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<<<drool>>> Always look forward to seeing your updates. The innovation you have brought to this is nothing short of stunning. Hurry up and finish this thing! We are dying over here!!!

GohstTarp wrote:Thank you, Barison... and you're welcome! It's great to hear the bulb pics will help you out. Hope to see more of your updates soon.

You're welcome That info has really come in handy. Yes I would love to post some updates of my own - the pack build is still going on but I have not had any photos of the progress thus far, I think they have been just overwhelmed with the workload, as they have other projects going on around it. However I'm sure they've kept some sort of photo diary of the work which I'll be able to share with you guys after it's all finished. I hope!

thebigone2087 wrote:<<<drool>>> Always look forward to seeing your updates. The innovation you have brought to this is nothing short of stunning. Hurry up and finish this thing! We are dying over here!!!

Ha ha ha!!! I'll be keeping you all in suspense for a little while longer here. Thank you for the kind words and support

Back with some wand tip electronics updates!

One thing I keep meaning to mention is that I found the following thread posts very helpful with understanding how the flash bulb can be installed and wired up...

Julz - http://www.gbfans.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 90#p463728
Bishop - http://www.gbfans.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 2#p4816267
Phil - http://www.gbfans.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 0#p4801883

Thank you, gentlemen, for the great reference pics and information!

After using some clear epoxy to attach the strobe LED to the bulb, then the bulb to the base, I cut off most of the solid core wire leads and replaced it with some 30AWG silicone cover stranded-core wire I ordered from Adafruit. It's basically the same diameter as the solid core, but the silicone stranded-core wire is designed to bend and flex, making it ideal for use with my thrower's twisting front handle and pop mech. Here it is with the replacement leads attached...


I purposefully left some of the solid core wire attached so that I could have full control over the way it bends/folds back over itself behind the base. After some heat shrink, this is how it looked, completely transformed...


Next, I needed a hole in the acrylic tip for the bulb leads to come out and and feed into the banjo...


Since my bulb setup is sort of a hybrid of Julz' and Bishop's and I wanted the base to stick out a little bit from the back of the trigger tip, I needed to drill out a short channel to allow the leads through the hole. You can see here where I drilled it out...


After drilling the acrylic tube one more time to allow the trigger tip set screw to be used to secure the bulb base, I assembled it all together...


I'm very happy with the results. With the tip being pulled forward with a bit of force by the installed pop mech, I was concerned about the bulb setup and trigger tip being sturdy enough, but it ended up being really nice and solid.

Next up, the banjos and red nycoil? Or something else completely???

Spoiler alert... it's the banjos.

Got the banjos drilled out and the flash bulb wired installed in the one installed on the trigger tip. I used a stiff piece of wire to pull the floppy silicone wire through the banjo holes...


Now I've got to install my red nycoil tubing!

Does anyone reading want to share the length of their installed red tubing on the wand?

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My red tubing ended up being 8 3/4" in total length, with about 7 1/4" of it visible. Here it is with the "flash bulb" wiring all set...


Backing up for a moment, I forgot to post pictures of my installed Spongeface WandTip Expansion kit. I used my go-to solution for keeping things stuffed into other things - craft foam! Simple and effective, it keeps the LED board pressed up nicely against the bottom end of the acrylic tip.




Next up, I wanted to try getting the heat shrink just right on the ear. Since I'm going to have to disassemble to paint, and I knew it would take a number of tries to get right, I went ahead and got 4 feet of 1" diameter heat shrink...

Things I learned from applying 1" heat shrink to the ear...
- Making holes in the heat shrink for the push button and hat light socket using a hole punch works really well
- The red push-button will start to melt if you are not careful (orange hat light seems to be pretty heat-resistant)
- After shrinking around the ear, use a smaller screwdriver to poke out holes for the grip bolt
- It's good to be patient

A number of tries (and a new red push-button) later...




Now, getting back to the wiring, I replaced most of the red, black and yellow wiring on the Ear light/switch connector with some more silicone covered wire. After slicing that in, I added some heat shrink to keep the wiring under the handle nice and neat...

It was right about here I started puzzling out how I was going to remove the bulb wiring without cutting anything. I quickly realized there was no way around it. I was going to have to cut those bulb wires to remove for painting, but no big deal

Next, I carved out a wiring path in the front handle...


Then, using some pins that the excellent Bishopdonmiguel graciously provided, I attached the pins to the end of the silicone wire and inserted them into the post...


Finally, I re-installed the front handle and attached to the main body...




Next up, drilling a hole in the main body for the bulb/switch/led wiring, mounting the wand blaster board and doing some cable management!

Looks awesome!!!!! Good job

Jonobiwan wrote:Looks awesome!!!!! Good job

Thanks, Jonobiwan!

I really appreciate all the positive support from folks. Please feel free to post any constructive criticism as well, if something looks off or could be improved

I wanted to send out a "Thank You!" to Bishop for the connector pins I used on the end of of my Ear Connector. Five down, twenty to go...

Happy to help out. When I ordered those for my pack, it was just a bit more to get 500 instead of 50 so I've got plenty to spare. But you were smart and got the crimper. I didn't get one until I realized how hard it was to connect those with pliers, solder and magnifying glasses!

Everything looking great. Love the foam idea. Been 2 years since I received my aluminum thrower and still haven't assembled it. Your thread is getting me motivated. Great work.

bishopdonmiguel wrote:Everything looking great. Love the foam idea. Been 2 years since I received my aluminum thrower and still haven't assembled it. Your thread is getting me motivated. Great work.

Thank you, Bishop! Working on my wand the other day, I noticed that Chris made it back in 2014, so you are still doing better than me. Ha ha ha!

Superb work as usual!

barison82 wrote:Superb work as usual!

Thanks, Barison! Looking forward to seeing more updates of your pack when available.

Back with some small updates on my wand electronics.

First, I drilled my hole for the ear connection/bulb LED wires...


Then I installed the posts for the wand lights board. I did the usual "attach posts to board, super-glue posts in desired position, wait to dry, remove board from glued posts, reinforce posts with epoxy" process...


I'm not gonna lie, screwing in the board to the posts isn't the easiest thing to do, but I'm able to get enough of my hands and a Phillips head driver bit in there to do the job. Here it is installed while I was still figuring out the best way to route the gray pack board ribbon connector...


With the gun body made by CPU64, the wand lights designed by Spongeface and the Pop Mech made by Freeky Geeky, I was excited and very much relieved see that everything worked and fit together perfectly! Here it is with the gray ribbon cable properly folded back on itself and the Pop Mech engaged...


And here it is released...


The only thing that is giving me a little trouble is the wand tip extension lights ribbon cable. It needs to have a bit of a "controlled slide" when the tip pops, but I think routing it under/around the green level bar might be just the fix. I'm gonna try it out and report back with the results.

*edited for grammer

GohstTarp wrote:

barison82 wrote:Superb work as usual!

Thanks, Barison! Looking forward to seeing more updates of your pack when available.

You're welcome! And another awesome update - it's looking very crowded in there Mine should be very similar, the only difference is that I'm using Freeky Geeky's thrower. I'm also using a rumble motor - didn't see that mentioned here? Tell me about it. I have not heard anything for a while now, and I really hope I'll have something to share with you guys soon

barison82 wrote:You're welcome! And another awesome update - it's looking very crowded in there

Certainly a bit of controlled chaos inside the main body.

barison82 wrote:Mine should be very similar, the only difference is that I'm using Freeky Geeky's thrower. I'm also using a rumble motor - didn't see that mentioned here?

With the GBfans Wand Lights board, you can use either the rumble motor OR the strobe LED/flash bulb with the Aux port, but not both. "Force feedback" would be nice, but the challenge of wiring up the flash bulb was something I couldn't pass up

Superb as always GT

I love receiving alerts that you've posted on this build. Rocks being a perfectionist, eh? Keep it coming brother!

GohstTarp wrote:

barison82 wrote:Mine should be very similar, the only difference is that I'm using Freeky Geeky's thrower. I'm also using a rumble motor - didn't see that mentioned here?

With the GBfans Wand Lights board, you can use either the rumble motor OR the strobe LED/flash bulb with the Aux port, but not both. "Force feedback" would be nice, but the challenge of wiring up the flash bulb was something I couldn't pass up

I wanted to hit on this for a second... if you're interested in splicing to have an operational rumble motor and tip flash, you might talk to Phil. As I recall, he managed to use a controller of some sorts to run both from the auxiliary port.

Looks crowded already!
That's the number ​one reason I started tinkering with a smaller design which I hope helps alleviate a bit of​ the space issue.

Grimmy GB wrote:I love receiving alerts that you've posted on this build. Rocks being a perfectionist, eh? Keep it coming brother!

GohstTarp wrote:With the GBfans Wand Lights board, you can use either the rumble motor OR the strobe LED/flash bulb with the Aux port, but not both. "Force feedback" would be nice, but the challenge of wiring up the flash bulb was something I couldn't pass up

I wanted to hit on this for a second... if you're interested in splicing to have an operational rumble motor and tip flash, you might talk to Phil. As I recall, he managed to use a controller of some sorts to run both from the auxiliary port.

You rang?
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37054&start=210#p4830709

pyhasanon wrote:

Grimmy GB wrote:I love receiving alerts that you've posted on this build. Rocks being a perfectionist, eh? Keep it coming brother!


I wanted to hit on this for a second... if you're interested in splicing to have an operational rumble motor and tip flash, you might talk to Phil. As I recall, he managed to use a controller of some sorts to run both from the auxiliary port.

You rang?
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37054&start=210#p4830709

Thanks, Phil! Funny thing is, I'm watching The Addams Family tv show right now lol

Venkman's Swagger wrote:Superb as always GT

Thanks for the support, VS!

Grimmy GB wrote:I love receiving alerts that you've posted on this build. Rocks being a perfectionist, eh?

Thank you, Grimmy. It's a curse!!! Ha ha ha.

Grimmy GB wrote:I wanted to hit on this for a second... if you're interested in splicing to have an operational rumble motor and tip flash, you might talk to Phil. As I recall, he managed to use a controller of some sorts to run both from the auxiliary port.

Thanks for mentioning that. FF would be cool, but I'm trying to be careful about feature creep and things are already pretty cozy in the main body. Maybe someday

CPU64 wrote:Looks crowded already!
That's the number ​one reason I started tinkering with a smaller design which I hope helps alleviate a bit of​ the space issue.

Cool. So many great options available for builds these days!

pyhasanon wrote: You rang?
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37054&start=210#p4830709

Thanks, Phil!

GohstTarp wrote: Certainly a bit of controlled chaos inside the main body.

Like the word 'controlled' lol! As with every aspect of this superb build

GohstTarp wrote:With the GBfans Wand Lights board, you can use either the rumble motor OR the strobe LED/flash bulb with the Aux port, but not both. "Force feedback" would be nice, but the challenge of wiring up the flash bulb was something I couldn't pass up

Thanks for the heads up as I did not know this. Will have to pass this on to Benofent Props asap!

Grimmy GB wrote:

GohstTarp wrote:With the GBfans Wand Lights board, you can use either the rumble motor OR the strobe LED/flash bulb with the Aux port, but not both. "Force feedback" would be nice, but the challenge of wiring up the flash bulb was something I couldn't pass up

I wanted to hit on this for a second... if you're interested in splicing to have an operational rumble motor and tip flash, you might talk to Phil. As I recall, he managed to use a controller of some sorts to run both from the auxiliary port.

OK this is interesting! Thank you Grimmy for this reference

pyhasanon wrote:You rang?

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37054&start=210#p4830709

Thanks Phil for providing this detailed reference. You're right, Doug is most certainly a genius! Now to see if Ben can get his head around this lol

barison82 wrote:

pyhasanon wrote:You rang?

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37054&start=210#p4830709

Thanks Phil for providing this detailed reference. You're right, Doug is most certainly a genius! Now to see if Ben can get his head around this lol

I'm sure he can, but if he has any questions, he and I are friends on Facebook, just let him know that he can shoot me a message anytime... It's been a while, but I can always dig through my notes for answers...