Star Trek - Lost Era (Enterprise B) Tricorder

[Iskelderon]

We never got to see one in the movie and since I've always had a fascination with this unexplored era between Kirk's movies and TNG I'm designing my own one, based on an old 70s era walkie talkie.
The idea is to have something that bridges the gap between the mostly simplistic greebled movie tricorders Kirk's crew carried during the later movies and TNG's button & LED heavy tricorders with a sprinkle of some of Rick Sternbach's initial concept sketches before he progressed to the clamshell design we're all familiar with.
I've also attached some of the references I'm working from to show where this is heading.

 

[Iskelderon]

Top LED segment:

That cutout at the back is currently intended for a Grove LED module (Grove - LED Bar - Seeed Wiki), though I'm not completely sold on that yet since five bucks seems like a lot for something that simple.

 

[13doctorwho]

I've thought about doing that concept tricorder very recently... very jealous that you're doing it!! Look forward to seeing what you come up with!!!

 

[Iskelderon]

I've thought about doing that concept tricorder very recently... very jealous that you're doing it!! Look forward to seeing what you come up with!!!

Thanks!
Well, my version is so far removed that you'd still create something distinct by doing something like the concept that's closer to TNG. Why not add it to your project list and in essence fill the gap between my tricorder and the one we know from TNG?

Parts split, still need to add the "towers" inside to mount the magnets that will hold the halves together.

 

[peter1701]

This is great

 

[Iskelderon]

This is great

Thanks!

 

[yelahttam]

Can't wait to see this finished! - mh

 

[Iskelderon]

Thanks!

Towers to mount the magnets are modeled, now I just need to get my filament printer to work again so I can get to the fun part with the electronics.

[Update]The printer seemed to be in a friendly mood, now it's only a matter of time.[/Update]

 

[Iskelderon]

First print turned out too thin and the fibers in the front/back surfaces didn't fully fuse.
Not sure if it's because I'm not used to working with PETG filament (Ender 3, printed at 230/70°C) or if it's a settings thing.

 

[PHArchivist]

Amazingly fun project!

 

[Iskelderon]

Thanks!
Now comes the worrisome part, I have to get versed in the electronics (Arduino Nano with LiPo battery and sound board).
My recent request for advice didn't net even a single reply: Recommendations for sound board with gapless loop?

 

[Iskelderon]

Had to rework the Shell to fit my new choice in components (preliminary list):
-18500 battery module (takes care of voltage regulation, charging and 5V and 3.3V output
-Arduino Nano
-DFPlayer for audio playback
-passive speaker
-magnets (3x1 round) to hold the shell together
-5V LED strip to provide backlights for the display
-white LEDs to blink/pulse

Any advice or alternative recommendations?

 

[Iskelderon]

Second PETG prototype at 240/80 came out clean, but the idiot that I am, I removed it right after the print instead of letting it cool down, deforming some of the edges. Here's to the third 20 hour print ...

Also used the opportunity to add a ridge that will reduce the amount of light leaking between the two halves.

 

[Iskelderon]

I'm currently running into various problems printing the shell, so that will probably take some time to work out.
Either the material clogs up in the PTFE tube behind the nozzle (printing PETG at 245/70) or the edges of the print curl up from the print bed, making the parts unusable. I'm using an Ender 3 with upgraded electronics, if that makes a difference.

My original route for the electronics was to use a DFPlayer, but for some reason the damn things refuse to communicate via serial interface (yes, I even did the 1k Ohm stepdown trick, so the 5V Arduino Nano's commands won't fry the 3.3V player), so I've switched to a JQ6500-16p sound board instead.

I'm sure that's totally laughable, compared to the advanced things MangyDog does with his Voyager tricorder, but a guy has to start somewhere.

 

[MangyDog]

Personally... id stay away from PETG for stuff like this. Its very resistant to chemicals and solvents which means paint would only go onto the surface and wont bond. Also PETG doesn't sand that well... for this kind of thing ABS is best. But is really tricky to print and design for. ESP without an enclosure and you have to try and take into account possible shrinkage.

PLA while mostly chemical resistant actually does go slightly soft with solvents and so bonds well with paints. But has the problem of self warping at 40c. IE in a hot car.

Also looking at the print preview, Id say flip them over. So you don't have to deal with any internal supports

 

[MangyDog]

Though if you REALLY want to do PETG... you got to go slow...

40mmps max

 

[Iskelderon]

Thanks!
I've flipped the shell in the latest revision to reduce the amount of support to achieve just that. On the "flat" side there's a thin outer ridge, but still a lot less hassle.
Right now I'm printing a test in PLA to see if that works better. Twisted minds think alike and all that ...

 

[Iskelderon]

BTW: If things work out, this won't be the only tricorder I'm making.
Years ago, Michael Schuster designed a Tricorder for his Constellation class (like Picard's old Stargazer) technical manual project.

 

[yelahttam]

Can't wait to see them both! - mh

 

[Iskelderon]

Thanks!

In case anyone else wants to build something similar, I'm sharing the details.
Preview of the functionality so far:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
#include <JQ6500_Serial.h>
#include <Grove_LED_Bar.h>

// Arduino Pin 8 is connected to TX of the JQ6500
// Arduino Pin 9 is connected to one end of a 1k resistor, which in turn is connected to RX of the JQ6500 to reduce 5V to 3.3V signal levels
SoftwareSerial mySerial(8, 9);
JQ6500_Serial mp3(mySerial);

//Grove_LED_Bar bar(6, 7, 0);
Grove_LED_Bar bar(7, 6, 0); // Clock pin, Data pin, Orientation

void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
mySerial.begin(9600);
mp3.reset();
mp3.setVolume(30);
mp3.setLoopMode(MP3_LOOP_ALL);
mp3.play();

bar.begin();
}

void loop() {
bar.setBits(random(1024));
delay(random(10,50));
}

Nothing fancy for the sounds, just "TNG Tricorder 1" from Trekcore, though with the silence at start and end stipped out using Audacity and its "Truncate Silence" filter.

[Update]Turns out, my hotend just croaked and the new one won't arrive until around the 21st.[/Update]