5 ms·

> As you might have guessed by the long period with no posting, Sensebridge is out of business. We’ve been out of stock on Northpaw Kits since late 2016; we do

by mabbo 4y ago

> As you might have guessed by the long period with no posting, Sensebridge is out of business. We’ve been out of stock on Northpaw Kits since late 2016; we do not have plans to make more kits.

kelnos 4y ago
On their downloads page[0] it looks like they have CAD files for the board and a BOM for the components. Probably wouldn't be too hard (or expensive) to have a few boards fabricated by PCBWay or OSHPark. I imagine the enclosure could be 3D printed, though I don't see any CAD files for that. And not sure how easy it'd be to source the other components, especially with all the component shortages these days. But I imagine it'd be possible to resurrect the project, and given that they're not in business anymore, they might be willing to share more information with anyone interested (like CAD files for the enclosure, or specifics on where they sourced the components). [0] https://sensebridge.net/projects/northpaw/northpaw-downloads/ https://sensebridge.net/projects/northpaw/northpaw-downloads...
- unwind 4y ago
  The board seems to be 100x80 mm and two layers. The low-cost services don't seem able to directly eat Eagle-format files, so I could only price it on Eurocircuits [1] where it came out to €50+ which seems like a lot. Strange for an open project to publish in a proprietary format. [1]: https://be.eurocircuits.com https://be.eurocircuits.com
  - _Microft 4y ago
    It looks like the files are in an older, binary Eagle file format. Importing it into a newer version of Eagle and saving it in an XML format would be the first step. After that, KiCad might be able to open the files if you prefer an open-source tool. From that you could export Gerber files for the fabrication houses. A board of that size with just two layers should be $2 + shipping for five boards with e.g. JLCPCB. A bit more if you want to go lead-free.
    - MarcoZavala 4y ago
maliker 4y ago
I wonder if any smart watch apps can reliably achieve something similar. I looked briefly for an Apple watch app that did it but no luck.
- idiotsecant 4y ago
  It seems like it would be trivial to write an app that would vibrate the watch every once in a while, with the frequency of vibration inversely proportional to how far you were from magnetic north, but this would no doubt be a pretty big battery drain.
  - dfc 4y ago
    I don't think it is a question of how far you are from magnetic north. The north paw device helped people identify where magnetic north is relative to your current heading.
    - stonemetal12 4y ago
      I am pretty sure by "how far from" he meant the delta of magnetic north to heading angle. Since an Apple watch doesn't have the ability to vibrate any where except the watch body it can't "point" at magnetic north like the North paw does, it would have to indicate magnetic north some other way.
      - idiotsecant 4y ago
        Yes, this was my (clumsy) intention, 'far' in the sense of angular deviation. The thing about our analog brains is that we are very good at processing signals that vary proportionally to some quantity but not very good at internalizing 'limit switch' type signals.
- thatguy0900 4y ago
  Thinking about it the ankle is a pretty clever Place. My wrists are very often in different orientations to my body, but my ankles are more or less always in line with the way I'm facing.

by mabbo 4y ago

> As you might have guessed by the long period with no posting, Sensebridge is out of business. We’ve been out of stock on Northpaw Kits since late 2016; we do not have plans to make more kits.

kelnos 4y ago

On their downloads page[0] it looks like they have CAD files for the board and a BOM for the components. Probably wouldn't be too hard (or expensive) to have a few boards fabricated by PCBWay or OSHPark. I imagine the enclosure could be 3D printed, though I don't see any CAD files for that. And not sure how easy it'd be to source the other components, especially with all the component shortages these days. But I imagine it'd be possible to resurrect the project, and given that they're not in business anymore, they might be willing to share more information with anyone interested (like CAD files for the enclosure, or specifics on where they sourced the components). [0] https://sensebridge.net/projects/northpaw/northpaw-downloads/ https://sensebridge.net/projects/northpaw/northpaw-downloads...

unwind 4y ago
The board seems to be 100x80 mm and two layers. The low-cost services don't seem able to directly eat Eagle-format files, so I could only price it on Eurocircuits [1] where it came out to €50+ which seems like a lot. Strange for an open project to publish in a proprietary format. [1]: https://be.eurocircuits.com https://be.eurocircuits.com
- _Microft 4y ago
  It looks like the files are in an older, binary Eagle file format. Importing it into a newer version of Eagle and saving it in an XML format would be the first step. After that, KiCad might be able to open the files if you prefer an open-source tool. From that you could export Gerber files for the fabrication houses. A board of that size with just two layers should be $2 + shipping for five boards with e.g. JLCPCB. A bit more if you want to go lead-free.
  - MarcoZavala 4y ago

maliker 4y ago

I wonder if any smart watch apps can reliably achieve something similar. I looked briefly for an Apple watch app that did it but no luck.

idiotsecant 4y ago
It seems like it would be trivial to write an app that would vibrate the watch every once in a while, with the frequency of vibration inversely proportional to how far you were from magnetic north, but this would no doubt be a pretty big battery drain.
- dfc 4y ago
  I don't think it is a question of how far you are from magnetic north. The north paw device helped people identify where magnetic north is relative to your current heading.
  - stonemetal12 4y ago
    I am pretty sure by "how far from" he meant the delta of magnetic north to heading angle. Since an Apple watch doesn't have the ability to vibrate any where except the watch body it can't "point" at magnetic north like the North paw does, it would have to indicate magnetic north some other way.
    - idiotsecant 4y ago
      Yes, this was my (clumsy) intention, 'far' in the sense of angular deviation. The thing about our analog brains is that we are very good at processing signals that vary proportionally to some quantity but not very good at internalizing 'limit switch' type signals.
thatguy0900 4y ago
Thinking about it the ankle is a pretty clever Place. My wrists are very often in different orientations to my body, but my ankles are more or less always in line with the way I'm facing.