I bought an Icopm 705 a few weeks ago and it has me very eager to get re-licensed. I was looking for a Vibroplex Code Warrior Jr. but couldn't find one in stock, so I waded through the ebay listings and found these.
I bought one to use with my Icom 705 and liked it enough to buy a 2nd one to tinker with. I'm going to replace the ground contact hex spacer with a piece of .999 silver bar, make silver caps for the contact screws and replace the hex insulators with rectangular bars with a hole to access the magnet mounting hole so I can adjust the position a la CWJ and switch to using a spring if I don't like the magnets.
The second paddle arrive along with 4 of the 5 magnets I ordered. I measured them with a Gauss meter and installed the strongest one. The 5th one should be stronger, but this is quite usable. With some minor changes I can switch to using a spring. The vertical members are simple hex spacers and insulators tapped M3-0.5, so easy to make nicer supports.
Happily, the key fits in the box long with the cable. This is my first iambic paddle, but so far I have no complaints. After a few days practice I can produce run 15 wpm with few errors in timing. I'm wathcing the do-dash space using the 706 audio scope feature while I wait for my Morserino to show up.
I'll make a paddle from scratch is this comes up short. For a portable paddle I can't see how you can beat it. It has ball bearings.
The photos are in reverse order from finished result to start. There is a metal slot in the base that the zip ties fasten the cable to.The blue plate in 2834 is a self stick steel plate you can use to mount the key to a non-ferrous object.
The only keys I found under $110 were all mostly plastic, some 3D printed and at prices that were not attractive.
Have Fun!
Reg
Froggie the Gremlin