It's Sam
Go Kart Champion
- Location
- New York (The cool part)
- Car(s)
- X3 M40i
You know the situation: You bought a DSG because it's fast and also so you can say "It's not an automatic, it's a dual clutch." And boy, was it great. You can zip around town and let your left leg take a nap, and place your confidence in Wolfsburg's finest automotive transmission system.
But, one day you find yourself eager to take control, ready to tell the computer what to do instead of letting it tell you what is right and what is wrong. "Stupid computer" you say. "You're not supposed to shift that early." You slap that knob to the right and that controlling, punishing letter D in your cluster transforms into a number 1. It's almost as if it's asking you if you can really do this, if you're really smarter than the computer. "I'm smarter than the computer" you say to yourself. Your confused passengers quickly go from wondering "what are they talking about" to "this is a pretty quick little car." As you zip through the winding road, you see a sharp right turn as you crest the hill. Your left hand reaches to downshift as you slow down, but alas, your hand missed the paddle and you end up losing your momentum (and your cool), embarrassing yourself and your newly formed reputation as the person with the cool car.
As you solemnly drive your passengers home, you think "If only those paddles were a bit bigger." You proceed to the internet to find your solution. "Oh look!" you exclaim, "they make replacement paddles! They're even metal too! and look at those designs, how cool!" You click the product page and read through the intricately formatted product description. Then you see it. "200 dollars?!"" you exclaim. "That much for a little piece of metal?" Surely there are other options at a more reasonable price, you wonder. As you search, you find close to, but not exactly what you want. The world of Bezos gives you sticky bits of plastic and high-quality replicas. You purchase the replicas. After installing them, you say "That looks okay and all, but don't they look a little out of place?" While they work, they don't have that same feel that you want. The feeling of pure control. The feeling that the car wants you to take control, not hide it's buttons away so you let the computer do the work. You set out to find this sacred product. This ideal shape, this ideal feel, this ideal paddle.
This. This is where I am today. To find the perfect paddle may be impossible. To make the perfect paddle, well, that's another thing. Easy? No. Plausible? Yes.
__
If you felt like reading all of that, you must be pretty bored. Here's what I want to do:
3D printing has been a hobby of mine for years, but I've never really gone as far as I've wanted to in the design portion. I figured this might be the perfect way to do it, and also give everyone here the chance to chime in ideas or things they feel like might be applicable to the concept. My hope is to finalize a design with files that I make public, so anyone can make their own and even experiment with their own designs as well.
I know many of you are more than satisfied with your paddle upgrades, but I figured, why not? This could be a fun little project for any of you with access to a printer, and could even develop some unique, community-curated designs.
The quest begins now, the perfect paddle is soon to be upon us.
But, one day you find yourself eager to take control, ready to tell the computer what to do instead of letting it tell you what is right and what is wrong. "Stupid computer" you say. "You're not supposed to shift that early." You slap that knob to the right and that controlling, punishing letter D in your cluster transforms into a number 1. It's almost as if it's asking you if you can really do this, if you're really smarter than the computer. "I'm smarter than the computer" you say to yourself. Your confused passengers quickly go from wondering "what are they talking about" to "this is a pretty quick little car." As you zip through the winding road, you see a sharp right turn as you crest the hill. Your left hand reaches to downshift as you slow down, but alas, your hand missed the paddle and you end up losing your momentum (and your cool), embarrassing yourself and your newly formed reputation as the person with the cool car.
As you solemnly drive your passengers home, you think "If only those paddles were a bit bigger." You proceed to the internet to find your solution. "Oh look!" you exclaim, "they make replacement paddles! They're even metal too! and look at those designs, how cool!" You click the product page and read through the intricately formatted product description. Then you see it. "200 dollars?!"" you exclaim. "That much for a little piece of metal?" Surely there are other options at a more reasonable price, you wonder. As you search, you find close to, but not exactly what you want. The world of Bezos gives you sticky bits of plastic and high-quality replicas. You purchase the replicas. After installing them, you say "That looks okay and all, but don't they look a little out of place?" While they work, they don't have that same feel that you want. The feeling of pure control. The feeling that the car wants you to take control, not hide it's buttons away so you let the computer do the work. You set out to find this sacred product. This ideal shape, this ideal feel, this ideal paddle.
This. This is where I am today. To find the perfect paddle may be impossible. To make the perfect paddle, well, that's another thing. Easy? No. Plausible? Yes.
__
If you felt like reading all of that, you must be pretty bored. Here's what I want to do:
3D printing has been a hobby of mine for years, but I've never really gone as far as I've wanted to in the design portion. I figured this might be the perfect way to do it, and also give everyone here the chance to chime in ideas or things they feel like might be applicable to the concept. My hope is to finalize a design with files that I make public, so anyone can make their own and even experiment with their own designs as well.
I know many of you are more than satisfied with your paddle upgrades, but I figured, why not? This could be a fun little project for any of you with access to a printer, and could even develop some unique, community-curated designs.
The quest begins now, the perfect paddle is soon to be upon us.
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