, i've probably used it for about 30 hours in the last 2 years. But ok, i bought it used and i don't know what my predecessor managed to do in the first few months.

Hhmm.., should i just throw it away now? I'm not the guy to throw things away so quickly, especially after the soldering-action we grew together.
But if i can't fix it anymore... i just need a reliable button or a new/old FCU. It can't be that impossible, can it?

vor 22 Stunden schrieb Ganesh:

...I still use the V1, V2 lies untested in the drawer...

...Are V2 FCUs compatible with the V1 HMD? Then I could order a new set of FCUs from you.

 

[MilesD]

On 11/3/2022 at 5:08 PM, Ganesh said:

Well, i've probably used it for about 30 hours in the last 2 years. But ok, i bought it used and i don't know what my predecessor managed to do in the first few months.

Hhmm.., should i just throw it away now? I'm not the guy to throw things away so quickly, especially after the soldering-action we grew together.
But if i can't fix it anymore... i just need a reliable button or a new/old FCU. It can't be that impossible, can it?

 

No need to throw away. I am sure we can sort it. There are still a lot of v1s still going strong out there. I was really just more concerned about the batteries after 3 years. Hit me up on the PointCTRL Discord and we can voice.

Miles

[QuozL]

So glad I found this thread and product. Have placed my pre order today, really looking forward to trying this out when my turn arrives.

 

Cheers QuozL