Future of RUSP as a community-supported DIY build?

[RotaryGraham]

Hi everyone,

I have been following the updates on the Rotary Un-Smartphone and wanted to ask where things might go after the remaining orders are handled. My understanding is that new kits are not being made anymore, which makes sense if the manufacturing load became too much for a small project.

This is not meant as pressure on Justine or Sky’s Edge. I am mostly trying to understand whether there is room for the community to keep the idea alive without putting the work back on the original team.

Since some of the design files are already public, would Sky’s Edge be open to something more like a self-sourced DIY build, where the community works out the hard parts over time instead of expecting one person or one small team to keep supplying complete kits?

The main thing I am trying to understand is what the real blockers are. Is the difficult part the PCB assembly, the dial hardware, the cellular module, the case, or something else? If people knew which parts are practical to source and which parts need redesign, it would be easier to tell whether a community version is realistic.

It might also help to have a shared BOM with known substitutions, notes on parts that are no longer available, and build notes from people who already assembled kits. Over time, that could turn into a version that is easier to make with current parts.

I would be interested in helping on the mechanical side if there is a place for that. I am not trying to turn this back into a product. I am asking whether the project can survive as a community hardware build, with the expectations set accordingly.

Thanks to everyone who worked on this. The idea still seems worth preserving, even if the original kit model no longer makes sense.

[supercat64]

I've always wanted to build this phone but I couldn't afford the kit at the time it was out so I'd love if it was open sourced/community driven going forward!

[RotaryGraham]

I've always wanted to build this phone but I couldn't afford the kit at the time it was out so I'd love if it was open sourced/community driven going forward!

I would like to see this become open sourced/community driven too, but I think there is a real gap between “the files are public” and “a normal person can source and build one.”

There are a few issues with the documentation and specifications posted on Justine’s website and GitHub. Some of the rotary mechanism specs were left partly up to the manufacturer. The clock spring is a good example: the drawing gives the package geometry and spring force, but the material, strip thickness, and number of turns are listed as TBD by manufacturer. That may have been enough for the original supplier to make the part, but it leaves later builders guessing when trying to find a similar spring from AliExpress, McMaster, or another catalog source.

There are also a number of parts that are custom kit parts rather than easily sourced parts. Some of the gears and mechanism pieces could probably be resin printed with the right material, but other parts may need to be redesigned around what people can buy now. The phone was designed around the assumption that the kit would include those parts already made. Rebuilding it from the public files is a challenge at current.

A community version would need to start by separating the project into three categories: parts that can be bought directly, parts that can be fabricated from the existing files, and parts that need redesign because the original version is not practical to source. The spring, display, dial mechanism hardware, and some of the small mechanical pieces would probably need the most attention.

So I do not think the project is impossible to revive, but unfortunately it is not a simple matter of “download the files and order parts” at the moment.