Tricorder Mk VI - Light & Sound, Mega-Mini Kit Disassembly and build

[Oracle]

Hi everyone,

Well, after having a thought about what it would take to myself one of those super neat TR-595E tricorders that are on therpf, I realised that it was unfortunately with my health being the way it is, something I currently don't have the time, stamina, or resources for, in order to do it properly.

So, after feeling a bit down, I left the idea and thought that was that. Then I had a thought about the little miniature light and sound tricorder I got as a gift a few years ago and wondered... What would it take to pull one of those apart, and use those parts to do something half decent looking on the quick and cheap.

That's what this thread is about. I didn't find a single reference to pulling one of these apart online anywhere, and I hope it is useful to anyone who has wondered what these internals are like.

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Step one was getting my hands on them (thankfully they are still cheap and readily available).

Now I got to say, if you don't have a TNG era tricorder, and don't want to spend more than $20 they really are a very well done addition to a display or for a cosplay as long as the size issue isn't a problem for you (they are smaller at only 3/4 original size).

Surprisingly on disassembly, the thing is much better built than I expected it to be and in a lot of ways for such a cheap toy, Running Press did a good job on this for resembling the tricorder we see in Series 1 of TNG.

Of particular note is that they use a magnetic switch of sorts for proper activation on opening and lights are bright and sounds are very loud for the small size.

Internally, you can see that they are using transparency in order to replicate the appearance of a screen and the colored LEDs.

It interesting was how they did the clicking motor sound, when the tricorder opens. It's a tiny piece of plastic held down by a screw, that clanks on a gear where the left hinge is and uses the internal bottom cavity as an echo chamber to get that noise when opening and closing the unit. Given the only other tricorder I have is the old 90s Playmates toy which doesn't do this at all, I thought it was an ingenious solution to making the sound effect!

Getting that bottom plate off, was particularly difficult. They are a lot of support posts (not sure most are needed honestly) in the interior cavity that made prying that plate off very tricky and a slow process so as to not damage the pieces.

Now of note, here is a size comparison to another tricorder (albeit mine's not quite complete) that may be familiar to any Voyager fans:

Well I hope that disassembly might be useful for any of you have decide to take a walk down some cheap kitbashing tricorder stuff. My next post below will get into that, and my thoughts on what I might do with this.

 

[Oracle]

Ok so I didn't want to clog up the first post in this thread with what I intend to do with the parts of the tricorder Mega-mini kit as not everyone might be interested in that.

Well, that last picture which was of the Mark VI Mini, next to my Mark XV Relativity Tricorder got me thinking about what I could do with the parts and I realised that there was one special project to me that honestly could use the parts to a good result given the size.

Back when I was about 13 or so, when Voyager was having it's initial run on TV, I decided to create a static tricorder prop that would use found scrape pieces from around the house, like popsicle sticks and an old door remote control.

In my concept design (ironically I called mine a Mark XV... Relativity hadn't been filmed even yet when I did this concept), it was meant to be from about the year 2400, and a further evolution of the Mark X from my alternate head-canon. That piece went on to be used as a prop in a short film I made a few years later during high school.

I still kept it, though it's clearly seen better days as the decals and tape are starting to deteriorate. But I thought it would be grand to take the components of the Mini kit and somehow use them to make a version of my old prop.

I guess at this point I am wondering how best to do it. Unfortunately I don't have easy access to a 3d printer, though I can 3d model proficiently in Blender I have also never done any 3d print work, but I was wondering if I might just modify the shell of the Mark VI to roughly resemble the shape.

My biggest issue is the electronics. As the mini kit has no running scanner lights, that's the first thing I need to tackle. I've been looking at youtube but struggling to find anything that seems quite right.

The other issue is the power. Button batteries suck! As it is, the tricorder I managed to purchase (being made in 2017) the batteries had just started to corrode and luckily I was able to get them out in time before they did any significant damage. They were using 3xLR44 which would put it at 4.5 volts. Now electronics aren't my fortay but I was hoping to replace the cells with something rechargeable.

Does anyone have advice on how best to do rechargeable batteries in a thing like this? I'd be so very appreciative of any suggestions at all.

I did see some people now doing wireless charging for prop replicas but I wouldn't have a clue how that even works or how much space that would need, or if I could fit that into the bottom compartment and run the power up somehow like they did in TNG for the tricorders using metallic hinges.

Anyhow cheers everyone.

 

[13doctorwho]

Most rechargeable batteries are 3.6V. You can use a boost converter to step it up to five volts. Both are easy to find on the Adafruit website. I bought a small rechargeable battery for a project I'm working on. I need 3.3V so I created a charge protection/regulation circuit I need to test. A lot of Adafruit stuff is available on Amazon too.

 

[Oracle]

Most rechargeable batteries are 3.6V. You can use a boost converter to step it up to five volts. Both are easy to find on the Adafruit website. I bought a small rechargeable battery for a project I'm working on. I need 3.3V so I created a charge protection/regulation circuit I need to test. A lot of Adafruit stuff is available on Amazon too.

Oh 13doctorwho THANKS so much for your feedback! This was just perfect and I found your post at exactly the time I needed it today. I super appreciate you taking the time to reply

I had spent some time thinking after my posting here, pondering the battery situation and was wondering just if there was something to take a slim lithium lipo so I could use it for the power. So you posting answered that beautifully.

I tried to have a look at the Adafruit site for Power boosters and they seem to have quite a variety. I guess I need to look carefully at what they do to try to narrow down what might work best. If I recall, something vague I saw on a youtube vid said with LEDs it's not just the voltage but the amount of current running through that can be the big factor in if they light up properly?

I also still am trying to find something simple for some running scanner lights in the head unit. Tutorials thus far online I've found all seem to be for the KITT scanner running lights in loads of tutorials and struggling to find a tricorder sequence pattern (you know the exact type I mean, inside to out) so the search goes on. Pity I can't just hijack and piggyback onto the preexisting LEDS cause they would flash in the right sequence in time with the ALPHA, BETA, GAMMA, DELTA, but as they are surface mounted I think that isn't possible is it?