Has anyone considered a vibrating hilt?

[Sairon]

If you don't want to drain you main batts, just put the motor on a 9v or something and shove it in the hilt, with it's own switch.

[Novastar]

I've never noticed that a motor takes up much runtime. In fact, most of the tiny vibration motors I've seen are something around 3v @ 60 - 200mAh. 200 would be a lot... like a spike in the current to spin it fast (briefly). Then again, every motor is different.

Again, I don't recommend a vib motor unless you have something that can help it to vary the current and make it more dynamic. Otherwise... it get irritating extremely quickly.

[xl97]

are there certina 'motors' than can be 'controlled' to make it spin faster/slower..and some that can NOT be?

or would changing the current to any type of motor produce the same effect?

[Novastar]

Yup, much like an LED having a forward voltage where (as example):

LED @ ~3.0v = lit but kind of dim...
LED @ ~3.5v = lit better... but not at its best
LED @ ~4.0v = wow... now THAT's lit!

...a motor can behave the same way. I'm not saying *ALL* motors do... but most of them will, especially if it is a "vibration" one (basically, it's purposely non-symmetrically weighted).

This is (yet AGAIN, for like the 3rd time) why I'm saying that using Crystal Focus with a motor that is wired to "mimic" the main LED (Luxeon) current is a pretty cool way to go. Further--it works REALLY dynamically with sound profiles like Phoenix Sword or Ancient Saber or Nano Deus Tachi.

If you simply feed a motor linear current at a linear voltage... it will work... but it will get irritating (as I've now said like 3 times).

Finally, as I said above... it's a good idea to find out the specifications of the motor you get. As with almost any component. Duh. That way, you can play with some values within spec... and get results without destroying said component. Double duh.

As a suggestion:

Feed motor 1.5v direct--briefly (2 seconds?). Observe.
Feed motor 3.0v direct--briefly (2 seconds?). Observe.

Most motors (even the little guys) can handle that. In fact, most LEDs (even the little guys) can handle that. I personally would never use 4.5v to run a vib motor, but the specs of the ones I have give that range. Wow. Talk about a hoover deluxe on sucking down current... that would be stupid.

Not to mention, it'd be BEYOND irritating if it was spinning that fast.

Since it's somewhat related, I might as well say that I'll see about sharing a video or photos on a cool solution on how to mount a vib motor fairly easily into your hilt in some time... maybe.

[xl97]

thanks..

[Ghostbat]

Again, I don't recommend a vib motor unless you have something that can help it to vary the current and make it more dynamic. Otherwise... it get irritating extremely quickly.

Having played around with one of the old Hasbro hilts with a motor I can say OH GOD YES!

Having an unvarying buzz happen is worse than the clash sound on MR darkside boards, vaguely interesting for a bit then rapidly maddening.

[Novastar]

To give another idea--based on what Ghostbat is saying--you could always wire a motor into to a clash sensor's line so that it only "buzzes" when a clash is detected. To me... that would be pretty cool also.

Problem is... without some kind of controlling circuit--the amount of current that can be fed to the motor when a clash is detected... is pretty minimal. Which is why it doesn't work too well if you just do it "straight up" with some kind of spring sensor.

With something like Corbin's boards (v1 or v2), you could certainly get a cool effect. And duh, obviously you could get a cool effect with Crystal Focus (via the momentary button or wiring into the Luxeon current or both).

More on this kind of concept later on... while Gravyen and Do-Clo and I work on MR + flash on clash + lockup...