1/144 Millenium falcon Build #1 by KP

[Lazy Modeller]

Wow!!!

Cheers

LM

[Konrad Popławski]

Hi,

 

As I suggested in the last post recently I did focused on prototyping my testing circuit. I have seen so many great ideas people are creating with simple electronics. I really admire this and decided to use some cleaver ideas in my project. The problem is I do lack of required knowledge in this area. (at least at the beginning). If you really want to learn the limitations are only temporary. With the power of internet and help of friendly people it is possible to understand everything that at the beginning looked super complicated.

 

The heart of the system is Arduino Nano – a tiny computer. Its far less powerful then even oldest PC I have seen but somehow strong enough to do simple dedicated for example calculations for smooth led blinks sequences.

 

Here in the official side You can see the specification of original unit (mine is a Chinese copy but is as good as original unit because its made of same components): http://store.arduino.cc/products/arduino-nano

It is very important to know your component limitation otherwise You can easly damage it and turn them into garbage.

 

DFPlayer Pro. Here You can read more about it: https://wiki.dfrobot.com/DFPlayer_PRO_SKU_DFR0768
It has really tiny dimensions  (23mm x 24.5mm) nevertheless it works as full scale music player that You can control with advanced commands.

 

 

In the photo above You can see the pair of speakers I have reclaimed from a brocken LCD monitor.

 

 

For a start it was ok – it enabled me to check all intersting functions with my DFplayer. As You may expect from the  begging the sound quality wasn’t at lest close to high-end. At least it wasn’t good enouth for a kind of demanding person I am 😊. Later I switched to better speakers made from Samsung (HT-C453 - central speakers being a part of a budget home sound system). I was able to get two pairs of them in good price ~2 euro a piece (due to postoffice error – but that is another story).

 

 

To ensure good electric connection between components I have made some custom cables ( You can see some of them in the photo above)

Here I need to recommend my soldering station. It really does the job and I love its small pointed tip - erfect for soldering tinny SMD componets.

 

 

Creating custom cables required some special components – here You can see box full of different connectors and pins joints (together with vary handy pin crimpers)

 

 

It is wise to take care about health If you do spend some time on soldering. From time to time after some soldering sessions I felt a bit dizzy – the cause was the smoke from solder mixed with chemicals designed to make soldering easier. The problem seem to disappear anther installing this simple 3D printed box holding inside a computer cooling fan wrapped with carbon filter. The fan is quite noisy but in other hand quite powerful – which s crucial here.

 

 

Let’s have a look at the finished board:

 

 

 

Here is a short demo video. I did it with my phone as all other photos. The sound quality is much limited to my phone buildin microphone. The same goes to led colors – the look pale to me  and so much different when in reality.

 

 

In the next post I will tell You more about spcefications of my circut and special leds I have used (neopixel). I will also post a source code or anyone who want to build a similar toy.

Thank you for Your attention.

[Konrad Popławski]

Hello,

 

He is a "part two" about prototype circuit.

Arduino as all other things has some limitations. First of them in the number of pins (outputs) with PWM signal control function (only 6 in Arduino nano). PWM signal gives You the ability to smoothly change led light. Another problem is maximum current each pin can handle - this one particularly limits using one pin to one led (can’t use parallel led connection). Other that that I need some pins for other functions like communicating with IR module, music players, buttons etc.
As You see I would end up with control about ~ 10 standard led diodes and only few of them with PWM signal.
The solution is to use NEOPIXEL diodes. They look very similar to standard RGB diode. They even glow like a standard diodes. The good thing is that I can use only 1 Arduino pin to control literally hundret's of them.

 

Here You can see the comparison between different types of led strips (the black one are neopixel the white is standard RGB). Of course I could find more packed RBG strip – it isn’t a problem.

 

 

Neopixel leds are programable diodes. I can easly create almost endless amount of effects. Check this side – this will give You the idea: https://www.tweaking4all.com/hardware/arduino/adruino-led-strip-effects/

The three bulb diodes are also neopixel and they act here in the same ways as they do in the led stip. I will definitely use it with fiber optics. The OLED display is also nice. I did use it for example to calibrate desired RGB color.

 

 

In the center You can see the electromagnetic switch. This will help me to on/off multiple standard leds at once. I need some standard leds because NEOPIXEL are quite large. I must admit that I was able to work with 0.2x0.4 mm size SMD led.

In the picture below on the left side You can see the big Yellow device. Very handy thing. It ensures adjustable and stable current voltage. I can rise or down Voltage using a screwdriver. In addition I can monitorSpeaking about the remote control here is the list of used commands: on the go the whole power consumption by my testing board.

 

In the center of this picture You can see another Voltage adjustment device. This one ups the voltage for arduino from 5V to 8/9 or 12 (as you need).  You can also spot the IR module with gives me the ability to use  any remote control I like.    

 

 

Speaking about the remote control here is the list of used commands:

 

Later I do plan to change remote controller to a bit more advanced/ better looking. this one for testing purposes  is more than enough.

 

The only problem I discovered so far is the warring message after compiling the test program. Luckily I did not spot any problems so far. The point is the current version of the program is far from final. I plan to program and use much more. The good thing is don’t need some of the already used functions in the final version - that means some memory savings. In the end I decided to split the tasks and use multiple Arduinos combined together. Doesn’t it sounds familiar? There are three on-board computers installed in the Millennium Falcon, and a lot of the trouble comes from the exclusive arguing of these units.

 

 

So here is the basic concept:

1)    Arduino for sound system control.

2)    Arduino for “in ship” light control.

3)    Arduino for ambient light.

 

I would like this project to be something more than ordinary: build it and let it dust. Frankly speaking I hate to expose my models to dust and sun light. It simply ruins all the effort You put in. That is why I will build special closed dome for my model. It will be used as a lamp or a bluetooth music player. And this is my next task. I need to complete it  before I will start painting the ship.

 

And I have almost forgot – here is the arduino code for the test board I have presented to you:

https://www.easypaste.org/file/GpYtc9Kn/MF.0010.with.display.txt?lang=pl

 

[armored76]

Really nice results so far!

 

Great presentation of the electronics, too. In case you find yourself limited by memory, there are other options that are both smaller, faster and feature more memory (both flash and RAM), at similar costs while still being compatible with the deelopment tools you are already using. I was looking into the Seeduino here but am still lacking a real use case: https://www.seeedstudio.com/Seeeduino-XIAO-Arduino-Microcontroller-SAMD21-Cortex-M0+-p-4426.html?queryID=bcc83a9cc7b93b3de139a434064d1935&objectID=4426&indexName=bazaar_retailer_products

 

The idea of using the NEOpixel LEDs is really-realy nice despite the limitation brought in by their size for certain use cases. As an alternative, there are extension boards that can be used with regular LEDs like this for instace: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10616