Toykeeper Appreciation Gift _ Hardware Upgrades

What is the answer?

PM me....

I'll get it right I promise!

But seriously. This needs to happen.

What’s the status of this?

I guess we’re waiting on a specific piece of hardware to chosen, or perhaps invented.

The basic physics appears to be, er, solid: http://i-hls.com/2013/10/star-wars-weapons-scientists-create-lightsaber-molecules/

I would think a decent reflow station or a bench power supply, if she does not have one. I build most of my drivers and I have neither and would love either!

Oh, no, we already know the category of hardware TK wants. Scroll back 2 or 3 posts.

Current status? It looks like there’s enough to cover everything on the list. You guys are way too generous. :slight_smile:

Tom E made some drivers to send me, and the rest is still a bit fuzzy. I could especially use some tips on what kind of hot-air station to get, and how to aquire a bag of decent parts for drivers. And LEDs and resistors to put on tail boards. Digikey shopping cart maybe?

Mostly though, I’ve been busy trying to cook up the right combination of kernel and distro and tools to make a beaglebone black work with an acme power cape for work, and a little distracted by shiny sword things. As it turns out, building a custom BBB kernel is a bit of a pain, and so is physically organizing its spider-plant-like mess of floating circuits and cables. And by coincidence, SaberForge re-opened its custom saber shop a couple days ago so I put in an order. I can’t get quite the finish I was looking for, so it’s likely I’ll also end up learning how to anodize aluminum and then artificially weather it.

Anyone know a good hot-air station? (aside from broadcast television news :wink: )

TK - I'm waiting for you to get back to me. Just made up a handful of these:

But improved:

  • ATtiny85 w/bent pins (of course )
  • SIR800DP FET instead (lower resistance, stays cooler, no problem with high amps for parallel LED's)
  • R1 and R2 are 10X the values to cut parasitic drain by 10X
  • 7135 350 mA instead of the 380, for lower moon mode

All hot air reflowed. I believe this is the hot setup! I can get two of these out to you, plus the SRK OSHPark driver, w/85 and the same setup for 10X resistors and SIR800DP FET, 350 mA 7135. I still have to test them out first, but should go pretty quick.

Nice Tom E.

Sorry, I hope things calm down soon. Life has been a roller-coaster lately.

Any suggestions for a decent hot-air tool?

I believe you are correct, sir. :slight_smile:

For some reason, I feel like a kid in a candy store…

with the owner out to lunch. :wink:

Seriously. I took a shower and all I could think about was how to implement a new easier-to-modify e-switch firmware base. Maybe also a ZL-like UI as an example of how to use it.

Ok, I also had some major issues. lost a few critical hours. Started on testing the new drivers - here's a couple pics:

I was goin nuts - the computer would not even recognize the USBASP - no red light, nothing. I did tons of things, power rests, tried other USB connectors, order a cable and new USB hub. Stupid me left in the driver all this time. I removed the cables form the USBASP and it recognized the dongle. Eventually tracked it down to the one driver board. Lok carefully at the MTN driver in the lower left - see anything wrong?

Well, there's actually 2 solder grounds - right side of the cap, and where the "3" is in the upper left -- there's actually 2 small pads solder over in a blob. Fixed the shorts, and all works now. Also tricky is the Schottky diode above the MCU is tight to the 85 pins. On two of these boards, I actually had to hot air reflow the diode again and give it a little nudge away from the MCU. I can't blame Richard for this, because the 85 is quite a big chip, and even with bending the pins practically under the chip still barely catch's the pads.

For the hot air reflow station, I bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XTK1JMG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. $46 shipped is pretty good. I use it on the lowest fan settings. I prefer it separate from the soldering iron. I only move it to be work area when needed. Dunno if this is the best way, but I would never trade down from my Hakko. There's no way I can solder as well as I do without that Hakko.

Anyways, in the detail pic above, you can see where my replacement parts are. I think RMM nailed the design for stable performance from the 24/45/85's. With the tiny 402 FET gate pulldown, and the addition of the zener, I believe he greatly reduced the spikes going in to the MCU, I believe caused by the FET gate.

I also like he gave us a pad (tiny one) off of pin #3, which I use for the indicator LED.

Ohhh - I ran out of SIR800DP FET's, and getting low on 85's, so got in my order with Richard before they went out on vaca -- glad I got that in. Also just had to add another SupFire L5. They apparently changed the switch since the last ones I ordered - it looks much better. Like to see how good it is. The old L5 had a small switch that was a hard press - the new one looks easy, more like an SRK -- I'll see soon enough.

Richard going on holidays?
Your pictures dont do justice to how small these components are. For those that dont know the small components are really really small.
Nice problem solving Tom.

I’ll 2nd the Hot Air station that Tom E linked above. I have a lot of hours on mine & it’s still kicking.

Even the crazy dude gives it a good wrap.

Just mailed out two assembled and tested ATtiny85 drivers to ToyKeeper. Both have the latest Narsil version, so TK can at least use it as a confirmation the drivers work ok when installed. One is an SRK style/size - our original BLF Q8 V1 (https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/BjPlsgMu) that I've been using in a 4X SRK clone for quite some time now. The other is an RMM 17mm FET+1 driver - the MTN17DDm v1.1, with parts upgraded.

The SRK style should be like this:

The MTN17DDm driver, bought here is this:

pm'ing TK now with the tracking #.

Thats kind of you Tom. I’m sure we will all benefit from your generosity and Toykeepers abilities.

It took me a few days (busy week), but I got the larger driver installed in my SRK. It’s the gold one in the site logo.

I’m really looking forward to messing with the code on it. :slight_smile:

With Narsil installed, it defaults to the ramping UI and the ramping is buttery smooth. It goes super-low, super-high, and so many steps between that I can’t see where the changes happen. I just got it soldered together a few minutes ago so I haven’t gotten through all the modes and settings yet, but the Narsil manual should help with that.

Oh, also, it’s a pity it won’t be seen much in a finished light, but it’s really nice how the “Q8” vias let light pass. Put the driver in front of a light surface and it shines right through. Clever and elegant design there.