#244328
The issue with PCBs for the LEDs this thus: The LED locations and the holes in the leading edge of the wing(s) will never line up perfectly. This means one has to bend the LEDs into place, and hope they protrude the right amount. When bending, then you have to be careful not the break the solder point of the leads of the LED; this is exacerbated because of short lead length.

Stuff not many people think about until they are ready to toss the stuff into the trash...
By Gareee
#244414
I'd dump the wing PCBs then.. that should also help keep costs down as well. If the demand seems apparant later, you could always offer them as a later upgrade.

Have you determined the total cost of adding all this to a shell yet?
#244445
Not yet. For my own preferences, I'm using a lot of pin/socket type connections, so that drives the cost up for me. I know everything will fit beautifully into a real Iona; not too sure about the few casts that are floating around out there.

LEDs are pretty easy to price out online, and the Ardy I'm using is something like 18 bucks and the PCB (with the small amount I ordered to test) is like 20. Considering I have a ton of electronic parts stockpiled, I'm only looking at maybe 75 bucks for myself thus far.

I all honesty, the most expensive part of a PKE is getting decent servos.
By joepenora
#246070
I just wanted to say, I've been looking for a post like this for about 9 months. I'm starting a sketch comedy channel on youtube and the first sketch i wrote deals with the use of a PKE Meter, and I've been trying to find how to build one for a while... and I can't afford to drop close to 400 bucks on the premade parts.

I just wanted to say thank you to mburkit and ChapterMasterTu'Shan (sorry about your loss) for all your hard work.

I cant wait for the parts list and schematic to be released!

Thanks
#246527
How does someone have 3 solderless breadboards, and no room on any of them?

All that needs done is to temporarily mount the LEDs up to test the functionality, though I may need to tweak the code. The beauty of Burkit's schematic design though, is that just by tweaking a line or two of code, I can fine tune the entire setup.


:cool: It's nice to know I'll have independent verification that my boards work before we offer them up open-sourced at no charge. :cool:

Just for a blurry progress shot:

Image

Ignore the mess above the board...that's a different circuit. The header pins are for my own preference, as I like to use wire wrap for prototyping. The final product will more than likely use a real connector setup.

And it fits beautifully in an Iona, though I will be shrinking it a bit.
#247129
Quick update:

I loaded the programming to my chipset last night (after a ton of cussing) and should have a (un)successful test in the next few hours.

Thus far, everything looks good, and cheaper than I expected. The servos cost more than the board and chip :walterpeck:
#247158
Okay, so I added everything up:

1) Ardunio Pro Mini v11 19.00
2) Custom PCB 20.00
3) LEDs (26) 5.00
4) Potentiometer 1.50
5) Resistors (6) 2.00
6) DPST switch 2.00
7) SPST switch 1.50
8 ) Voltage regulator 0.40
9) 4017N Chip 0.40
10) Servos - S3114 (2) 15.00 (Futuba servos are some of the best you can buy.)
11) Knob for potentiometer 0.65
12) Rechargeable batteries 25.00
13) Charging port 1.00 You never have to open your PKE to replace batteries, and it's accurate.

GRAND TOTAL: $93.45


That's right, you can build a movie accurate PKE for a hundred bucks. Mind you, I had some of these part laying around, and tend to buy in bulk. But then again, I bought the best servos I could, so it evens out. Hell, the Futuba ones I got are 5 bucks cheaper now than when I bought them.

I'll be posting up a schematic in the next day or so after I'm 100% sure everything on it checks out, along with any necessary pin and bus maps.

I have spare boards, but I'll be getting new 20% smaller ones made in a bit, and then plan to offer them up if there is interest, probably for 15-20, but this isn't the thread for that.

Feel free to PM me with any questions.
By Qantravon
#247396
In the interests of saving as much as possible, what would be the feasibility of skipping the custom PCB? Would it be doable to either just plug everything into one of the "peg board" style wafers, or even just wire everything together?

Also, I think I speak for all of us when I say I really appreciate your taking the time and effort to work this whole thing out. You, sir, are awesome.
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By mburkit
#247538
Qantravon wrote:In the interests of saving as much as possible, what would be the feasibility of skipping the custom PCB? Would it be doable to either just plug everything into one of the "peg board" style wafers, or even just wire everything together?
My original prototype was like this and is what you see running in my videos in this thread. It is very possible. It's just a lot of soldering. That's why we are making a board that people can solder together, saves you the pain and agony. But if you rather do it the other way, there's no problem with that. Once we are done tweaking everything, we'll start open sourcing stuff about the kit.
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By Mr.Spider
#247554
I would rather have to board done , IMO, I hate soldering, so the less I have to do, the better
By Gareee
#248426
Any smaller, and people might have problems working on it. That looks like a perfect size to me.
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By ldlaughlin
#248623
Did the schematic and the parts list ever appear? Would love to have a copy of it!
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By mburkit
#249619
None of us have finished putting together a board yet. Between waiting on a few parts to come in and that we all have full time jobs, It might take us a little bit to get one together. Not really an ETA but I am trying to get my new iona pke meter done for dragon con which is at the end of August.
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By jackdoud
#249624
I ordered an arduino Monday night, TJ ordered a batch of parts last night, if we're lucky we'll both get our stuff by this weekend and be able to meet up and put stuff together. Otherwise it'll be 2 weeks before we can swap parts and do a test. Pretty much it's during the week we work on other projects trying to get them ready for Dragoncon and then weekends if we have a chance we get together and work on the PKE. TJ's just waiting on the parts he ordered yesterday to get his test build finished so give it at least until this weekend before expecting an update.

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