Next Gen. Comm badge chirping?

[mutant59]

Very nice. And 20 seconds is easily enough time to get a little fancier if you're in the mood. For instance, record "chirp", followed by a length of silence long enough to say "Riker to Enterprise" (or whatever), then "Enterprise here, Commander" (or "What do you want now, you poker-cheatin' bastid?").

 

[Discord]

Yea, I'm not sure I could do the soldering, every time I try the solder either doesn't melt or it goes everywhere.

You need a real soldering iron, most likely. The firesticks from Harbor Freight and Radio Shack are nigh on worthless. If it's not that, it's flux. Flux makes all the difference.

That method does look reasonably good - though one of the re-recordable greeting cards would probably be a tiny bit more compact. Probably more effective for a larger prop like a phaser.

I'm still looking in to this. Trying to interface with an SD card. Stay tuned, spring break is this week and I'll have some time to play. If possible, I'll eventually get it all ironed out so you can just buy a finished part and maybe download a program + sound files.

 

[TheDarkPope]

Yea, I'm not sure I could do the soldering, every time I try the solder either doesn't melt or it goes everywhere.

Normal electronics solder is 60% lead and 40% tin and is referred to as 60/40 solder and melts between 361 and 374 degrees Farenheit. Eutectic solder is 63% lead and 37% tin and is referred to as 63/37 or eutectic solder. It melts at 361 degrees no more, no less. Normal solder has 3 states solid, plastic, and liquid. Eutectic solder only has solid and liquid. If you have trouble with normal solder, eutectuc solder might be easier to work with. The plastic state can be a bit difficult to deal with. Sometimes the lower temp makes life a little easier.

Eutectic solder is easy to manage with any $13, 15 watt firestick that Radio Shack has to offer. There's simply no need to buy $50 - $120 iron for a silly little project like this. If after you get more experienced at soldering and want to upgrade, then go for it, but not for a beginner, and not for a 1 time project.

A greeting card would be more compact - no doubt. Unfortunately you'll have to figure out a way to get the audio quality you want. Plugging something directly in and either recording, or the device that Discord is making with direct SD card will sound best. Recording with air space won't give you that quality. It just sounds scratchy.

I didn't mention in my previous post about speaker size. The one that comes with the device from end to end is 1 1/2 inch. You can buy speakers that are bigger or smaller depending on the needs of your project whether you are doing a badge, or a phaser.

 

[Risu]

So I've got to say a big thanks to Too_Many_Cars. I told him about this thread and what's been discussed and the next day he brought in a greeting card chip from bigdawgspromo.com. I installed the software, downloaded the chirp sound effect online, plugged in the USB attachment, and in a total of 5 minutes for I think under $10, I now have a chirping comm badge that's pretty darn loud. I just need to figure out how to stick it in the uniform, although the magnets might do the trick just fine. It does remain to be seen though whether or not gluing rare earth magnets directly to the speaker will cause damage over time.

 

[Risu]

OK, I've hit a speed bump and it's been bugging me all day. Or at least the 2/3 of the day I wasn't drugged up with an IV in my arm. I didn't care about a whole lot except cookies for that portion of the day.

Anyway, so say you've got your button mounted on the perf board, or directly to the speaker, or whatever. Then you've got your magnets mounted on either side, and attached to the comm badge as well. The two halves are on either side of the uniform fabric. Here's the part I didn't even think about: How do you make the button work now? If the height of the button off of the perf board is more than the magnets, then they either won't stick or the force of the magnets will make the button press down all the time. If you give them more space, you won't be able to push the badge down at all because the magnets aren't squishy. I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Sulla]

Use the standard velcro method with the badge, and maybe even with the speaker assembly on the inside - no magnets. Or if your inner facing is wide enough, or if you have a lined TNG jacket you could sew a pocket to the facing/lining to hold the speaker assembly in place behind the badge?

 

[Sulla]

There is always tape...

 

[Kasss Gnarl]

Have the speaker side facing the badge and the button side facing you, so when you push the badge you are forcing the button to push against you to activate.

OK, I've hit a speed bump and it's been bugging me all day. Or at least the 2/3 of the day I wasn't drugged up with an IV in my arm. I didn't care about a whole lot except cookies for that portion of the day.

Anyway, so say you've got your button mounted on the perf board, or directly to the speaker, or whatever. Then you've got your magnets mounted on either side, and attached to the comm badge as well. The two halves are on either side of the uniform fabric. Here's the part I didn't even think about: How do you make the button work now? If the height of the button off of the perf board is more than the magnets, then they either won't stick or the force of the magnets will make the button press down all the time. If you give them more space, you won't be able to push the badge down at all because the magnets aren't squishy. I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Risu]

Have the speaker side facing the badge and the button side facing you, so when you push the badge you are forcing the button to push against you to activate.

Brilliant, with one small problem. It requires significantly more pressure to get the button to activate being pressed into the body instead of the hard plastic badge. A light tap would be completely out of the question. I could tape a piece of styrene to my chest, but that might be a bit of an overkill. I do like the idea of sewing the pocket to the liner mentioned above, then I could just tack the liner to the body at the seam a couple inches above and have a stitch free solution. Alternatively, I could also just sew the pocket into that seam and have it hang. I don't want to use velcro though, has to be magnets.

 

[Kasss Gnarl]

If you are wearing it whilst walking around at a con, the additional pressure might be benificial to prevent acidental activations? I have a similar sound module here that I use for my HAL9000, the buttons stick out a little more compared to the one used by TheDarkPope, but they are basically the same type and I can activate it against my chest without any problems.

If a lighter tap is more desirable, perhaps a couple of copper contacts bent apart and insulated might work in place of a push button?

 

[Risu]

That gets a bit out of my depth. I'm sure it could be done, but my one experience with that type of setup was a pretty outstanding failure.

The push button is glued to basically a 3 mm foamie piece, which saves it from wear and tear, I'm thinking if I glue the magnets to the same type of foam pieces and then those to the speaker, I might be able to press down on it just enough to activate the button. That is assuming my magnets are the exact height of the speaker's raised center + the depth of the indent on the badge. It might require that I be very careful whenever I remove the badge though to stop the glue between the speaker/foam or foam/magnets to debond. Will probably do a couple tests with different glue to find the best one for the job.

 

[TheDarkPope]

Can you provide a picture of what you currently have? I apparently have no ability to visualize what you've got going on Is the problem with how stiff the button is, or how it's mounted? Would a button with a lighter touch do the trick? Or maybe a thinner smaller magnet?

 

[Risu]

Sure thing. Here's a picture of the unit.

And here's a profile shot where I kind of drew in my idea.

The idea here is that the magnets will be raised up by the foamies on either side of the button, which is also on a foamie to protect it from too much pressure being applied. So when you push down on it, the magnets will depress first and then you'll hit the button.

 

[Risu]

OK, I got it to work. It's a little touchy, you have to depress it just right to make it chirp, but it works. Now the last thing I need to figure out is if I want to fold the circuit board up behind the speaker or let it hang down below it. Behind would make for just about a 3/8" bump right behind the comm badge, whereas hanging it down would make a 3/16" bump that extends down below and has various smaller bumps in the shape of batteries and a USB plug.

 

[TheDarkPope]

How about adding 2 feet of wire to both the button and speaker and then you could put the board and battery in your pocket - no bump in the shirt. I know you're not a fan of soldering, but it's really easy to splice the wire in. Just a few cuts, some twisting, and electrical tape.

 

[Risu]

That solves the bump, but doesn't do anything for the hitting the button issues. Also the chirp sound wouldn't sound like it's coming from the badge.

As it turns out, after the badge has been attached for a while, the foamies compress down to a point where the button no longer works. So that solution was a bust.

 

[TheDarkPope]

Also the chirp sound wouldn't sound like it's coming from the badge.

I don't see how it wouldn't. Your design has the button on the back of the speaker. That wouldn't change. The only thing you'd change is the length of wire to put the board somewhere else. Is the sound coming from the board and not the speaker? I must be confused.

As it turns out, after the badge has been attached for a while, the foamies compress down to a point where the button no longer works. So that solution was a bust.

I'm going to assume that the battery is still good and hasn't died before asking my question. Is the weight of the badge and faom activating the device by itself?

 

[Kasss Gnarl]

What if you try the foam on the badge side, rather than the speaker side? As in the foam between the magnets and the badge? Then the foam doesnt have to decompress against so much force/weight.

 

[Risu]

Oh, I misunderstood. Yes, that would solve the lump, and it is definitely an option.

Unfortunately, the pressure is the same regardless of which order I stack the magnets and foam. I'm going to bounce ideas off some people for a few days and come back to it.

 

[TheDarkPope]

This could be a button issue. There are butttons that when pressed just go up and down. There are other buttons that when pressed make a click sound. The clicky buttons are mechanically different inside and require more pressure (not tons) to depress which might solve your problem. Is your button a clicky or non-clicky one?