PipBoy 3000 Mk IV from Fallout 4 (mid-grade)

[bbroerman]

Not much functionality is needed. A holotape mechanism would be nice to have, also that USB screw-in thing from zap's design.
Functionality-wise I only want some LEDs, working radio dial, and hopefully a small powerbank somewhere in there.
Generally I just want that pipboy to feel "mechanic", so you can rotate a knob and it'll feel like a knob that does something.

ok

Well, I'm re-working the holotape mechanism, since I found that the push-to-eject portion I just finished doesn't fit in with the tape deck lock/eject I did months ago, so that's going to be a couple weeks, and then I'll try to scale it down to a 100% model.

I started looking at the radio dial from the 115% on the 100% and as i said before, I'm going to have to re-work it to make the gears fit in the smaller space, and yet keep the 2mm pins and the M1.6 screws since there are only so many sizes of that hardware available. That'll be a few weeks of work too.

I think the take-up reel has a smaller space to work with too. I'm not sure just yet. Once I get that working on the 115% I'll see if I can scale it down. Now, with that one, talking to zapwizard, it's going to take heating the coil spring with a torch to be able to soften the metal and bend it. I'm also kind of concerned with how much space there is in the cavity for the USB cable, so that one may need to get thinner cable, not sure yet.

The other knobs and LEDs will be fairly easy. If you're wanting a battery pack, you may want to get a small LiPo battery from amazon, and then get the Adafruit charger and "push-button power switch beakout" from Amazon of DigiKey as well, and then use the same lighted pushbutton power switch (Mouser and DigiKey have it).

 

[bbroerman]

Was finally able to get both the tape door eject and the tape push-to-eject parts all working together at the same time... I just have so sand the parts so they operate smoothly, and then paint the new body piece.

 

[BlackyCatto]

Hi, me again. Can you please re-organize your gdrive folder a bit? So all the older files used for 100% phone project are in a subfolder.
It's quite hard to navigate, especially considering that there are no build instructions or anything like that.

Well, I'm re-working the holotape mechanism, since I found that the push-to-eject portion I just finished doesn't fit in with the tape deck lock/eject I did months ago, so that's going to be a couple weeks, and then I'll try to scale it down to a 100% model.

 

[bbroerman]

So, that's still a work in progress too. I did some re-organizing tonight, hopefully I didn't forget any needed files. I'm still deep into trying to get these pieces working and done, as well as try to get a 100% designed so I can start printing and testing it. Good thing is, I got the stepper motor for the rad gauge today, so I'm working on those parts in-between painting the ones for the holotape deck. It'll probably be a few weeks until I move into the accessory plug and take-up reel, and probably a month or 2 after that for the foam padding. I have some ideas.

I'll try to make some instructions over the next several weeks, starting with YTECs instructions, and adding in my changes. I also need to put together a list of printed parts, indicating which are YTEC's files and which are my changes.

In the google drive, I have 2 root folders. One is YTECs original files, and the other has all of my changes. I've tried to keep the names the same for direct replacement parts, so it'll be easier to know which of his original ones aren't needed, depending on what you're wanting. Under my files, I have the main stuff in that directory, and then each sub-assembly in it's own folder. (for the most part)

 

[orntar]

bbroerman, good on you for posting a project, being willing to help with materials, electronics AND posting your 3d files. I love that kind of stuff!

And I find it a bit rude to ask the creator to clean up his freely available files.

 

[bbroerman]

It's OK. I knew the drive was in need or organizing, but hadn't had a chance to get to it yet... I'm working on it, as well as working on writing up some additional documentation. For now, though YTECs website is a good starting point.

 

[bbroerman]

Ok, first rough cut of a text only instructions is out there on the drive... I am going to throw that into word, do a bunch of formatting, add as many pictures as I can, and then export it as a PDF and upload that when it's done. It's really rough, but I'll get it done Constructive feedback, as always, is a gift. Again (and I know I keep saying this), Read YTECs instructions first, then mine... and look at all of the Meshmixer .mix files. That's where I put together the assemblies and check how they fit, and they will show how everything goes together.

 

[bbroerman]

First rough draft of the PDF version of the build instructions... As I finish building the tape deck, rad gauge, take-up reel, and padding, I'll add more instructions and pictures. Please let me know if I left anything out, or if something's not clear, and I'll fix it.

PipBoy 3000 Build Instructions.pdf

drive.google.com

 

[bbroerman]

I will be adding to the Arduino code in a couple weeks, to add the radio dial input and station selection, the rad gauge, as well as the low battery alert and the "adapter inserted" sound and movie. When I get the code *all* done, I'll do a write-up on it, and a technical overview. To be continued...

 

[bbroerman]

Rad Gauge module done (with the 15mm 20-step stepper motor) and ready to insert into the PipBoy. For the reset (if power is lost when the needle is not at zero) what I think I am going to do is have a software reset option. Navigate to a specific sub-menu, hold down the select button, and turn the scroll wheel to zero... At least until I can get a SimCo MAC.

 

[bbroerman]

Well, got the radio station code working, and the Rad gauge code... only to find I broke one of the wires inside the stepper (so I'm testing on a tiny one I had). I ordered new (slightly smaller 10mm diameter) steppers. They should be here by the 18th. It looked great while it worked though!

In the mean-time, I was working on getting the stepper motor control code into a separate thread (and on the other core) and trying to figure out why I was getting random crashes (with no debug info). I got that working now too. I think I'm going to break out all of the sound requests into another thread as well, so the delays between setting the GPIO pins low and then back high don't slow down the overall loop. Who knows, I may break out the MJPEG loop into another thread (with notifications from the main thread) and only have the main state machine and reading of controls in the main thread... Have 1 thread for just pumping out that video stream, and everything else on another core...

I also tested several different tinting films, and they were all too dark, even the 50% transmissive one. At 50% I could see the different (slightly) between the screen and the black tape around it, so I don't want to go much lighter... Maybe a film that just lets green pass through and blocks the rest??

Oh, I will be adding a pair of holes on either side of the "Phone screen body 2" for the Tape Deck release. Running both sets of rubber bands to the same posts isn't working. The rubber bands to the front pivot keep breaking. I imagine it's from rubbing up against the other parts of the print, or maybe the threads of the screws on that bar. I don't know yet... But I'll have to take it apart again to figure it out. It also wasn't getting enough tension with the tracks up higher than the old ones. The rubber bands kind of run funny over and around that... So, a direct run to a screw in the front under the rails (close to YTECs original ones) may do better...

 

[bbroerman]

Hi, me again. Can you please re-organize your gdrive folder a bit? So all the older files used for 100% phone project are in a subfolder.
It's quite hard to navigate, especially considering that there are no build instructions or anything like that.

Have you looked at it recently? It should be much better now.

 

[bbroerman]

Replaced the Rad Gauge motor with a smaller one (8mm) and had to have my son who professionally solders micro electronics hook up the wiring harness... Now I'm thinking of changing the stepper library to do half-steps or even micro stepping to smooth it out, while I also experiment with the low battery alarm.

 

[bbroerman]

Got the code working with half-steps and quarter-steps, making this 18 degree per step motor work at 9 and 4.5 degrees per step (i.e. 40 or 80 steps per rotation instead of the default 20). That makes the rad gauge animation a lot smoother, almost like using an air-core! Still using the SparkFun I2C motor controller too.

I also normalized the volume for the low rads and high rads "ticks" so they sound about the same, and increased the volume on some of the other sound effects. Not a whole lot you can do with a 2w amp. I'm still looking at replacing the AdaFruit AudioFX board with an ESP32-S3 QTpi and an I2S amp, and then triggering it over I2C.

 

[bbroerman]

ok, so here are the low and high rad animations...

 

[bbroerman]

ok, so here are the low and high rad animations...

Just so you know, this is with the half-stepping, not the quarter stepping. I figured these were probably good enough.

 

[bbroerman]

Have the SparkFun optoisolator, and diode, to connect up the USB cable from the accessory plug, and from the low battery output of the PowerBoost 1000c lipo charger to the 3.3v GPIO of the main unit. Just have to connect it all up. The low battery, when it goes LOW will trigger the light on the top of the Pip-Boy to flash 1Hz, and will trigger the in-game sound you hear when running power armor without a fusion code. We thought that was the best sound for that.... The accessory plug, when connected to a USB port will not only charge the battery, but will trigger the screen you get when connecting the Pip-Boy to a vault door. Already have those coded, and the media on the card.

After that comes the spring for the take-up reel, and then the foam padding for the inside.

 

[bbroerman]

Added the waterslide decals to the front. I need to find some touch-up paint for the brown that matches, then some brush-on clear coat sealer.

 

[bbroerman]

Got the first round of inner padding moulded. I may make them thicker, but the same inner diameter, or I may make them tapered so that there is more padding at the wrist than in the back. Not sure yet... These will have brown faux suede glued to the front, and velcro in the back to affix it to the PipBoy.

 

[bbroerman]

Still trying to figure out what I want to do with the return spring on the take-up reel... I don't really want to try and wind my own like zapwizard did. I'm thinking of having one made. Not sure what the specs are, though, other than the thickness and outer diameter need to be constrained to.

In the mean-time, I did a couple fun things for the kids: Grignacc the Barbarian's axe from Fallout, and Gorehowl's battle axe from World of Warcraft. I'm also working on an 1800's pocket watch styled smart watch, using the CrowPanel ESP32 1.28" round display, with a 5000mAh battery, and an inductive charging system.