Plasma cannon control board
- Thread starter pelletta
- Start date
LunaticNic
Sr Member
Pelletta, YOU ARE AMAZING!!!!! PHENOMENAL WORK!!!
pelletta
Active Member
Some month ago I was working on this, but I had to take a break.
This is an incomplete preview of my cannon, it's hard to make a good model with only some pictures over the net as reference.
The worst part will be make it printable, finding a place for electronics and mechanisms.
I hope it will see the light
This is an incomplete preview of my cannon, it's hard to make a good model with only some pictures over the net as reference.
The worst part will be make it printable, finding a place for electronics and mechanisms.
I hope it will see the light
Grimaldus
New Member
Hey i don't know if you rember me i'm from Australia and i bought 1 of your awesome working wrist computer and loving it (^_^) and i've sent a heap of emails about this working shoulder cannon are they ready to purchase as i need it for my p1 and scarface predator anyway im looking forward to hear where its at and your work is awesome.
pelletta
Active Member
I'm really sorry but I have to give you the same answer: the cannon is not ready yet. I try to explain what happened.
The circuit that you can see on the previous video is working fine so I loaned it to a friend here in Italy for his Iron Patriot suit... he wasn't able to use it on his own and he shipped back it to me twice.
It never had a failure, I've never changed a single component but it gave me the opportunity to understand that the configuration process can be difficult (I was surprised - and shocked too -, there are only a button and 4 potentiometer...).
Now I'm developing a new, improved, circuit and this time the configuration process is no more present inside the circuit board. I'm learning android scripting language to make its application, in this way people can manage the configuration process using a smartphone. This means that I have more chances to add more features to the cannon but unfortunately time is never enough.
Few little words about the configuration process of the circuit board. Try to imagine what I have to keep on mind when I write the firmware. Some people already have a cannon on their suit and need only the electronic; maybe their mechanism requires 2, 3, or 4 servos (I can't know this) and I have to satisfy this situation. Another question, I don't know their mechanism, so I don't know how servos are connected to the cannon: imagine that you hold a servo on your hands, you see it turns from left to right but another person standing in front of you will see it rotate from right to left. If I don't consider this, it may happens that when you look to the right the cannon points to the left. There are many other situations like these, and I have to be sure that everything works perfectly.
I'm really glad that people give me a feedback and appreciate my work, that motivates me to work better.
Please tell me if the android app is welcome, and what you think about it
Grimaldus: I remember of you
The circuit that you can see on the previous video is working fine so I loaned it to a friend here in Italy for his Iron Patriot suit... he wasn't able to use it on his own and he shipped back it to me twice.
It never had a failure, I've never changed a single component but it gave me the opportunity to understand that the configuration process can be difficult (I was surprised - and shocked too -, there are only a button and 4 potentiometer...).
Now I'm developing a new, improved, circuit and this time the configuration process is no more present inside the circuit board. I'm learning android scripting language to make its application, in this way people can manage the configuration process using a smartphone. This means that I have more chances to add more features to the cannon but unfortunately time is never enough.
Few little words about the configuration process of the circuit board. Try to imagine what I have to keep on mind when I write the firmware. Some people already have a cannon on their suit and need only the electronic; maybe their mechanism requires 2, 3, or 4 servos (I can't know this) and I have to satisfy this situation. Another question, I don't know their mechanism, so I don't know how servos are connected to the cannon: imagine that you hold a servo on your hands, you see it turns from left to right but another person standing in front of you will see it rotate from right to left. If I don't consider this, it may happens that when you look to the right the cannon points to the left. There are many other situations like these, and I have to be sure that everything works perfectly.
I'm really glad that people give me a feedback and appreciate my work, that motivates me to work better.
Please tell me if the android app is welcome, and what you think about it
Grimaldus: I remember of you
Nimri
New Member
I'm really sorry but I have to give you the same answer: the cannon is not ready yet. I try to explain what happened.
The circuit that you can see on the previous video is working fine so I loaned it to a friend here in Italy for his Iron Patriot suit... he wasn't able to use it on his own and he shipped back it to me twice.
It never had a failure, I've never changed a single component but it gave me the opportunity to understand that the configuration process can be difficult (I was surprised - and shocked too -, there are only a button and 4 potentiometer...).
Now I'm developing a new, improved, circuit and this time the configuration process is no more present inside the circuit board. I'm learning android scripting language to make its application, in this way people can manage the configuration process using a smartphone. This means that I have more chances to add more features to the cannon but unfortunately time is never enough.
Few little words about the configuration process of the circuit board. Try to imagine what I have to keep on mind when I write the firmware. Some people already have a cannon on their suit and need only the electronic; maybe their mechanism requires 2, 3, or 4 servos (I can't know this) and I have to satisfy this situation. Another question, I don't know their mechanism, so I don't know how servos are connected to the cannon: imagine that you hold a servo on your hands, you see it turns from left to right but another person standing in front of you will see it rotate from right to left. If I don't consider this, it may happens that when you look to the right the cannon points to the left. There are many other situations like these, and I have to be sure that everything works perfectly.
I'm really glad that people give me a feedback and appreciate my work, that motivates me to work better.
Please tell me if the android app is welcome, and what you think about it
Grimaldus: I remember of you
Hey I was just reading this and I had been thinking of the same kind of thing the other day (Except I have absolutely no way of actually making this thing like you do) and I had been wondering about whether the cannon should follow your head or not but it seemed really complicated for that. The other option I thought of was to install the laser on the bio mask and have the cannon target where the laser is. I don't know if that's any easier and I don't even know if it could be done but in my opinion (if it's possible) it would be pretty cool to try that out. Then it would be even more movie accurate because the cannon would (theoretically) shoot where the laser is. Ya nadeyoos chto eta budet pomogat no ya prosta nye znayoo ochen mnogo ob etom
Nimri
New Member
It's possible for sure (I already did it) but it's not affordable... recognize 3 small laser dots in a video capture... in realtime... in a portable system.
We are predators, we don't have an Arc reactor in our chest to power a system like that
Ah ok that makes sense...what about one laser dot? I mean it wouldn't be movie accurate but i was just wondering
PredatoRay31
New Member
Really cool project and great work. I might add some advice to make things simpler. I had some recent success using an Arduino Uno ($30), 2 servos ($10 each), and an MPU6050 module ($10 - 3 axis gyro and accelerometer). Using 2 additional libraries you can add to Arduino's library file, they are "MPU6050" and "I2Cdev" and you can get a pretty stable head tracking set up. I too had drift issues with an earlier build.
The only issue I have found using this new set up is walking around will make it drift as the MPU6050 gyro locks on a center point when first activated. So in my Arduino code I created a way that looks to see if you are walking around using the accelerometers and puts it into a forward mode until it becomes stable, then quickly resets the MPU6050 and you have head tracking again. The rotational Z axis has always been the issue when tackling this.
I also added to my code that when a button is pressed, an LED's intensity is increased up over a few milliseconds (to simulate powering up of the laser cannon), quickly fires a laser pointer, then fades out (energy dissipated). All this is powered by those cheap rechargeable phone charging banks, with 4k mah you should easily get 2+ hours.
As soon as I get a video on youtube....I will post it here.
When I get the Arduino code on my thumbdrive, I will also post it here.
Finally,
For all you DIY electronics makers, there is a free software called expressSCH which comes with expressPCB. ExpressSCH allows you to create and print circuitry schematics with common parts (LEDs, Resistors, Diodes, ICs like j/k flip flops and more). ExpressPCB allows you to create a 3 layer Circuit card using common pad and through hole sizes and layouts (you can buy the pro version to make like 12 layer boards).....but wait, there's more. There is a tool that will estimate the cost to make the board and you can buy it from them, with a minimum of 3 CCAs per order. But they are cheap.
The only issue I have found using this new set up is walking around will make it drift as the MPU6050 gyro locks on a center point when first activated. So in my Arduino code I created a way that looks to see if you are walking around using the accelerometers and puts it into a forward mode until it becomes stable, then quickly resets the MPU6050 and you have head tracking again. The rotational Z axis has always been the issue when tackling this.
I also added to my code that when a button is pressed, an LED's intensity is increased up over a few milliseconds (to simulate powering up of the laser cannon), quickly fires a laser pointer, then fades out (energy dissipated). All this is powered by those cheap rechargeable phone charging banks, with 4k mah you should easily get 2+ hours.
As soon as I get a video on youtube....I will post it here.
When I get the Arduino code on my thumbdrive, I will also post it here.
Finally,
For all you DIY electronics makers, there is a free software called expressSCH which comes with expressPCB. ExpressSCH allows you to create and print circuitry schematics with common parts (LEDs, Resistors, Diodes, ICs like j/k flip flops and more). ExpressPCB allows you to create a 3 layer Circuit card using common pad and through hole sizes and layouts (you can buy the pro version to make like 12 layer boards).....but wait, there's more. There is a tool that will estimate the cost to make the board and you can buy it from them, with a minimum of 3 CCAs per order. But they are cheap.
PredatoRay31
New Member
I created a new thread since my idea varies from this original concept, go here:
Bare bones head tracking shoulder cannon circuitry.
This is still an awesome thread with great information.
Bare bones head tracking shoulder cannon circuitry.
This is still an awesome thread with great information.
bpatneaude
Active Member
I know I haven't talked to you in a while but simply stunning progress brutha!! this is amazing work, I'm ready whenever you are shut up and take my $$$!!!!
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