Sliders Timer WIP

CJ2319 · May 31, 2017

ElectroDFW said:
I'd love to see a PCB with parts offered. I live for parts assembly. (I also tolerate design, but abhor programming )

Regards,
ElectroDFW

I'll offer an assembled board if anyone is interested in my version, but I don't feel like writing up instructions for which parts go where or other important assembly information.

brevik · Jun 3, 2017

After starting to design the Egyptian Timer I have realized that the Arduino will probably not easily fit the enclosure and board space as long as I use the grayhill keypad as a functioning item.

So now I've started down your path of design, basically. I've hacked apart the atmega32u4 open source schematic a bit and found a couple of hang-ups while doing it. I'm starting to get encouraged to probably just use the atmega328 MCU for the Egyptian timer due to how easy it is to just take an existing Eagle library and put it into a board design and the fact that the Egyptian timer is quite a bit simpler than the Original Timer.

Do you use a USB setup on your board, or do you have to use a separate serial connection unit? Any interest in sharing some finer details of your atmega328 setup?

On another note, I've finally done it, I got a hot air rework station. I can even imagine having the hand solder those surface mount pieces with an iron again. You mentioned earlier that you had made your own oven and I'll probably get around to doing that someday too, but I've always prefered to use a hand tool to solder with even if it's a bigger hassle than it has to be (but I concede, pin by pin on SMT with an iron really sucks).
Printed boards should be here today and the soldering station will be here tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll have some new media to share by the end of this weekend. Also, in the meantime, if I make any progress with that atmega32u4 schematic/libraries/board I'll post it here.

CJ2319 · Jun 3, 2017

brevik said:
After starting to design the Egyptian Timer I have realized that the Arduino will probably not easily fit the enclosure and board space as long as I use the grayhill keypad as a functioning item.

So now I've started down your path of design, basically. I've hacked apart the atmega32u4 open source schematic a bit and found a couple of hang-ups while doing it. I'm starting to get encouraged to probably just use the atmega328 MCU for the Egyptian timer due to how easy it is to just take an existing Eagle library and put it into a board design and the fact that the Egyptian timer is quite a bit simpler than the Original Timer.

Do you use a USB setup on your board, or do you have to use a separate serial connection unit? Any interest in sharing some finer details of your atmega328 setup?

On another note, I've finally done it, I got a hot air rework station. I can even imagine having the hand solder those surface mount pieces with an iron again. You mentioned earlier that you had made your own oven and I'll probably get around to doing that someday too, but I've always prefered to use a hand tool to solder with even if it's a bigger hassle than it has to be (but I concede, pin by pin on SMT with an iron really sucks).
Printed boards should be here today and the soldering station will be here tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll have some new media to share by the end of this weekend. Also, in the meantime, if I make any progress with that atmega32u4 schematic/libraries/board I'll post it here.

Before I used the atmega328 surface mount chip, I was using the DIP version. It works the same but the surface mount version is just much, much smaller. You will need to wire in the appropriate capacitors and the resonator to the right pins. Check out the arduino on breadboard page for info on that (if you don't already know that stuff). https://www.arduino.cc/en/main/standalone

One of the more annoying parts of using controllers without the arduino board is having to burn the bootloader. Chips usually come without the bootloader, even when they say it's included. You will want a chip socket to help you program the chips. I use this one:http://www.ebay.com/itm/281803147211

I use an FTDI232 chip to program the atmega, either in the socket or on the board. You probably want to build in the 6-pin connection into your board for in-place programming. That way you can update the code, if necessary.

I haven't used a stencil so the reflow oven still takes a long time to use with applying solder paste, placing the components, doing the reflow, and then fixing any issues with an iron or hot air rework. Hot air rework may work better, though that can be challenging holding the air gun and placing the components. See how it goes...

I was thinking of adapting my stuff to the Egyptian timer but there's other stuff I'd rather work on after this. Maybe I can get one of yours when you finish it.

brevik · Jun 3, 2017

CJ2319 said:
Before I used the atmega328 surface mount chip, I was using the DIP version. It works the same but the surface mount version is just much, much smaller. You will need to wire in the appropriate capacitors and the resonator to the right pins. Check out the arduino on breadboard page for info on that (if you don't already know that stuff). https://www.arduino.cc/en/main/standalone

One of the more annoying parts of using controllers without the arduino board is having to burn the bootloader. Chips usually come without the bootloader, even when they say it's included. You will want a chip socket to help you program the chips. I use this one:http://www.ebay.com/itm/281803147211

I use an FTDI232 chip to program the atmega, either in the socket or on the board. You probably want to build in the 6-pin connection into your board for in-place programming. That way you can update the code, if necessary.

I haven't used a stencil so the reflow oven still takes a long time to use with applying solder paste, placing the components, doing the reflow, and then fixing any issues with an iron or hot air rework. Hot air rework may work better, though that can be challenging holding the air gun and placing the components. See how it goes...

I was thinking of adapting my stuff to the Egyptian timer but there's other stuff I'd rather work on after this. Maybe I can get one of yours when you finish it.

I'll be making the Egyptian and Exodus/Jensen timer circuitry at the same time since they have the same functions and similar peripherals. The Egyptian timer is just easier to do at first since its nearly all right angles. That Jensen timer though, its got a really funky enclosure with that sega controller. I'll probably just run the sega controller board through a copier/scanner and use that to make the board dimensions.

That bootloader stuff is what I was hoping to avoid, since as you said: they say that they have it already burned onto the chip, but its really not. I doubt that I could convey easy-to-follow instructions on how to do that though a simple guide. So the Egyptian/Jensen timers might have to be excluded from my goal of having a quick and easy timer build guide. I'll post it all online regardless of it being easy to follow though.
I actually have the serial connection for the Arduino laid out in the original timer PCB, even though the USB can just be used with the Arduino IDE much easier. I've ended up bricking the Arduino a couple of times before, so I always want to make sure that I can do a hard reset. My only issue with the serial programming method is that I would need to integrate the FTDI chip and setup directly onto the PCB because I really want it be as self contained as possible.

I probably will end up using the atmega32u4 that has USB support already, because as I was typing this up, I went wondering around and realized that sparkfun.com has their own atmega32u4 board version and they have much better library and board support than I was able to find on Adafruit. So with that, I'm going to try to transfer their Eagle files and libraries over and see if can fit it into the design.

CJ2319 · Jun 3, 2017

brevik said:
I'll be making the Egyptian and Exodus/Jensen timer circuitry at the same time since they have the same functions and similar peripherals. The Egyptian timer is just easier to do at first since its nearly all right angles. That Jensen timer though, its got a really funky enclosure with that sega controller. I'll probably just run the sega controller board through a copier/scanner and use that to make the board dimensions.

That bootloader stuff is what I was hoping to avoid, since as you said: they say that they have it already burned onto the chip, but its really not. I doubt that I could convey easy-to-follow instructions on how to do that though a simple guide. So the Egyptian/Jensen timers might have to be excluded from my goal of having a quick and easy timer build guide. I'll post it all online regardless of it being easy to follow though.
I actually have the serial connection for the Arduino laid out in the original timer PCB, even though the USB can just be used with the Arduino IDE much easier. I've ended up bricking the Arduino a couple of times before, so I always want to make sure that I can do a hard reset. My only issue with the serial programming method is that I would need to integrate the FTDI chip and setup directly onto the PCB because I really want it be as self contained as possible.

I probably will end up using the atmega32u4 that has USB support already, because as I was typing this up, I went wondering around and realized that sparkfun.com has their own atmega32u4 board version and they have much better library and board support than I was able to find on Adafruit. So with that, I'm going to try to transfer their Eagle files and libraries over and see if can fit it into the design.

Yeah. I wasn't worried about trying to make it open source. As far as easy, though, I think that's out the window when you have surface mount soldering involved.

CJ2319 · Jun 4, 2017

Took some trial and error to get here :

The solder paste and surface mount components are placed by hand:

Then reflowed in the reflow oven:

Then touch up fixes are done by hand and other components are added:

Battery and speakers should be connected once the board is installed in the timer body.

brevik · Jun 4, 2017

Thats too funny. Parallels are being drawn between workstations.

RedWithEvil · Jun 5, 2017

Lol, brilliant minds think alike? At any rate, very excited to see this project getting off the ground.

You both based the orientation of the lower rectangle LEDs, and bargraphs on the same faceplate image?

#BringBackSliders

CJ2319 · Jun 5, 2017

brevik said:
Thats too funny. Parallels are being drawn between workstations.

View attachment 734025

Nice and clean. My wife makes me solder in the garage now where it's a mess.

- - - Updated - - -

RedWithEvil said:
Lol, brilliant minds think alike? At any rate, very excited to see this project getting off the ground.

You both based the orientation of the lower rectangle LEDs, and bargraphs on the same faceplate image?

#BringBackSliders

Yeah. I'm using brevik's faceplate file.

CJ2319 · Jun 6, 2017

Some people have messaged me asking how it all works so I made this quick overview video. https://youtu.be/6_XmP2XXD3c

CJ2319 · Jun 9, 2017

Got the crystal from Shapeways and a new dial that will turn the pot (finally). In the home stretch now.

CJ2319 · Jun 9, 2017

Quick demo of the dial. I think this was the most challenging part of the project. https://youtu.be/74S8h7lyIzM

brevik · Jun 10, 2017

Looking quite incredible. Did you use the resistance values from the pot to switch the LEDs on, or did it end up being something a lot more convoluted?

Speaking of convoluted, I had gotten my board all soldered up and ready to turn on and found that the Arduino fails turn on. Lights on the board come on for a split second and then nothing; Leads me to believe that there is a short somewhere in the power supply on the board, but can't find anything. Arduino wasn't DOA, it powered up and communicated with the PC just fine right before placing it in the board.
I can't pinpoint a fault anywhere; PCB, soldering, components, nothing. So it's probably going to be back to square one, and probably going to ditch the Arduino too.

CJ2319 · Jun 10, 2017

brevik said:
Looking quite incredible. Did you use the resistance values from the pot to switch the LEDs on, or did it end up being something a lot more convoluted?

Speaking of convoluted, I had gotten my board all soldered up and ready to turn on and found that the Arduino fails turn on. Lights on the board come on for a split second and then nothing; Leads me to believe that there is a short somewhere in the power supply on the board, but can't find anything. Arduino wasn't DOA, it powered up and communicated with the PC just fine right before placing it in the board.
I can't pinpoint a fault anywhere; PCB, soldering, components, nothing. So it's probably going to be back to square one, and probably going to ditch the Arduino too.

It just reads the resistance values and turns on the appropriate number of leds. The hard part was getting it low enough on the board and getting the dial the turn it and fit.
That's a bummer about your board. I actually had two board revisions with shorts and I could not figure out what was wrong. I double checked everything in the diagram multiple times. It was driving me crazy... Then I suddenly realized what it was. My silk screen text and shapes were in the circuit layer. I felt really stupid.

Heatley2001 · Jun 10, 2017

WOW! That is amazing. Great job. I've always wanted to build one of those. I tried when i was younger to build one of those and also the Egyptian one. Both didn't work out so well for me. Wish i still had all the parts so i could start over.

CJ2319 · Jun 11, 2017

So I think I might take a break from this project. All that's left to do is cosmetic stuff like print and cut a high quality faceplate, smooth out holes and seems, attach wires to the emitter... I assembled everything else today. If anyone was curious about how the battery situation was resolved, I used a smartphone battery with a lithium ion protection board. It can recharge via a micro USB port. The speaker is above the battery with holes drilled for sound. The clock chip goes on top of the speaker. A sliding switch on the back controls the power.

I have other things I want to work on and I was always more interested in the electronics than the timer body. I hope to finish the details by Halloween so I can go as Quinn Mallory at work and see if anyone remembers the show

Rico Mallory · Jul 23, 2017

Hi all,
I have been lurking here for a while, building my own Sliders Timer. I recall rushing home in the late 90's from my job so that I could record grainy Sliders episodes on rabbit ears! I tried to make an original timer in '98, but finding the parts was hard on the early web, or expensive. This page has been invaluable to me as I cut into several phones to make my own type of timer. It might sound odd, but I needed a good platform/power source for portable Tesla coils. Mine has some LED displays under a custom screen, on a later Gray 550 Personal Communicator cheapo model. I am making a bi-polar coil, with a design that looks Sliders-ish. I know to be accurate I should use the Lite, but this thing looks way far from accurate. I figure it would pass as an Earth 207 timer, or Universe 353 or something. I will post pics and do a video when I am done, it will run both a spark gap and PWM slayer circuit setup (changeable coils, one bi-polar, one standard). It will have two top knobs, and a bunch of switches and momentaries on the keypad, and my 'black box' is larger than the show, so the sides don't go all the way up.

If anyone is interested, I could post pics of the progress, which isn't much right now.

I have a question, and some really interesting things to ponder about the original show prop:

Who invented the original timer?? The OEM show prop has some really neat characteristics, if you look up some stuff about electromagnetics. The coil on the front looks like a Helmholtz coil, which is used to produce a stable magnetic field. Some of the display readout labels are components of physics/mathematics, as well as some of the lower 'buttons' on the flip-out. Was the front 'crystal prism' focusing light to open the vortex, through the twin coils? If they thought that deeply about it...wow. I can't locate a good still of what was written on Quinn's basement chalkboard, but always wanted to see if some of it was legit physics. The person who made the hero model was really talented. This prop has far more detail and function than any tri-corder, or most other show props.

Thanks!

CJ2319 · Jul 24, 2017

Rico Mallory said:
Hi all,
I have been lurking here for a while, building my own Sliders Timer. I recall rushing home in the late 90's from my job so that I could record grainy Sliders episodes on rabbit ears! I tried to make an original timer in '98, but finding the parts was hard on the early web, or expensive. This page has been invaluable to me as I cut into several phones to make my own type of timer. It might sound odd, but I needed a good platform/power source for portable Tesla coils. Mine has some LED displays under a custom screen, on a later Gray 550 Personal Communicator cheapo model. I am making a bi-polar coil, with a design that looks Sliders-ish. I know to be accurate I should use the Lite, but this thing looks way far from accurate. I figure it would pass as an Earth 207 timer, or Universe 353 or something. I will post pics and do a video when I am done, it will run both a spark gap and PWM slayer circuit setup (changeable coils, one bi-polar, one standard). It will have two top knobs, and a bunch of switches and momentaries on the keypad, and my 'black box' is larger than the show, so the sides don't go all the way up.

If anyone is interested, I could post pics of the progress, which isn't much right now.

I have a question, and some really interesting things to ponder about the original show prop:

Who invented the original timer?? The OEM show prop has some really neat characteristics, if you look up some stuff about electromagnetics. The coil on the front looks like a Helmholtz coil, which is used to produce a stable magnetic field. Some of the display readout labels are components of physics/mathematics, as well as some of the lower 'buttons' on the flip-out. Was the front 'crystal prism' focusing light to open the vortex, through the twin coils? If they thought that deeply about it...wow. I can't locate a good still of what was written on Quinn's basement chalkboard, but always wanted to see if some of it was legit physics. The person who made the hero model was really talented. This prop has far more detail and function than any tri-corder, or most other show props.

Thanks!

Interesting ideas. I always just assumed the science was bs. Sliders was a great concept that never had the budget it deserved, and the writing in even the best episodes had big flaws. Still a great show (for a few seasons) and the timer a great prop, even if it always looked like a tweaked cell phone.

Tenaciousbt · Oct 11, 2017

Any news on your progress?

CJ2319 · Nov 12, 2017

Tenaciousbt said:
Any news on your progress?

Sorry. I never saw this. I haven't touched this in a while. I got a newer box, crystal, and dial from shapeways a while back. I also had the lower faceplate laser cut. I got white on clear dymo labels for the labeling on the box. I expect it all to work out when I get around to putting it together. The electronics have been done for a while. I have 2 kids that keep me busy, as well as a few other projects in the works. Maybe I can finish this next month during my vacation.

Sliders Timer WIP

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