Obi1
11-22-2015, 06:20 AM
:cool: Finally! After months fter months of research, designing, planning, building and software development it's compeleted.
I proudly present my first Arduino based saber electronincs for LED string sabers.
My goal was to build my very own saber electronics, from scratch. Of course developing the software was an essential part of this project, more so because it was my first encounter with the C++ language.
Before saying more about the specifics of the electronincs, here is the video I made to show (off) the capabilities.
http://vid1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/kicsi_AS2demo_zpsh0aymbsg.mp4
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/th_kicsi_AS2demo_zpsh0aymbsg.mp4 (http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/kicsi_AS2demo_zpsh0aymbsg.mp4)
I named it AS2 for Arduino Saber 2, honoring JakeSoft's first Arduino based saber, who motivated me and gave valuable advices to see me off on this journey.
About half of the time spent developing the system was spent on selecting and experimenting with the constituent parts, which has 4 min components:
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/kicsi00008_zpsjuflnrs0.jpg (http://s1035.photobucket.com/user/Kunci1/media/kicsi00008_zpsjuflnrs0.jpg.html)
1. The Arduino board itself. It was clear from the beginning that I will use an Arduino Nano, owning to the fact that that was the smallest one available. The new version comes with an Atmega328 core which fulfilled my specification (mainly that of having as many PWM channels as possible, but still be of a small form).
2. I could have opted for the simple and robust mehanical clash and swing sensors, but I was fascinated by accelero- and gyrometers I got to know from a fellow Arduino developer. So I designed in an MPU6050 sensor, mainly because of the easy way of communication and the comprehensive library coming with it.
3. The drivers from the PWM Outputs to the LED segments. I selected the smallest nMOS Transistors avalable which can still handle the current (a few hundreds of mA at most). I had to do that in order to save space, which was an imperative to avoid excessive cram-fu. I wanted to concentrate on design and not on cramming.
4. The sound module. That was a journey on its own, I tried 3 different mp3/wav Players, mostly based on recommendations of other DIY fans. At the end I selected the only one which could deliver me gapless playback, the so called DFPlayer. Yes, I managed it, I'm very proud and hapy big time (huh, that was a work figuring that out!).
Here is a "werkfilm" showing the development breadboard with the modules wired together on it.
http://vid1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/kicsi_werkfilm_zpsuiyobnx0.mp4
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/th_kicsi_werkfilm_zpsuiyobnx0.mp4 (http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/kicsi_werkfilm_zpsuiyobnx0.mp4)
The hilt I used was put together from a Saber Forge hilt lying around. I love the look of that hilt, but it lied on the bench for more than one year, due to the very minimum space available inside. Then I figured that if I can build an electronics fitting in that hilt, it will fit in any other one as well. The clamp box is from an UE Hasbro Vader saber (yes, it's cheapo, but it comes with a removable and good looking clamp box).
Supply is 7.4V using 2 10440 batteries (for development OK, otherwise run time is ~20mins max).
I also made a video using my red LED string blade:
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/th_kicsi_redAS2_zpsnfvhyuzz.mp4 (http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/kicsi_redAS2_zpsnfvhyuzz.mp4)
I proudly present my first Arduino based saber electronincs for LED string sabers.
My goal was to build my very own saber electronics, from scratch. Of course developing the software was an essential part of this project, more so because it was my first encounter with the C++ language.
Before saying more about the specifics of the electronincs, here is the video I made to show (off) the capabilities.
http://vid1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/kicsi_AS2demo_zpsh0aymbsg.mp4
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/th_kicsi_AS2demo_zpsh0aymbsg.mp4 (http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/kicsi_AS2demo_zpsh0aymbsg.mp4)
I named it AS2 for Arduino Saber 2, honoring JakeSoft's first Arduino based saber, who motivated me and gave valuable advices to see me off on this journey.
About half of the time spent developing the system was spent on selecting and experimenting with the constituent parts, which has 4 min components:
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/kicsi00008_zpsjuflnrs0.jpg (http://s1035.photobucket.com/user/Kunci1/media/kicsi00008_zpsjuflnrs0.jpg.html)
1. The Arduino board itself. It was clear from the beginning that I will use an Arduino Nano, owning to the fact that that was the smallest one available. The new version comes with an Atmega328 core which fulfilled my specification (mainly that of having as many PWM channels as possible, but still be of a small form).
2. I could have opted for the simple and robust mehanical clash and swing sensors, but I was fascinated by accelero- and gyrometers I got to know from a fellow Arduino developer. So I designed in an MPU6050 sensor, mainly because of the easy way of communication and the comprehensive library coming with it.
3. The drivers from the PWM Outputs to the LED segments. I selected the smallest nMOS Transistors avalable which can still handle the current (a few hundreds of mA at most). I had to do that in order to save space, which was an imperative to avoid excessive cram-fu. I wanted to concentrate on design and not on cramming.
4. The sound module. That was a journey on its own, I tried 3 different mp3/wav Players, mostly based on recommendations of other DIY fans. At the end I selected the only one which could deliver me gapless playback, the so called DFPlayer. Yes, I managed it, I'm very proud and hapy big time (huh, that was a work figuring that out!).
Here is a "werkfilm" showing the development breadboard with the modules wired together on it.
http://vid1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/kicsi_werkfilm_zpsuiyobnx0.mp4
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/th_kicsi_werkfilm_zpsuiyobnx0.mp4 (http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/kicsi_werkfilm_zpsuiyobnx0.mp4)
The hilt I used was put together from a Saber Forge hilt lying around. I love the look of that hilt, but it lied on the bench for more than one year, due to the very minimum space available inside. Then I figured that if I can build an electronics fitting in that hilt, it will fit in any other one as well. The clamp box is from an UE Hasbro Vader saber (yes, it's cheapo, but it comes with a removable and good looking clamp box).
Supply is 7.4V using 2 10440 batteries (for development OK, otherwise run time is ~20mins max).
I also made a video using my red LED string blade:
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/th_kicsi_redAS2_zpsnfvhyuzz.mp4 (http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Kunci1/kicsi_redAS2_zpsnfvhyuzz.mp4)