The Pathfinder
A thumb slider that runs a closed loop, so it never reaches an end.
The problem
Most fidget objects have an end. A switch clicks and stops, a slider hits a wall, a spinner slows down. Every one of those endings hands the object back to you and asks you to reset it, and the reset is the moment the thing stops working — you have to think about it again.
The insight
Take the ends away. If the track closes on itself, the slider never arrives anywhere, so there is nothing to reset and no decision to make. The path is the entire product, which is where the name comes from.
How it works
- A racetrack-shaped channel is modelled as one continuous loop — two straights joined by two half-turns, with no start and no finish.
- A carriage sits inside the channel, held captive by an overhanging lip so it can travel but cannot lift out.
- Small metal balls ride in the channel alongside the carriage, so the motion is rolling contact rather than plastic dragging on plastic.
- A raised cross on top of the carriage gives the thumb something to push against.
- Push, and it goes round. The corners are part of the loop, not obstacles in it.
Materials and process
FDM printed in black, with loose metal balls dropped into the channel during assembly. The channel and its retaining lip print as one piece; the carriage is separate.
What exists now
Printed and working. It is the most resolved of the pocket pieces — a single loop, one moving part, no fasteners — and it has never been sold or listed. It exists as an object and as a video.
Next: Undecided. It is a finished prototype waiting for a reason to become a product.
Evidence of making
