Wrist blade mechanism using an old CD-ROM mechanism

[predator666]

Look's pretty damn cool mate, well done

 

[Elkman]

Thanks for all the comments. As far as the power supply goes, the motor is a 12 volt motor, like other computer components that require a 12 volt supply. I'm using a rechargeable battery that I got from Batteries Plus. I'll probably connect into that for any other electronic work that I do with the costume, like the left gauntlet or the active camouflage netting.

 

[Ancient One]

Great work!!!, Great job in the design of the Gauntlet housing and base.

 

[punhulk]

thats pretty sweet

 

[Ei luj]

Elkman,

I love it, good job

I had been pondering how to do this beyond a spring and fishingline method, and your thread provides the elegant solution

I tossed my workroom for old CDROMs and pulled a couple dead ones apart... there are differences between 'em, that's for sure!

I put the motors on my bench supply and found they will run on 5v and take less than .1A

Now in addition to the main motor and tracks I've got a bunch of goodies, tiny limit switches, little 4 pin connectors, audio jacks, gears of all kinds; wahooo, this thread is an inspiration, many thanks!
---
Ei'luj

 

[Elkman]

[quote name='ei'luj' post='198658' date='Apr 8 2010, 12:51 PM']Elkman,

I love it, good job

I had been pondering how to do this beyond a spring and fishingline method, and your thread provides the elegant solution

I tossed my workroom for old CDROMs and pulled a couple dead ones apart... there are differences between 'em, that's for sure!

I put the motors on my bench supply and found they will run on 5v and take less than .1A

Now in addition to the main motor and tracks I've got a bunch of goodies, tiny limit switches, little 4 pin connectors, audio jacks, gears of all kinds; wahooo, this thread is an inspiration, many thanks!
---
Ei'luj[/quote]

I couldn't get my motors to run at 5 volts -- I had to run them at 12 volts. I'm not sure why I can't get them to run at 5 volts, unless my power supply is wonky.

I'm glad I gave you the inspiration. Part of the fun of building costumes like this is coming up with new and interesting engineering solutions. (And, of course, it's always a lot of fun to take old electronics apart. )

 

[RedBaron]

wow thats really cool man, great idea and final product.

 

[Uhlakk]

Awesome work and very good idea!


Thanks

 

[Ei luj]

I couldn't get my motors to run at 5 volts -- I had to run them at 12 volts. I'm not sure why I can't get them to run at 5 volts, unless my power supply is wonky.

I'm glad I gave you the inspiration. Part of the fun of building costumes like this is coming up with new and interesting engineering solutions. (And, of course, it's always a lot of fun to take old electronics apart. )

How old were those CDROMs; I wonder if older ones run the motors on 12v and the newer ones run on 5v...
or if the issue they had was the motor itself?

now you got me to thinking

(goes back to tinkering, see what you started? j/k )

---
Ei'luj

 

[munson]

Awesome idea! It looks very good too!

Thanks!

 

[ExtraBread]

When I make my gauntlets I'm using this! Great idea. =D

 

[Roydraven]

wow that is so awesome thanks for sharing mate I love to see people on here use regular inventions to improve suits and this is da best for a blade mechanism XD

 

[MProjects]

thats genious dude well done!

 

[Elkman]

I just realized I never answered the question about why the motors wouldn't run at 5 volts. It turns out that my power supply was on the fritz, and instead of delivering 5 volts, it wasn't delivering anything at all on that output. It is delivering 12 volts, though.

I did some more experimentation and found that they'll work on a 9 volt battery. I'm using a 9 volt lithium battery, instead of a standard alkaline battery, in hopes it'll put out more juice. I also experimented with one of those 12 volt A23 size batteries, like the ones that are used in car alarm key fobs, but that didn't put out enough current.

By the way, my friend Paul gave me several more dead CD and DVD drives, so I could potentially build more of these for other hunters if my time permits.

 

[Ei luj]

I just realized I never answered the question about why the motors wouldn't run at 5 volts. It turns out that my power supply was on the fritz, and instead of delivering 5 volts, it wasn't delivering anything at all on that output. It is delivering 12 volts, though.

I did some more experimentation and found that they'll work on a 9 volt battery. I'm using a 9 volt lithium battery, instead of a standard alkaline battery, in hopes it'll put out more juice. I also experimented with one of those 12 volt A23 size batteries, like the ones that are used in car alarm key fobs, but that didn't put out enough current.

By the way, my friend Paul gave me several more dead CD and DVD drives, so I could potentially build more of these for other hunters if my time permits.

Elkman,

Thanks for the update

9v battery is the simple solution.

Using 5v means adding more parts, and more batteries since they'd be 1.5v....

Yes, the lithium battery will last longer than the alkaline 9v and the A23 12v one.



Here's a nice Wikipedia on batteries, theres tables of the various sizes, voltages, and currents:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-volt_battery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_%28electricity%29

---
Ei'luj

 

[newpred]

oh man i just remembered. Iwork in the carpenters shop at caesars palace and we have literally tons of scrap plexi glass long enough to make hundreds of blades and a band saw and sander and a buffer. *evil grin*

 

[drewscott5]

very cool, the finished project should be amazing

 

[darkblade1]

Wow, that looks amazing. That's nice work, how did you construct the gauntlet? It has a lot of detail and looks incredible.

 

[Elkman]

Wow, that looks amazing. That's nice work, how did you construct the gauntlet? It has a lot of detail and looks incredible.

I sculpted the gauntlet and the top housing out of oil-based clay, then made molds of them with Smooth-On's Oomoo 30 silicone. Then, I did the casting with Smooth-On's Smooth-Cast 300. I've used that combination for other projects, and it's worked well.

I probably could have saved some silicone by using their brush-on product, Rebound 25, for the wrist gauntlet (the curved part that goes around my forearm). The Oomoo 30 is a pourable silicone that goes into a mold box, whereas the Rebound 25 is brushed on in several layers and then reinforced with a hard plastic mother mold. But I'm digressing here.

 

[behindthecamera]

hey can you put a video on to show its realism in more detail please





[/size]If you so much as strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine