58 replies to this topic

[darthskids]

Is that the adafruit oled screen or did you order one of the lower cost chinese boards? Also, how is the performance and memory usage?

I picked one up from ebay and despite the ad, the oled uses a SH1106 controller. I have it working now, but it took an hour or two and it definitely doesn't work with the adafruit lib. Ended up using microlcd instead of U8glib because it was taking 100+ms to update the display.

[grenadegreg]

Oh my! This is amazing. I have never seen anybody do something like that.

[Technician Gimmick]

Is that the adafruit oled screen or did you order one of the lower cost chinese boards? Also, how is the performance and memory usage?

I picked one up from ebay and despite the ad, the oled uses a SH1106 controller. I have it working now, but it took an hour or two and it definitely doesn't work with the adafruit lib. Ended up using microlcd instead of U8glib because it was taking 100+ms to update the display.

This OLED was the lower cost ones from china. It is running the SSD1306 controller and works with the adafruit library.
Updating the screen doesn't seem to be that slow, but in the video I'm only writing the BMPs for the digits. The code however doesn't use BMPs. Instead I have painstakingly recorded all of the coordinates to draw the digits one line at a time. It seems to be a little slower to write than the BMP method, but I can't tell if it is because it is displaying a larger sized font, reading the info from program memory, or if it's the processing time in writing a line at a time...

Thanks all!

[bex]

I sent you a PM Gimmick. That OLED is just awesome. I am really impressed with the Gryphon. I have been playing with lipos in my CS-18. I found that the 11.1V overwhelmed the pusher motor. I dropped down to 7.4V, which gives me the fire rate that is useful in wars, but not enough range. So I decided to replace the motors with higher kv rating. This means they spin faster at lower voltage. The motors used were RC car motors from a Kyosho Mini-Z. My kids were playing with my gun with a 3 cell lipo on the stock motors and broke it somehow. The middle finger trigger that revs the flywheels didn't work anymore. I replaced the motors and it would fire without revving, but now I have lost any voltage to the flywheel motors. I need to pull the board. I don't really know how to read a circuit diagram, but I will try to isolate the problem. I am interested in a drop in electronics kit similar to the Gryphon. Did you ever develop one? Thanks.

Edited by bex, 27 September 2014 - 02:50 AM.

[Technician Gimmick]

I am interested in a drop in electronics kit similar to the Gryphon. Did you ever develop one? Thanks.

Yes, I am in the process of developing my own board. But it may take some time as I am making major upgrades to the system.

My futures plan will hopefully have:
Smart phone remote control/ammo counter monitor (pending me learning how to make smart phone apps)
OLED display
Buzzer to alert when out of ammo
Improved jam sensing
Flashlight control
Laser dot control
Integrated Lipo battery voltage monitoring
Stats display (showing total number of darts fired, total number of reloads, etc...)

Thank you all for your interest. - Gimmick

[meishel]

Yes, I am in the process of developing my own board. But it may take some time as I am making major upgrades to the system.

My futures plan will hopefully have:
Smart phone remote control/ammo counter monitor (pending me learning how to make smart phone apps)
OLED display
Buzzer to alert when out of ammo
Improved jam sensing
Flashlight control
Laser dot control
Integrated Lipo battery voltage monitoring
Stats display (showing total number of darts fired, total number of reloads, etc...)

Thank you all for your interest. - Gimmick

I am planning on duplicating your mod in my own rapidstrike within the next month or so. If you want/need a beta tester, your kit would save me a lot of time. I am extremely tech savy, and have a friend who is arduino experienced and a very good coder who is willing to help me with the project. I would be very interested in buying a kit from you, even if it's in an alpha or beta state.

[Technician Gimmick]

I am planning on duplicating your mod in my own rapidstrike within the next month or so. If you want/need a beta tester, your kit would save me a lot of time. I am extremely tech savy, and have a friend who is arduino experienced and a very good coder who is willing to help me with the project. I would be very interested in buying a kit from you, even if it's in an alpha or beta state.

Awesome, I'll contact you when I get closer. It's moving along faster than I had thought it would. But I still need to begin to make anything physical.

Thanks - Gimmick

[Gin]

I am impressed.... Was planing on turning my rapidstrike into the Red Death pulse rifle from Destiny but had no idea how to make the 3 round bursts the gun fires in.... I believe i have found the answer lol

[RedFear]

thank you so much for posting this. It is what I myself have been planning to do on a afterburner rayven (i forget who was the first, but my mod guide/2-stage rayven was definitely not the first). some notes: do you think an Uno would fit in the shell of such a blaster or would I have to use a mini? (i'm trying to retain as many pins as needed to implement the same features you have, and maybe a few others that you have planned as well.)

Also is it possible i could add you to one of my social media lists? I will likely need to ask you more questions about programming and troubleshooting due to the scope of my own project being of a similar vein (though i use a servo to actuate the dart-pusher rather than a motor)

I'll send you a PM

Edited by RedFear, 02 January 2015 - 11:31 PM.

[Nemesis2]

Hello Gimmick
I must say this is an awesome thing you have done to the RS.
I myself am not tech savy (programming). I have modded some blaster in my time but nothing like this.
I will PM you soon with some questions if that is ok?
Thank you for sharing this with everyone.

[MAV13]

thank you so much for posting this. It is what I myself have been planning to do on a afterburner rayven (i forget who was the first, but my mod guide/2-stage rayven was definitely not the first). some notes: do you think an Uno would fit in the shell of such a blaster or would I have to use a mini? (i'm trying to retain as many pins as needed to implement the same features you have, and maybe a few others that you have planned as well.)

Also is it possible i could add you to one of my social media lists? I will likely need to ask you more questions about programming and troubleshooting due to the scope of my own project being of a similar vein (though i use a servo to actuate the dart-pusher rather than a motor)

I'll send you a PM

Take it from someone who's also working on one, you'll need a Nano, even for a relatively spacious blaster like the RS. This was my inspiration to start my own and I've got the coding all done and breadboarded. Just gotta get it in the blaster over the winter!

[RedFear]

Take it from someone who's also working on one, you'll need a Nano, even for a relatively spacious blaster like the RS. This was my inspiration to start my own and I've got the coding all done and breadboarded. Just gotta get it in the blaster over the winter!

so even if i cut out the "carry handle" area on the rayven and make that entire area into a housing area, i won't have enough space? hmm...

[J-Andy]

I like what you're doing here. I am working on an RS myself at the moment and being that I am a complete electronics idiot I am waiting as patiently as possible for one of these type units to be completed and ready for purchase. Either Gimmick or BSUK is going to have some of my cash in their pocket depending on who gets their unit running reliably first. I was wondering if something like Burst Wizard might be able to be conveniently adapted to work? Perhaps splicing it in just before the pusher... flywheels would still spin but pusher would work on a pre-set burst cycle. IDK just curious, as stated I know zippo about electronics.

[MAV13]

so even if i cut out the "carry handle" area on the rayven and make that entire area into a housing area, i won't have enough space? hmm...

I mean, yeah, you could do that but you'll have a big housing wider than the body of the blaster if you do it that way. For the record, the Nano has the same number of pins as the Uno.

I like what you're doing here. I am working on an RS myself at the moment and being that I am a complete electronics idiot I am waiting as patiently as possible for one of these type units to be completed and ready for purchase. Either Gimmick or BSUK is going to have some of my cash in their pocket depending on who gets their unit running reliably first. I was wondering if something like Burst Wizard might be able to be conveniently adapted to work? Perhaps splicing it in just before the pusher... flywheels would still spin but pusher would work on a pre-set burst cycle. IDK just curious, as stated I know zippo about electronics.

You could do it pretty easily like this:
http://nerfhaven.com...showtopic=25396

A Burst Wizard would be even easier but much more expensive, it has also been done before with a Stampede here:
http://coastalbendac...-made-easy.html

[J-Andy]

You could do it pretty easily like this:
http://nerfhaven.com...showtopic=25396

A Burst Wizard would be even easier but much more expensive, it has also been done before with a Stampede here:
http://coastalbendac...-made-easy.html
[/quote]


Great links, Thank you.

[RedFear]

Okay, well then arduino mini it is

[Technician Gimmick]

I'd love to hear of your progress. You should consider starting a new thread of your own. I think the forum has a category for ongoing projects.

As for the (s)niper/loser mode, I had chosen a 2 shot burst because I don't consider nerf darts to be very accurate. Especially if they are being launched from flywheels. It would be pretty simple to change the code to a single shot, if you prefer.

Thanks! - Gimmick

[Kingbob]

I am planning on duplicating your mod in my own rapidstrike within the next month or so. If you want/need a beta tester, your kit would save me a lot of time. I am extremely tech savy, and have a friend who is arduino experienced and a very good coder who is willing to help me with the project. I would be very interested in buying a kit from you, even if it's in an alpha or beta state.

If you want to add smartphone control, you can do it the easy way over bluetooth. If you add a bluetooth UART from Adafruit you can use their existing Android/IOS app to send data back and forth.

Love your build. Started doing the same thing to mine as well. Built mine on a single board like this:


But once installed so the displays are on the right side of the gun, i found it was slightly too thick and was interfering with the magazine.


So ive since made a far smaller version:


My magazine detection is using switches to detect the ridges on the sides of the magazines. With a couple of notches its quite simple.

If you're running out of pins on the pro mini, and dont want to use a larger arduino, you could always use an i2c multiplexer/extender to let you use more devices.

[Technician Gimmick]

Very nice work there! What are you doing to control your motors? And have you had any communications issues from it? My main problem in times past has been communications between the arduino and the controller chip for the display.

Again, good work!
- Gimmick

[Kingbob]

Very nice work there! What are you doing to control your motors? And have you had any communications issues from it? My main problem in times past has been communications between the arduino and the controller chip for the display.

Again, good work!
- Gimmick

At the moment mine is just a counter and magazine detection. I havent yet done any motor or wiring upgrades, but that is on my list to do.
I hadnt considered using the arduino to run the motors at all, just didnt see the need. I was thinking about using a 1-2" OLED display for more info, ie: counter, inserted clip size, batt voltage, maybe motor RPM, but i'm specifically going for an Aliens pulse rifle look on this one.

I assume you're using a MAX7219? The very first one i used on my breadboarded circuit i did have some troubles. I had to almost power cycle it a bunch of times, try driving characters repeatedly before it would be stable. And then the next day, it would misbehave again. But the subsequent ones i tried didnt have that problem.

I also found I could get rid of the 2 recommended capacitors with no ill effects. But then i am using short and minimal wiring, so maybe less need.


My build here: http://nerfhaven.com...showtopic=26360

[Galorin]

I am relatively new to this whole Nerf modding thing but am a programmer by trade, with an electronics hobby on the side.  I am currently pulling together the pieces I need.  Once I get down to Brass Tacks, I will be sure to do my own mod post, but thought I'd ask a few questions.So far, I have 

 

3 Arduino Nanos - a bit bigger than the Pro, but looking at the shell, so long as I solder and clip pins I can get it to fit.

1x SSD1306 128x64 SPI/I2C OLED screen

Lots of wires of various gauges

 

Oh... I also have all the source code from this thread.  Not sure if you have made any more modifications to it but I will probably just be drawing inspiration rather than wholesale copying.  Might even put mine on Github.  If I include yours, how do you want attribution?

 

Here are my hardware questions for you, or anyone else for that matter.

 

What is the manufacturer and part number of the MOSFET you used? Alternatively, what are the specifications so I can find an equivalent?

How much runtime do you get off the LiPo?

If you could start all over again, what would you do differently?

[NevadaZielmeister]

This has to be one of the most amazing Nerf Blasters I have ever seen. Thank you so much for sharing this with us all. 

 

My only questions is what is the price tag for one of these? That is to ask, how much did you pay in parts to put this together?

[Technician Gimmick]

What is the manufacturer and part number of the MOSFET you used? Alternatively, what are the specifications so I can find an equivalent?

How much runtime do you get off the LiPo?

If you could start all over again, what would you do differently?

 

1. I'll have to check on the MOSFETs, but I don't recall them being anything particularly special.

2. Runtime on the LiPo has been super.  I think it is realistic to count on a full day of nerf on one battery.  But I havn't yet tested that.  I did do a half day with no issues though.

3. This is a huge question.  One that I'm in the process of answering for myself, but I'll try to condence it and give you something usable.

I should have had a better overall plan and goal.  Because I didn't yet know what I wanted, I tried a lot of things that didn't pan out well.  For instance, I should have skipped right over the 7-seg displays and gone straight for OLED.  Another major issue I wish I had seen in advance is EMI from the Motors and main power lines.
 

It is this issue that has driven me to persue building my own PCB.  And once decideing to make this move to custom PCB, it opened up the window to many many more features and ideas

 

This has to be one of the most amazing Nerf Blasters I have ever seen. Thank you so much for sharing this with us all. 

 

My only questions is what is the price tag for one of these? That is to ask, how much did you pay in parts to put this together?

 

Thank you, I hope you've enjoyed it, and that it has perhaps inspired you to do something of your own.  It's difficult to come to a total of how much this costs since many of the components I've used have been purchased over a long time.  I think I looked at this question a while ago though, and concluded it was a little less than $100.  And as I recal, the battery and a charger made up a good sized chunck of the cost.