Adding Electronics to our Models

[NZEOD]

After talking to a couple of other members about this, I've decided to make a thread for dumping all our ideas and techniques for making our models move, light up and make sounds.

Use this thread for anyone with ideas and links to gear, projects and programming.

My background is as an Army Ammunition Technician and IEDD Operator. I worked on and operated the REMOTEC Andros among other duties. So messing with gadgets and things I shouldnt are second nature.

I also Fly Gliders and compete in FMX on a Husqvarna CR125, Street Stunt on a Triumph 675, Motox on a Husqvarna TC250 and MTB, Snowboarding, Kite surfing and anything likely to result in pain and dismemberment.

As such I have messed around alot with cameras and remotes and ways of mounting them, making them move and track a target etc.

So this leads me to here and wanting to making my destroids move and track a person around a room with their gun barrels.

I have a Tomahawk with light up beam cannons and spot light and a servo in the body to swing it round. The Defenders have the same with both spotlights lighting up and the body swinging. They also have a rotating radar and arms that raise. One is a Defender XV and have PE Brass 6 barrel cannons with also spin at 1000rpm. The Phalanx has a servo in the body and one in each arm and 3 LEDs in the spotlight tower.

The Valks in fighter mode have LEDs in the engines and beam cannons and one is getting a backpack lit up mid explosion (current project).

All this is powered and controlled off Adafruits Trinket 5V and Trinket Pro Adruino boards and cheap $16 Micro servos, Neopixel LEDs and , thanks to MECHTECH, some insanely tiny gearbox motors for the gatling guns! The diameter of a pencil.

Over the next few weeks I'll load up links, examples and programs (called sketches) for making things move and light up yourselves.

It may seem daunting but honestly, once you get started, its not too hard. My 14yr old daughter learns this stuff in school now.

I'm no expert, I just have a passion of fiddling and making things do the unexpected. Likely some of you here will be able to take my limited knowledge and ideas and improve on them 10 fold. Thats the hope atleast.

Edited July 12, 2016 by NZEOD

[NZEOD]

RESOURCES POST - Where to find stuff and what to use for stuff - will be updated as we all find stuff

My current choice of board to control everything is the Adafruit Trinket 5V for small LED only projects and the Trinket Pro for LED and multiple servo projects.

Only reason being, I'm cheap and so is this board. Its also pretty simple to setup, program and power.

The Trinket 5V

https://www.adafruit.com/product/1501

Trinket Pro

https://www.adafruit.com/products/2000

A good read to help you along the way is...

https://www.adafruit.com/products/2289

A good source of gear... just about ANYTHING in fact!

http://www.robotshop.com/en/

Edited October 18, 2016 by NZEOD

[Xigfrid]

Really nice from you to open a thread on this matter.

I have a specific setup in mind for some time, perhaps it has already been done.

I would like to make lightings for 3D printed parts, I imagined it could be done very easily by making pre-drilled holes in the models into which you can pass the optical fiber. Making this way allows the system to pass the fibers from a center point to any other position in the model, even through articulations. It needs several color light generators I presume. How small can be the control device, including batteries? How do we solder the fibers etc? Perhaps there is somewhere a tutorial for that specific setup?

[MechTech]

This is a GREAT thread to start! When I get my shop back together from the move, this is one area I'm thinking of messing with. Adafruit and such are the only way to go. You can only do so much with analog stuff. - MT

[NZEOD]

Really nice from you to open a thread on this matter.

I have a specific setup in mind for some time, perhaps it has already been done.

I would like to make lightings for 3D printed parts, I imagined it could be done very easily by making pre-drilled holes in the models into which you can pass the optical fiber. Making this way allows the system to pass the fibers from a center point to any other position in the model, even through articulations. It needs several color light generators I presume. How small can be the control device, including batteries? How do we solder the fibers etc? Perhaps there is somewhere a tutorial for that specific setup?

Soldering fibres? If you mean the enameled wire, the heat of the soldering iron burns off the enamel as its applied. On my own I rub the wire ends on the soldering iron heat jacket to burn it off before soldering.

If you want different colour at different optic fibre and the SAME time you will need different LED sources.

My controllers are outside the models, hidden in the diorama base and the models connect to them through, for the Destroids and Battroids, their feet where I have a socket they click into, and for the Fighters on the Carrier Deck through a single fibre strand running down each landing gear leg.

The Launch Arm ones will connect though the centre of the back pack into the piece between the arm claws.

Edited July 14, 2016 by NZEOD

[arbit]

Hi NZEOD,

Firstly, thanks for your suggestions.
I have been studying Adafruit and the neopixels as you suggested.
The first drawback I see is that the neopixels are 5mmx5mm.
I never work with 5mm LEDs. That is way too big for anything I am working on.
Typically I use 3mm LEDs and 0.5mm SMDs to get in the nooks and crannys.
So unless I am understanding something wrong, the Adafruit wont work for me.
I guess I can use the neopixels with fiber, but fiber is not always the best solution, and I still have a 5mm LED to deal with.

Am I getting this all wrong?

[NZEOD]

In the ships Hull is where you hide the Neopixel. Use a strip so you have eight addressable Neos then run high quality fibres with lens ends. The Neos and the Trinket board can all run on a tiny lipo or hide a two wire power cable into it though the stand. You could even add motion activation as I'm using on mine to turn on the effects when someone passes near.

Add a drop of clear resin thats semi set and suspend upside down... it hardens to form a lens. Seat your Fibre to this with more resin. Use Solid core sheathed Fibres which start at .05mm dia and go to about 14mm dia.

[Xigfrid]

In the ships Hull is where you hide the Neopixel. Use a strip so you have eight addressable Neos then run high quality fibres with lens ends. The Neos and the Trinket board can all run on a tiny lipo or hide a two wire power cable into it though the stand. You could even add motion activation as I'm using on mine to turn on the effects when someone passes near.

You MUST make a video of that happens!

[arbit]

In the ships Hull is where you hide the Neopixel. Use a strip so you have eight addressable Neos then run high quality fibres with lens ends. The Neos and the Trinket board can all run on a tiny lipo or hide a two wire power cable into it though the stand. You could even add motion activation as I'm using on mine to turn on the effects when someone passes near.

Add a drop of clear resin thats semi set and suspend upside down... it hardens to form a lens. Seat your Fibre to this with more resin. Use Solid core sheathed Fibres which start at .05mm dia and go to about 14mm dia.

Wow! Very elegant solution.

Edited July 18, 2016 by arbit

[MechTech]

I wouldn't want to walk down your hallway in the middle of the night NZEOD! That's the stuff nightmares are made of - MT

[slide]

I wouldn't want to walk down your hallway in the middle of the night NZEOD! That's the stuff nightmares are made of - MT

[2001 impression] My God... it's full of MACROSS!! [/2001 impression]

[NZEOD]

You MUST make a video of that happens

Working on it. Had the privilege of going into labour to deliver (its still not out!) a 4mm kidney stone so I've had the day off at home after spending yesterday in A&E on Morphine and have been busy soldering up my latest loot. An Adafruit Trinket Pro, FX Sound board and 20W Amp for the Street Shootout scene. Just working on sourcing all the sound effects now.

The Hall display already lights up on case at a time off a PIR. Its proven to be quite useful for tracking when the little ninja 20month old sneaks out of his bedroom at night!

[Mr Jones]

Out of curiosity what gauge of enameled wire do you typically use for this application? I'm looking to put lighting in a hase SDF-1 and the wire gauge has Mr stumped

[NZEOD]

Look for Kynar Wire. Its used in windings, Its actually stronger and easier to use than the enamel Copper and comes in simlar gauges all the way down to 0.25mm! The size depends on the total current draw of your circuit and its wire length. Got any more details on the types and numbers of lighting you want to use?

When soldering with Kynar, you want it to be hot and clean and quick. The heat from the iron burns away the insulation so you don't want that traveling too far up the wire. One trick that works is to mount the iron in a clamp and offer up the parts and solder to it, instead of holding the iron. Works for me anyways. I clamp it to a card box with all my tools I'll need in the box to stop it flipping over. Makes for more a production line setup for doing masses of LEDs or repetitive tasks and avoids placing the iron on a model part. my 23 display cases used 4 LEDS each wired in series with a 2 prong plug and 5 wires... all having to be done the same length.. again and again and again. This sped it up alot and was done on the Kitchen bench while watching Macross Delta, Top Gun...again and Black Sails

I've ordered the Adafruit Trinket guide for dummies book so anything I find in their thats relevant I can scan and pass on here its that skating within the rules.

Edited July 20, 2016 by NZEOD

[Mr Jones]

I don't Have much yet. Just ordered a couple neopixel 8 led units and a trinket 5v to mess around with. I figure for my first attempts some regular wire between the devices should suffice and then send the light to my targets with some fibre. Its been years since I've dealt with circuits but should figure it out. Thanks for the wire suggestion.

[NZEOD]

What you do is get a prototyping breadboard ($10 or so) and some male to male jumper leads and you build the system on the board to test it all. That way you can do it next to your PC so making programming changes can be done there and then.

Once you have the programming sorted and wiring layout finalized you then remove it from the breadboard and permanently soldier all the wires in.

The 8Sticks are a great way to practice and test layouts and learn to program each LED. Just solder a set of 90deg pins to the end of it so it stands up in the board like a dragway Xmas tree light set. Neat and tidy and can be tossed in the toolbox when the wife wants the bench space back without having any wires to tangle.

Edited July 21, 2016 by NZEOD

[Mr Jones]

Yeah -- I also ordered a breadboard, some jumpers and a few other supplies for input etc ( potentiometer, switch ). I noticed the 8 LED stick has two ground pads but I've seen them wired with just 1 wired up -- logically this makes sense to me and I'm guessing you generally want to wire it on the side with the resistors?

Looking forward to getting started though I'm not sure I'll get started with the SDF-1 first; we shall see. Need to wrangle how to do Fibre stuff on kits as well.

[NZEOD]

Fibres easy, its sourcing the right items thats a pain. I HATE the glass fibres they snap at the slightest nick and are quite happy impaling themselves into your fingers.

Yeah thats the gnd I use as well. You can use either or both gnd points

[arbit]

In the ships Hull is where you hide the Neopixel. Use a strip so you have eight addressable Neos then run high quality fibres with lens ends. The Neos and the Trinket board can all run on a tiny lipo or hide a two wire power cable into it though the stand. You could even add motion activation as I'm using on mine to turn on the effects when someone passes near.

Add a drop of clear resin thats semi set and suspend upside down... it hardens to form a lens. Seat your Fibre to this with more resin. Use Solid core sheathed Fibres which start at .05mm dia and go to about 14mm dia.

Is PMMA the same as Solid core sheathed Fibres?

[NZEOD]

Yes and no.

PMMA is the techo name for Perspex Optical fibre. Its actually a POF or Polymer Optical Fibre with a perspex (acrylic) core and a polymer cladding.

Its the one you want when you need to turn corners and DONT want snapped fibres or splinters in your fingers.

They can be single solid cores with a sheath or without and they can be bundles of fibres in one sheath. The sheath stops light loss though the walls of the strand. Useful, not essential.

Adafruit Trinket How Too Manual arrived today so I'll flick through it and summarize the relevant points for our projects over the next week.

Specifically:

Adding LED Control - Flashing, Fading, Colour shifting

Adding Movement Control - Servos, DC Motors, Stepper Motors

Adding Sound FX

Adding Triggers - Switches, PIR, Timers.

Power Sources - Button Cells, LiPos with Recharge function, Mains Power

Anything else we can think of to explore, yell out.

Edited July 24, 2016 by NZEOD

[arbit]

Amazing. Looking forward to it.

If you could add a "beginners" Intro to this dealing with setting up the Adafruit and just one neopixel , then we go on from there to your contents.

That would be great!

[NZEOD]

yep, that's the first project in the book, Its super easy to follow and quick.

[arbit]

I'll get that book if its nube friendly. Cant make heads or tails of the How To's on their site. I think they expect people have a history with Arduino, et al.

[NZEOD]

The books very noob friendly

Are you using a 3.3v Trinket, 5V one or the Trinket Pro?

I'll post up how to set up a single and dual Neopixel with wiring and codes to try to make them show different colours and flashings etc in a couple of hours. That will give you something to play with over the weekend.

Edited July 29, 2016 by NZEOD

[arbit]

I'll get whatever you show in the How To. Shortest distance between two points...

[NZEOD]

Having hardware issues with my PC as I'm running all SSDs and am out of Storage space. Heading into town now to get another SSD or 3 to fit into the beast. In the meantime I've created a dropbox with the first set of page scans to try yourself with setting up a trinket to flash an LED.

I'll add more relevant detail after i get back with the SSDs... and they work in the PC... and I stop wanting to shoot the PC...

Dropbox link here.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fxkf5259b5j5rb8/simon%20scan%20of%20book.pdf?dl=0

Try the first 3 pages were they get you to set up a test to get the Trinkets ONBOARD LED blinking.

[arbit]

Cool, the 5 V version can run on input of 5-16V. That should make it work with my setup, because I use a variable 12v DC adapter. So I dont have to worry about accidentally burning the 5V Trinket.

Correct?

[NZEOD]

Correct! As long as you connect the power supply to the appropriate 2 pinouts and NOT via the USB port. The USB port is 5V only.

and it can run down to 3.3.V so it can run off 3.7V Lipo if needed. Its a brilliant little board.

Edited July 31, 2016 by NZEOD

[arbit]

Can the trinket run a combo of analog LEDs and Neopixels?

[NZEOD]

Yes it can. Different pinouts though but thats just one more line out.

[NZEOD]

Did you get the inboard LED to blink as per the tutorial?

[arbit]

Did you get the inboard LED to blink as per the tutorial?

Still trying to decide which LEDs to get between these.

https://www.adafruit.com/products/1938

https://www.adafruit.com/products/1655

The RGBs only have 3 colors, while the other is 24 bit? Or can they both produce all colors?

Edited August 4, 2016 by arbit

[NZEOD]

no no, for the test sequence it uses the ONBOARD led built into the Trinket. The red SMD LED shown below at Pin #1

The program will blink this.

If you get this to blink we can go through some simple code changes to make it blink faster, slower, longer, shorter, brighter etc. That will teach you the basics on what values to change to make things happen without needed to string any LEDS together yet.

Still trying to decide which LEDs to get between these.

https://www.adafruit.com/products/1938

https://www.adafruit.com/products/1655

The RGBs only have 3 colors, while the other is 24 bit? Or can they both produce all colors?

They are both Neopixels so 4K colour. What you see on the SMD face, with the little chip built in, it also in the the Diffuse LED. I ground a few right back to the face to fit them into wingtips and found the driver chips once all the plastic was removed.

For learning I'd get a pack on 5mm Diffuse. The SMD ones need a board to run on the breadboard.

Edited August 4, 2016 by NZEOD

[arbit]

For learning I'd get a pack on 5mm Diffuse. The SMD ones need a board to run on the breadboard.

So how did you fit those SMDs in your defender? Seem awfully big,

Edited August 6, 2016 by arbit

[NZEOD]

I dremeled off the excess board material that doesn't carry the circuit. One fits in each Floodlight

One in the Tomahawk Floodlight, one each in the Beam Cannon barrels.

For the Phalanx I used just the SMD chips in the 3 Floodlights

I also made resin lens over the LEDs and in the ends of the Beam Cannons

Edited August 7, 2016 by NZEOD