Monday, January 28, 2013

More parts acquired!

Since my last post, I have managed to acquire a few more aluminum parts. They're not in my hands yet, but I wanted to mark the date. I have recently acquired the side vents, coin returns, and best of all, power couplers! They should be arriving in the next few days, and we'll really get R2's body almost complete!!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Vents and Electronics!

Been awhile since I have had a decent update. I've completed a lot, but just haven't taken the time to post! So anywhere, here's a small mini-update to tell you all whats going on! First, we installed the center vents. This was rather simple, place them where I needed them, marked where the screw hole fit, and then drilled a small hole into the side of the vents, placed a screw in there, and bam, they are secured!
Next, is my electronics board. There isn't much on here at the moment, but you'll notice an Arduino UNO, a Sparkfun MP3 trigger, and a Syren 10A. All of these work flawlessly with my wireless PS2 controller to control the dome movement and provide the sound! The real gem here is my amplifier. Its a little 3" x 4" 35 watt amplifier from a company called "Pyle". The model is PLMPA35. What makes this micro-amp nice, is that it has a built in 3.5mm jack, ironically, so does my MP3 trigger. So I can connect my MP3 trigger to the amp, then straight to the speaker. The other benefit is that this amp can run 12v directly, so I have no need for a volt regulator. This setup has been tested and worked PERFECTLY!!
Finally, here's a quick shot of how I mounted the board. You'll notice the amp is off of here, thats because when this photo was taken, the amp hadn't arrived yet! Rest assured, it still fits beautifully.