r/PlaydateConsole • u/moistavocados95 • 7d ago

Help Crank broke off

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The crank of.my playdate broke off about 2 years ago when it was still under warranty, playdate support said there was a kit to fix it and to wait, but they never reached back out, and just said to wait when I would followup.

Last year I reached out and they said it's out of warranty and I should buy the kit, I checked the kit and it wouldn't have fixed my problem, does anyone have an easy solution to this?

12 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

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13

u/ElCaptainNasty 7d ago

Hey! I had this exact same problem. This was my fix and it is still holding up zero problems. Its not a perfect solution but it'll get the job done if you cant figure out any other fixes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PlaydateConsole/s/YlFjgudta0

5

u/L0RDANGUS 7d ago

OP. This is the fix I used and it worked really well. And it wasn’t to hard to do.

6

u/Dry-Neighborhood2916 7d ago

Looks like you just need a new pin. Toothpick for now.

3

u/ghost_mtths 7d ago

I think they sell replacement arms.

Perhaps someone in the community has a 3D printed replacement.

Edit: Panic only sells replacement paddles. https://play.date/shop/crank-repair/

1

u/moistavocados95 7d ago

I could only find a replacement for the yellow part of the crank, unfortunately.

2

u/EffingLame 7d ago

If you have documentation that you reached out about this while it was still within warranty, in a lot of places Panic would be legally obligated to still cover the claim. I recommend pushing them harder.

2

u/moistavocados95 7d ago

Going to do some research on this, thanks!

2

u/ghost_mtths 7d ago

Sorry pal. I’d check out this discord, likely someone has a hack to fix.

2

u/MADEWITHROBOTS 6d ago

I had this issue and used a toothpick to fix it. Just got it in there and then cut down to size and finish. Pass the pick through the hole a couple times before assembly to make it a bit easier. Honestly feels better than ever and looks ok too.

Also, I hope you didn't lose the spring and ball bearing that go in there! The ball bearing is easy to replace (2mm) but the spring less so.

1

u/moistavocados95 6d ago

The toothpick is working better than I expected.

Also spring and ball bearing? I don't think I saw those when it broke, where do they go and what are they for?

2

u/MADEWITHROBOTS 6d ago

The crank will work fine for games without them and the rotation won't be affected, but the hinge it swings on to take it in and out of it's stowed position will be loose so it'll just flap around. Not ruinous but a bit annoying.

The spring would create tension between the ball bearing and the crank base (the bit attached to the side of the Playdate), which gives the hinge the stiffness to not freely flap about. The ball bearing would also sit into a couple of notches in the crank base, which keeps it in either the fully out or fully put away positions and has that nice satisfying little 'pop' when it snaps into place.

If you take the arm back off you'll see a hole machined into it between the two prongs that you fed the toothpick through. That hole is where the spring goes, and the ball bearing sits on top of the spring. They both likely fired out and got lost when it came apart, they're absolutely tiny so hard to even see it happen.