Progress Report 12/21

Worked on R2 a bit more this week.  I completed and installed a new set of custom CNC machined Aluminum Booster Covers.

Periscope Lighting

Periscope Lighting - LED PCB's

Started working on the Periscope Lighting System today.  I'm using rotopod's (Doug D's) periscope lighting boards:

• Top LED Board (for the 7 LED pin holes above the main lens)
• Bottom LED Board (for the 6 red rectangular LED block)
• Right Lens LED Board
• Left Lens LED Board
• Main Lens LED Board

More to come...

Budget Skins

I plan to install Aluminum Skins, but I picked up a set of Budget Skins from r2builder Chani.

Budget Skins are sheets of .040" (1mm) styrene with Chani's skins cut file scored onto them. These skins are for builders that don't mind taking some time working with their parts, but at the same time, eliminating the need for another template. Every cut line is scored into the styrene, so with a utility knife, an optional straight-edge, and a little time, you can have a complete set of skins that won't set you back. Please see the photo above. That's what you will receive. Included are Front Outer, Front Inner, Back Outer and Back Inner skins scored onto four sheets of 24"x36" sheets. Another advantage of using these skins is that, because they are already scored into the plastic, it's easier to freehand your final cuts because your knife won't want to slip out of the pre-scored groove very easily. Also, if you're careful, it's possible with most panels to just bend the score lines slightly and pop them out.

They work with any club-spec frame.

New Audio Amplifier

After trying out several low power, low cost amps, I've decided to use the Sure Electronics

2x25W, TPA3123 Class-D Audio Amplifier Board.

The Sure Electronics Class-D dual channel amplifier board employs a Tripath-style Texas Instruments TPA3123D2 chip. Each channel is rated at 25W, delivered with state-of-the-art sound quality:

Pre-assembled, pre-tested
Superb sound quality
Perfect Class-D architecture
Two channels—each up to 25W
Up to 92% efficiency
Does not require a heat sink for most applications
Line level analog audio input

All for around $25!

(Sure Electronics p/n AA-AB018)

OT: Look What I Did!

Note: As one observant collector pointed out... "HARVEST" should be in Outline Font:

Rev. 2 coming soon...

OK... Not R2 related, but Star Wars related nonetheless...

Here's my most recent "project"... a re-production of the now (in) famous Star Wars Pre-Production Crew Tee.

You know the one...

And yes, I am considering doing a run of these "Prop Replica" T-Shirts.

MP3 Trigger v2

The experiment continues...

This time I'm taking a look at Robertsonics MP3 Trigger.  This is a low-cost, low power embedded MP3 Player. The board has 18 external trigger pins that will directly trigger pre-selected MP3 tracks, and a full-duplex serial control port that provides full transport control, remote triggering for up to 256 tracks, and fast real-time volume control. The board plays the MP3 files directly from a FAT16 microSD flash card and supports 192Kbps stereo playback. There is also an on-board navigation switch for local access and playback of all MP3 tracks on the flash card.

The board uses a Cypress PSoC CY8C29466-24SXI microcontroller and a VLSI VS1053 audio codec.

Interactive Voice Control, Part 2

Interactive Voice Control

Basic Functions: Audio Section

I now have the Audio Section up and running... I'm using Rob's IVC board as described below and driving a Mono Amplifier based on the TDA2030 8 Watt IC Amplifier.  This is an excellent amplifier - it runs off of 12VDC, has a 94 dBA signal/noise ratio and a 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response, all in a small, low cost package.  This I've connected to a Pioneer TS-A878 3.5" 2-way Speaker.

 The audio section consists of a set of screw terminals for the audio input and output. The inputs feed a simple 1:1 modem isolation transformer after passing through a 10K trimmer pot/voltage divider circuit. This allows for some adjustment of impedance to ensure compatibility with whatever audio amplifier is connected to the output side.  The Hasbro speaker sounds are designed to drive an 8 ohm speaker and are not suitable for direct connection to an external amplifier without some sort of level and impedance matching circuit.