Big Wheel Video Deck Made in a Small Amount of Time

Zack Freedman edits quite a bit of video in Adobe Premiere Pro, and as it just so happens, you can purchase a custom deck with a wheel and buttons to speed up your work. Unfortunately, such items cost around $200, making building one a perfect target for a weekend project.

What he came up with is a nicely 3D-printed and laser-cut deck, with a large jog wheel, 14 Cherry MX-compatible key switches and keycaps, and a trio of encoder knobs. It runs on a Teensy board, allowing him to edit clips to perfection. Files for the aptly named Big Wheel are available on GitHub if you’d like to take a stab at it, or simply use his design for inspiration.

While a worthy build in itself, the main theme of the video below deals with how he was able to go from start to finish in a couple of days. To be fair, he’d been thinking about how to create it for a few weeks, and had ensured he had all the components on hand before getting underway. However, he was able to model/print/laser cut everything he needed as well as solder it up between Friday and Sunday, with a bit of time to spare!

Although he actually finished “early,” the extra time was necessary to accommodate for likely mistakes that could have been project killers, and gave him the chance to play with the software. Check out the video below for more on the video deck, plus some tips on how to actually get your project done!