Motorized 1/72 VF-1 Ranger and Launch Arm Completed

[arbit]

Godspeed, Ranger 03.

 

Edited March 26, 2018 by arbit

[NZEOD]

challenge accepted....

 

[arbit]

Optical Electronic Systems: Check.

Brainwave Control System Interface: Nominal.

BDI System: Nominal.

Switch to PSX sampling data and simulate.

Synchronization Complete.

 

Edited March 27, 2018 by arbit

[MechTech]

That looks AWESOME Arbit! Both function and the LED jobs on it! Now you just need to load sound effects to cover the gearbox sound Those little motors are SO noisy! I've isolated them in rubber sleeves and tried everything else to include slowing them down. Still no success! But it looks too cool to notice anyhow! - MT

[arbit]

4 minutes ago, MechTech said:

That looks AWESOME Arbit! Both function and the LED jobs on it! Now you just need to load sound effects to cover the gearbox sound Those little motors are SO noisy! I've isolated them in rubber sleeves and tried everything else to include slowing them down. Still no success! But it looks too cool to notice anyhow! - MT

You got that right!  I was going to use a small speaker, but then decided to put in the biggest, meanest one I have.

Anyway, it's all just for fun. Can't be perfect.

[no3Ljm]

Awesome!    

[NZEOD]

12 hours ago, MechTech said:

That looks AWESOME Arbit! Both function and the LED jobs on it! Now you just need to load sound effects to cover the gearbox sound Those little motors are SO noisy! I've isolated them in rubber sleeves and tried everything else to include slowing them down. Still no success! But it looks too cool to notice anyhow! - MT

its because they run straight cut gears in the reduction box. Same reason a race car box whines and the reverse gear on your car does too but the rest of the gears (angle cut) don't.

[arbit]

The motor is also loosening my screws. I will have to epoxy them down.

[NZEOD]

Loctite them. Easier and it will work as well

 

[arbit]

3 hours ago, NZEOD said:

Loctite them. Easier and it will work as well

 

I don't have that. How about white glue?

[arbit]

The white leds on the blue wing have heated up and slightly warped the light ports. You can barely see it in my last image.

I always expected this might happen, but this is the first time.

What's strange is that it happened on the balanced blue wing, which has like-voltage SMDs, AND it has a 1,000 Ohm resistor, which is more than 10x the requirement.

I think I left it on too long during testing, because it is usually cool to the touch. I also neglected to coat it in epoxy before closing the wing, which might have helped.

I will live with it, if that's the only major problem. They still work anyway.

Any ideas how to avoid this in the future?

[NZEOD]

what mcd LEDS are you using?

[NZEOD]

1 hour ago, arbit said:

I don't have that. How about white glue?

White glue works too

[arbit]

1 hour ago, NZEOD said:

what mcd LEDS are you using?

0402

I never noticed that, but the white mcd is very high compared to the others.

Edited March 29, 2018 by arbit

[arbit]

That's the warped wing. Not too worried about it, but...

[arbit]

Some stuff I have learned about Arduino on this build:

- The reversing motor sketch, micro limit switches, and motor driver IC are very reliable. Any bugs I had were user error.

- The Trinket has a couple high-powered PWM especially for servos, and the rest are normal PWM pins. I have been using the low powered ones which led to problems sometimes.

- I learned the "Repeat" code which is great for blinking lights at high speed without coding "On-Off" a thousand times.

- I also learned how to code Functions, which make complex blinking patterns for multiple leds/neopixels, and then you can call on the Function and "Repeat" the entire thing.

- Also learned how to break down the Neopixel Library Strandtest into its component parts, so I can use only the parts I want, such as Colorwipe, Rainbow, or Theater Chase.

Anyone wants details, let me know.

@Mechtech, I am sure I can code your Wave Motion Gun Pulsar Cannon effect now.

Edited March 29, 2018 by arbit

[NZEOD]

13 hours ago, arbit said:

0402

I never noticed that, but the white mcd is very high compared to the others.

Naa that's not high... 10000 Milli Candela would be high. So that's not the source of the heat. What resistor are you using and hows it wired? 0402SMDs are the same ones I'm using in Alissas X-Wing miniatures and there are no heat issues

Edited March 29, 2018 by NZEOD

[NZEOD]

11 hours ago, arbit said:

Some stuff I have learned about Arduino on this build:

- The reversing motor sketch, micro limit switches, and motor driver IC are very reliable. Any bugs I had were user error.

- The Trinket has a couple high-powered PWM especially for servos, and the rest are normal PWM pins. I have been using the low powered ones which led to problems sometimes.

- I learned the "Repeat" code which is great for blinking lights at high speed without coding "On-Off" a thousand times.

- I also learned how to code Functions, which make complex blinking patterns for multiple leds/neopixels, and then you can call on the Function and "Repeat" the entire thing.

- Also learned how to break down the Neopixel Library Strandtest into its component parts, so I can use only the parts I want, such as Colorwipe, Rainbow, or Theater Chase.

Anyone wants details, let me know.

@Mechtech, I am sure I can code your Wave Motion Gun Pulsar Cannon effect now.

next exercise for you... try random fade and colour flicker so your engines randomly flicker and fade BUT don't ever reach zero/off. That way your lighting will get more a throbbing effect than to flicker. So assign a value range from say... 120 to 255 instead of 0 to 255 - for those curious, LED fade is done on a value from 0 (off) to 255 (max intensity) with Arduino coding.

Edited March 29, 2018 by NZEOD

[NZEOD]

12 hours ago, arbit said:

That's the warped wing. Not too worried about it, but...

Where is the resistor? not in the wing? The resistor converts electrical potential into heat. 

[arbit]

20 hours ago, NZEOD said:

Where is the resistor? not in the wing? The resistor converts electrical potential into heat. 

The 1000ohm resistor is outside the valk. The wing is getting power from the 5V Out of the arduino powered by 3.7v-4.5v lipo. Why am i using 5V Out and not the GPIO pins, because the MaH from the arduino pins is not enough to power the 3x parallel leds with 1000ohm resistor.

But I suspect I have a short in there.

Edited March 30, 2018 by arbit

[NZEOD]

12 hours ago, arbit said:

The 1000ohm resistor is outside the valk. The wing is getting power from the 5V Out of the arduino powered by 3.7v-4.5v lipo. Why am i using 5V Out and not the GPIO pins, because the MaH from the arduino pins is not enough to power the 3x parallel leds with 1000ohm resistor.

But I suspect I have a short in there.

nope... its the Diodes themselves. They aren't made to exacting specs and so tiny differences can cause one LED to draw/suck a ton more current through it than the others regardless of the resistor.

In parallel you really need a single resistor FOR EACH LED not one for all.

Awesome little graphic link attached for what is likely happening with yours and causing the heat. 

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/22291/why-exactly-cant-a-single-resistor-be-used-for-many-parallel-leds

Do you have spare wings? I'd suggest building up a new set of wings with a resistor on each LED (still outside the wing to avoid heat issues) so you'll have 6 wires and not 2 entering the wings. Sorry for bringing the bad news.

If you continue with the original set you WILL eventually burn out the brighter LEDS.

You want a 1/8W (blue body) 82ohm resistor (grey red black) for EACH white LED, the same for the blue LED and a 1/8W (blue body) 120ohm (brown red brown) resistor for the red

I've based this on the 4.5v LiPo output. It will still work for 5V so your safe there.

[arbit]

31 minutes ago, NZEOD said:

nope... its the Diodes themselves. They aren't made to exacting specs and so tiny differences can cause one LED to draw/suck a ton more current through it than the others regardless of the resistor.

In parallel you really need a single resistor FOR EACH LED not one for all.

Awesome little graphic link attached for what is likely happening with yours and causing the heat. 

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/22291/why-exactly-cant-a-single-resistor-be-used-for-many-parallel-leds

Do you have spare wings? I'd suggest building up a new set of wings with a resistor on each LED (still outside the wing to avoid heat issues) so you'll have 6 wires and not 2 entering the wings. Sorry for bringing the bad news.

If you continue with the original set you WILL eventually burn out the brighter LEDS.

You want a 1/8W (blue body) 82ohm resistor (grey red black) for EACH white LED, the same for the blue LED and a 1/8W (blue body) 120ohm (brown red brown) resistor for the red

I've based this on the 4.5v LiPo output. It will still work for 5V so your safe there.

That would be optimal, I always have resistors for each led, but in this case, there would be no space for the wing gears. So it is an either/or situation: Wing lights or motor. There is no space for 6 wires out of each wing, there wasn't even space for one resistor inside the valk.

I wont be redoing the wings now, but I have broken their lighting out so I can  have them on with a momentary switch only. I can always go back and change the wings when I get a beater set.

Actually for the next project, I just ordered SMT resistors to save space. 

We need a wiring plan for the wings that minimizes wires AND heat AND resistor space, and still works on 5v. (I suppose we could also use a 9v outside the Arduino control.

Are 1/8w different? I always use 1/4w.

Can a series circuit handle different leds with one resistor?

Edited March 30, 2018 by arbit

[arbit]

11 minutes ago, arbit said:

Awesome little graphic link attached for what is likely happening with yours and causing the heat. 

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/22291/why-exactly-cant-a-single-resistor-be-used-for-many-parallel-leds

He also says, "One case that I can think of where you can use a resistor powering several diodes would be if the maximum current going through the resistor is small enough that a single diode can work with full current. This way the diode won't die..."

Which is what I have done. So I think the wings will melt before the led goes out .

[NZEOD]

smd resistors would fit inside the wings so in theory all the wiring could still fit between the top and bottom wing panels. To solder to SMD resistors takes a special kind of patience/madness and a really good soldering iron and tip. I fail at it often.

 

Fullsized resistors could be hidden in the arms perhaps...

 

1/8w even smaller that 1/4

[NZEOD]

I'll have a play with a set of wings over this easter holiday and see what options I can draw up on simplified wiring paths OR fibre optics.

[arbit]

2 minutes ago, NZEOD said:

I'll have a play with a set of wings over this easter holiday and see what options I can draw up on simplified wiring paths OR fibre optics.

Cool. But remember, fiber wont work with movement. 

[arbit]

10 minutes ago, NZEOD said:

To solder to SMD resistors takes a special kind of patience/madness and a really good soldering iron and tip. I fail at it often.

Here is my approach, I learned it the hard way:

• Use desk magnifier.
• Never touch the iron to the SMT.
• Clamp the SMT with a bench vise gently, BUT clamp only on the plastic side, not on the pads, or they will be damaged.
• I use rosen core and put a blob on the end of my wire by heating 5mm away from the end.
• Bend the wire to prep final position.
• Apply heat ONLY to the blob of solder really quick and you usually get a good connection.

I destroyed many SMTs at first, but since then I have been all good.

Edited March 30, 2018 by arbit

[arbit]

Here's a project concept for you.  Rising platform, opening wings, rotating platform, rising catapult, and engine burn. Flying optional...

 

Edited March 30, 2018 by arbit

[NZEOD]

3 hours ago, arbit said:

Cool. But remember, fiber wont work with movement. 

ahhh yes it will..... there are plastic types as well as glass now

[arbit]

6 hours ago, NZEOD said:

ahhh yes it will..... there are plastic types as well as glass now

You recommended PMMA fiber a few years back. That's all I use. 

Give it a go.

But I did't see it working, so I didn't try it with this project. 

[arbit]

Preparing the electronics in the base, and threading the wires one by one.

That is two Trinkets, one for the lights and sounds, and one dedicated to the motor. There is a motor driver IC, an amp, a speaker, two LiPo's and LiPo chargers, and an SD card.

If you replace the Trinkets with Arduino Micros, this whole set up costs less than USD 20, with most of the cost going to the batteries.

Most importantly, anyone, and I mean anyone, can manage the Arduino. So let me know if you are interested.

Edited April 5, 2018 by arbit

[arbit]

And she's up!

Edited April 6, 2018 by arbit

[derex3592]

That is sooooo freakin cool! 

[arbit]

Got the decals on, and then tried my first post shade to muck up the base and arm. Wont be trying that on the valk though... 

Edited April 6, 2018 by arbit

[kajnrig]

This thread started flying over my head long ago, but I can still gawk and ooh and aah at the end result. This is too good.

How well is the arm doing holding up the Valk? The VF by itself is pretty light, but it has all the added electronics and is being held way out on the end of the arm. You worried at all about things holding together, or is the arm and base pretty sufficiently reinforced?