Advances in indicators

Lots to show you so let's get started.

While I'm still waiting for the rest of the parts for the new Logic Display flasher circuit, I decided to return to the Processor State Indicators (see very early postings). The originals I made work great, but after making them I realized I needed the LEDs separate from the circuit. The LEDs need to be mounted in a small box which will be attached to the inside of the skins. I will then run wires from the LEDs to a new circuit mounted somewhere inside the head. The box needs to be 1-1/2 inches in diameter (size of the light on R2-D2). I used a PVC pipe cap. To mount the LEDs, I first drilled a 5/16 hole on either side of the cap. I then screwed in two chrome LED holders I got from Radio Shack into those holes. Next I inserted a 5mm super bright LED (one blue or green and one red or yellow) into each LED holder. Connect to circuit and tada, your droid has PSI lights.



In between working on that, I was also designing the first version the LED circuit for the Logic Displays. I found this company that provides a free Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design program with the option to have them make your design for a fare price (ExpressPCB). I tried it out and the results are amazing, highly recommend them. The PCB I designed and ordered arrived recently and so I soldered on six 3mm LEDs (3 white, 3 blue). The circuit works, but I already have found a couple of things I want to change. First, the holes for the wiring are too small to fit any wiring through. Second, the shape of the PCB is not square enough for me to trim into a circle to fit into the fiber tubes (see previous post). I've already made the changes to my design, but won't order it until I can test the LED blinking pattern with the fiber optics, which I can't do until the rest of the parts arrive for the flasher circuit. In the mean time, I semi-tested the LEDs using the Flip-Flop circuit from the PSI's.



So that's all I've got for now. Soon I will try this LED arrangement with the fiber optics.

John

DVD's and conventions

If you've read my older postings, you know one of the Club's members makes DVD of some of our major events like the Celebration conventions and the LA R2 Builder's yearly get together.
This morning I finaly was able to catch up on the DVD's I've missed, namely the Celebration IV and the R2LA 4 - 6 DVD's. They'll be here soon.

Also, it has been confirmed that LucasFilm will be having a Celebration V convention in 2010 or 2011. They are still deciding on which city will get to host the convention, but one of the front runners is my town Indianapolis, which happens to be where C-II and C-III were held. Oh, I hope they choose Indy.

John

Blog Prequel

I just finished adding all of my blog entries from my original "John's Droids" blog, so now you can read about my droid quest from the beginning...kinda like the prequel to this current blog. It goes all the way back to November 1st, 2005, the same year Celebration III came to Indy and I joined the R2-D2 Builder's club. I can't believe I've been working on R6 for almost 4 years and I'm still not close to being done. Oh well. Hobbies are never easy....or cheap.

Anyway, still waiting on the parts to arrive to try out this new LED flashing circuit. If this works, then I won't have any use for those PIC Flashers I made. Drat.

John

New year, new plans.

Happy belated New Year, etc, etc.
Sorry I haven't been posting recently. My job gets real busy during the winter holidays thus only time for me to eat, sleep and work. But now I'm back, so down to business.

I recently started tinkering with the Logic Displays again, trying to come up with a more conpact and less power hungry design. I've been looking for a different light flashing circuit in hopes of decreasing the number of LEDs thus decreasing the physical size and power needed. Well after scanning the Internet for a few hours I stumbled upon a schematic on Electronics-Lab.com titled "LEDs and Lamps Sequencer" which is a very simple circuit that can have many or few LEDs in it. Basicly it's a one LED flashing circuit that can have copies of itself added in sequence to it up to a large number.....BINGO!!! This is what I've been wanting for a long time. With this I can use maybe only 6 LEDs arranged in a flashing circle and then just have the fiber optic strands right above them. Some of the parts I couldn't find at my local Radio Shack or other stores so I had to buy them online. Once I can make the circuit I can experiment with the LED placement related to the fiber optics and see if it will work the way I want it to. Till then, here's the schematic and drawing of how I will assemble this new design.

John

A couple of ideas for R6

I was just dreaming about having R6-C9 completed and having him interact with the public when a cool idea came to me....what if R6 could take your picture and print it for you on the spot? It's possible to do by putting a webcam or something simular and a portable printer into R6 and rigging a small PC inside him too. Some Builders use PC's and Bluetooth tech to control their droids. The only problems are expense, printing quality and would people want a picture printed by an oversized trashcan? What do you think?

That's all I got.

John

Back to the drawing board

Long time no see....er, post, I guess.....nvm.
Work has increased and so thus has my time there (can you say OT!). I also just recently moved to my very own apartment and have been busy getting my junk out of boxes (I have a lot).

Now on to business:

Last time on "The New Droid Workshop," I was setting up the fiber optics for my droid's PSI displays.


But a problem accured, one I can't resolve with the current prototype. I discovered the plastic tubes I was using to hold the fiber over the LEDs were too small for a few of the groups. I couldn't fit all the fiber cords into the same tube (7 seems to be the limit) and I can't replace the tubes with bigger ones because theirs no more room to fit them. Thus I can't use this for the PSI's. So I have two options: 1 is to use an already tried and true method already being used by other R2 Builders, or 2 I can try to redesign my PSI. I haven't decided yet as I'm not sure how I can fix the problem without making the thing too big to use on my R6 head. So to be continued on the PSI part of the build. In the mean time, seeing as how I can't use the current PSI setup I have, I opened it up to show you what I did inside.

Until next time,
John

Plan B

So here's some pictures of the fiber optic cables being glued in place. Each plastic tube will have different amounts of cables put in place (some will have two, some will have as many as six).

But a problem acured. One of the Zip-Tied bundles came out of its plastic tube. I guess the Gorilla Glue isn't going to work very well in this case.
So I decided to try Heat-Shrink tubing. This stuff is very useful for covering exposed wiring and electronic component links. All you do is get a piece only slightly larger in diameter than what you're covering, fit it over the part, and then use a heat gun/hair dryer (either one works) to heat up the tubing and then it will tightly shrink around whatever is inside it. And it worked like a charm.The Zip-Ties are for good measure.
Unfortunitly, I have run out of Fiber Optic cable. I just ordered more today, but it'll take a few days before it arrives. I get my fiber from http://www.fiberopticproducts.com/.
These pictures are a long time coming. They are diagrams of how the fibers will be arranged in the Logic Display bezels. Please note that these diagrams came from the R2-D2 Builders Club and where made by one of its members. These diagrams are NOT how the Real R2-D2's Logic Display lights work. ILM is keeping that a trade secret.

Laterz,

John

can't think of a title

Just wanted to show another thing I just did. This picture shows the Gorilla Glue I just put on to keep the tubes in place. WARNING: Gorilla Glue is the strongest glue out there. USE GLOVES! USE OLD CLOTHES. IF YOU GET THIS ON YOU, IT WILL TAKE A CHISEL TO REMOVE. Just FYI.

Front Logic Display nears completion

You are going to love this. I just finished (mostly) the Front Logic Display LED blinking assembly. I've got pictures and a video of the LED's in action. The only thing I did not take pictures of is how I made the circuit the LED's are on and how they are mounted in the black box. But fear not. I have to make another one of these for the Rear Logic Display so I'll take pictures of that. The only difference between the Front and Rear is the colors.

This picture shows the holes I'm starting to drill. I used a 3/8" drill bit.

A closer view. Note the scratch marks. The point where the lines intersect is where I drill. I used a simple hobby knife to make the marks. They line up with the LED arrangement.

Holes drilled. Not as even as I wanted. Better luck next time I guess.

All the holes are drilled, the LED's are mounted inside, and the plastic tubing is in place. The frosted plastic tubes you see are sitting over each LED inside. This is to diffuse the light from each LED so they don't bleed over into another LED and to keep the fiber optic strands positioned over their respective LED. I'll be using Gorilla Glue to glue the fiber in place.

I'm putting plugs on the wiring coming from the PIC Flasher circuit and the LED box. Each plug has 9 pins (the plugs are just like the 4 pin power plugs in a computer), and each pin is soldered to each wire. Since the PIC Flasher has 8 channels, I used premade Heat-Shrink tubes with numbers printed on them to mark each wire. The green (+) wire I left unmarked and put in the 9th position in the plug. The picture above shows the wire crimped in the pin before I added the solder.

The video below shows the lights in action. I now need to take this setup to the R6's head to plan its mounting inside so I know how to cut and arrange the fiber.

Head towards the light

Tada! This video shows the PIC LED Flasher at work. This is just a prototype though. I'll soon have pictures of the final version.....as soon as I can buy more wire. Imagine this prototype in a small box. There will be holes drilled above each LED and in these holes the fiber optics will be put. Then the fiber optics will be arranged in a pattern one of the other R2 Builders made and is used by most other builders. The circuit controlling the LEDs is the PIC LED Flasher I've shown in the past (check out the very early postings (note that I haven't copied those postings to this blog from Yahoo 360 yet. Click here to see them there)). It's polarity is backwards from what you'd expect. The green wire is the positive and the red wires are the negative. LEDs are polarity sensitive so they must be connected correctly. If you look at one from the top, you'll see that one side has a flat edge while the rest is round, like a dome. The flat side is the negative.

More coming soon.
John