Kid TIE Fighter Control Console V1.0

In 2018, I was over at a friends house and he showed me his cool new project for his kid. It is a frame that attaches to the top of a folding wagon that transforms the wagon into a TIE fighter.

I was starting to tinker with Arduino projects at that time. Before I had left that day, I had a prototype light & sound setup for the fighter. I continued to work on the electronics, and temporary attachment to test the electronics in 2019. 

Then 2020 happened. My friend lost interest in the project and I agreed to buy the frame from him with the intention to continue working on it on my own. More life happened, and the frame just sat in storage until June of 2022. 

My son was born in 2021 and was at just the right age to ride in the fighter during the 4th of July Parade for 2022. Another, friend's daughter who was born the same month as my son, would also be at the parade. She would a chance to fly the fighter as well. 

I needed to quickly get the electronics together and installed. The frame came with a joystick installed on it which didn't work for the light and sound buttons. I quickly designed the shown control console to hold the buttons. I managed to get it mostly working in time for the parade. My son (in the Baby Yoda costume) and my friend's daughter (in the Imperial officer's cap) got to play with it. My son fell asleep about halfway through the parade. 

It worked well enough, but I'm currently working on version 2. Two more of my friend's just had kids and I'm looking forward to giving them turns in the TIE fighter during parades.

This is a pretty basic design done in Tinkercad. In my opinion it can be used for a quick control console or as a starting point to be modified from. 

The there are two different button sizes. 

Both right side and the upper left side buttons are these purchased from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N7HCJ7S/?coliid=ITHIDVANEWGJC&colid=3H9F922IMQPI0&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

The mounting holes are sized for a 16mm button. The actual designed hole size is 16.5mm

The lower left button is this one purchased from Adafruit: https://www.adafruit.com/product/3430

I think this one from Amazon would also work fine: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXZSV2N/?coliid=II8KBFSFKO7PU&colid=3H9F922IMQPI0&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

The mounting hole is sized for a 24mm button. The actual designed hole size is 24.5mm

There are two attachment points on the sides with 4.5mm holes fasten the console into position. 

I printed it with black eSun pla+ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EKEMDA6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I printed it on it's top with tree supports to support the attachment points. I'm planning to make version 2 in multiple sections for easier printing.

Let me know if you have any questions.