OK Wizards of Effects I need Help

Ask and answer questions, share tips and resources for installing lighting and other electronics in your models.

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BKShepherd
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Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2006 4:07 pm
Location: Sitka Alaska

OK Wizards of Effects I need Help

Post by BKShepherd »

Hi All I have a PL model of the C57D What can anyone tellme about lighting Schemes? I have severa 555 Chips are any of these useful, Plus a M9230 chip , and 2 8051BA+ chips I have no idea what they do. " Help Me, Help Me !!" said the Fly.

Looking forward to talking to some of you

Barry Shepherd
Sitka Alaska
There is no such thing as Gravity .... The Earth Sucks ;-)
BKShepherd
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2006 4:07 pm
Location: Sitka Alaska

Post by BKShepherd »

OH one other thing Please if someone could just help me figure out what the chips are good for I would appreciate it
There is no such thing as Gravity .... The Earth Sucks ;-)
Sparky
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Post by Sparky »

haven't seen the movie, so I'm not sure what the effects should look like. Been looking at Forbiden planet DVD everytime I walk by it at Target. Guess I should get it next time.
<a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/2_wheresaneatpart.jpg" target="_Sparky">Is this plastic thingy on the counter a neat part?</a> <a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/1_casting_inprogress.jpg" target="_Sparky">Let's cast it.</a>
Sparky
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Post by Sparky »

555's are great for a lot of things. They can be used to make flashing LEDs. Dimmer circuits, motor speed controllers. We even had a guy use one to make a servo tester/controller, he had a nob that when yurned drove the servo motor to a new position.
<a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/2_wheresaneatpart.jpg" target="_Sparky">Is this plastic thingy on the counter a neat part?</a> <a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/1_casting_inprogress.jpg" target="_Sparky">Let's cast it.</a>
BKShepherd
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2006 4:07 pm
Location: Sitka Alaska

Post by BKShepherd »

Thanks , I actually had electronics Eons ago but cant remember any of it Where would I find some good instructions on how to utilize these chips? Hooking them up , which legs do what, and so forth?
There is no such thing as Gravity .... The Earth Sucks ;-)
Sparky
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Post by Sparky »

For CMOS chips the CMOS Cook book is a good pin out reference. Some of the info is outdated; specs on what power supply and signal levels can be used are not as strict as they were when this book was written.

In general there are some Graf Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits that are pages of circuits with short descriptions for just about any project. Get a newer volume (I have volume 1 and there are circuits in it that the parts are not available anymore).

The ARRL Amateur Radio Operators Handbook has a lot of circuits in it. There are also resistor and capacitor marking tables in it, some info on transistors, too.

Radio shack had some experimenter's hand books, little paper books that had circuits and tips on hooking things up. Not sure if you can still get these they seem to go in and out of printing.


For a pin out/data sheet, your best bet is to do a look up for that part on digikey. If they have the data sheet there will be a link to it after you select the part from the table of returned results. If not there's usually a link to the manufactures website where you can hunt for the data sheet.
<a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/2_wheresaneatpart.jpg" target="_Sparky">Is this plastic thingy on the counter a neat part?</a> <a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/1_casting_inprogress.jpg" target="_Sparky">Let's cast it.</a>
jwrjr

Post by jwrjr »

The 8051 is a single chip computer. It can do a lot of things, but has a few drawbacks. For one thing, it needs an external eprom for program storage. It also will not directly drive leds. Even so, I've used them before. Now I am partial to 'pic' series controllers.
en'til Zog
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Post by en'til Zog »

Hi, Barry!

For the C57-D "power core" swirly light effect, you could use a pair of CMOS chips - the 4023 for a 'clock' or pulse source, and a 4017 decade counter to drive the LEDs. I think Sparky is hosting the circuit layout, on one of the threads in this forun.

Essentially, the 4023 provides a friendly continuing series of pulses. The 4017 listens to it and advances 'the count' each time it gets a pulse. As the chip 'counts' successive outputs go HIGH or POSITIVE - the rest stay LOW or NEGATIVE. They flop back to LOW as the count continues. There are 10 outputs and a reset - you can set up the chip to count to any useful number like 4 or 7 by putting the next HIGHER output to RESET rather than a connection to NEGATIVE or GROUND. You can also drive 3 or 4 LEDs (each taking 2 volts or less) from each output, driving everyting with a 9 volt battery. By connecting the LEDs to the outputs of the 4017 and POSITIVE you can get all the LEDs lit EXCEPT for the one being 'counted' which is OFF - giving you a set of moving DARK spots in a lit core. Works for the Jupiter II and the C57-D.

If you can't find the wiring diagram, eeeemail me and I'll send it to you.

(Dang it. Gotta get a space to host my own images & stuff.) :evil:
Last edited by en'til Zog on Mon Apr 24, 2006 12:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sparky
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Post by Sparky »

Unfortunately I haven't figured out how to turn off picture protection, so that you could browse the folder the pictures are in. I need to make a resource page with thumbnails. . .

everything is in:
http://www.kc6sye.com/images/circuits

the 4017 circuit is here:
http://www.kc6sye.com/images/circuits/4 ... pdated.jpg

a 4060 circuit is here:
http://www.kc6sye.com/images/circuits/4060_basic.jpg
<a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/2_wheresaneatpart.jpg" target="_Sparky">Is this plastic thingy on the counter a neat part?</a> <a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/1_casting_inprogress.jpg" target="_Sparky">Let's cast it.</a>
BKShepherd
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2006 4:07 pm
Location: Sitka Alaska

Post by BKShepherd »

Thanks guys, My biggest problem is that we have a Radio Shack here in town, Imagine that in the frozen wastes of Alaska. They told me yesterday that Radio Shack has pretty much decided to stop carrying actual electrinic doo dadsand go the Consumer Electronics route, TVs and such.
There is no such thing as Gravity .... The Earth Sucks ;-)
Sparky
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Post by Sparky »

Ya know they were talking about that way back when I was in college, and they just ended up re-vamping the display for their parts. That's when the big set of drawers started showing up. RadioShack was built on experimenters, their consumer side equipment ain't that great. I'm betting they won't fold their parts department away. Local sotres might not carry the parts display if they choose not to. The one in the mall here has almost nothing even when it comes to consumer products, its really a small store front.
<a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/2_wheresaneatpart.jpg" target="_Sparky">Is this plastic thingy on the counter a neat part?</a> <a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/1_casting_inprogress.jpg" target="_Sparky">Let's cast it.</a>
BKShepherd
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Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2006 4:07 pm
Location: Sitka Alaska

Post by BKShepherd »

Yeah well I went to the website they don't have anything there either or actually very few items
There is no such thing as Gravity .... The Earth Sucks ;-)
Sparky
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Post by Sparky »

Scrounge around the circuits and homebrew pages and make a list of comon parts to make a digikey order up. Their minimum is $25 I think (without the extra handling fee).

If your order the chips in a quanity of 5 or more they usually pack/ship them in a section of the chip-tubing making it easier to store them.

Off the top of my head:
4017
4060
556 (dual 555 timers, so its like a 16 pin chip that is basically two 555s in one case).
555

Some votlage regulators and or current drivers. I got some 3.3 volt ones, 5 volt, 6 volt, and 12 volt transistors.

An op amp LM358
the Bipolar Capactior 22 uf 16 volt (only one brand panisonic at digikey)

some 2n2222 transistors
2n3904
2n3906?

Any other things i'm missing, Zog?

If you're brave you can load up on surface mount leds too. The blues and whites are still expensive so I went with 10 or so of reds, yellow, green, in 3 different case sizes. these come in little baggies in a strip of 'cut tape'

If a blue led is going to cost me so much I want it in a case I can handle with out cooking it or dropping it into oblivion.


You might even find a pack assortment of resistors, but I got mine from radio shack last time.

You could also shop jamco, for these types of things. They kind of picked up where radio shack and Sams Electronics/Heathkit stopped.

BTW get a reistor wheel they're good for testing LEDS. Start with a high resistance like 3.3 K and click down to lower ones.
<a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/2_wheresaneatpart.jpg" target="_Sparky">Is this plastic thingy on the counter a neat part?</a> <a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/1_casting_inprogress.jpg" target="_Sparky">Let's cast it.</a>
en'til Zog
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Post by en'til Zog »

Welcome to the Sparky & Zog Show featuring -- CHIPS AHOY, the musical.....

My favorite chips are: (JAMECO part numbers & prices)
4011 - useful for single or double clock circuits. 12634 $0.29 @
4017 - decade counter chip - good for Cylon eyes or power cores. 12749 $0.39 @
4023 - Triple 3-input NAND gate - makes a good solid pulse source or mild LED flasher. 12845 $0.36 @
4040 - 12 stage binary counter - put a clock signal in - LOTS of outputs flash. 12950 $0.32 @
4049 - Inverting Hex Buffer - makes up to THREE separate pulse sources, clocks, or LED blinkers (3 LEDs, 3 blinking rates) slightly higher drive current than other CMOS. 13055 $0.29 @
4060 - “14-stage Binary Counter - SELF CLOCKINGâ€￾ - this has parts built in to ‘go blink itself’ if you add a resistor and capacitor - LOTS of outputs. 13151 $0.41 @
4516 - Divide by 16 Binary UP-DOWN counter - great for 16 LED Cylon eyes or KITT scanners, with couple of other chips (the 4515 and 4069 or 4049).13549 $0.50 @
4515 - 1-of-16 Decoder, low output - takes the count from the 4516 and makes the LEDs flash in order. (try DIGI-KEY)
555C - CMOS version of the obligatory 555 timer chip. 27422 $0.29 @ or 126797 $0.51 @

ALL these are CMOS chips, ‘cause they use very little power themselves, while driving LEDs fairly well. I usually buy ‘em by the tube of 25 from JAMECO. Output drive current is typically 8 to 10 mA which will drive an LED to useful brightness, and extend it’s service life into centuries.

In addition, I’d suggest some other parts - resistors and capacitors which are very handy for limiting current through LEDs (resistors - usually in the range of 33 ohms to 470 ohms) or for building timing circuits with IC chips (capacitors in the range of 0.01 uF to 1 uF and resistors in the range from 100,000 ohms (( 100 K ohms )) to 2 million ohms (( 2 meg ohms )) ). VARIABLE RESISTORS are VERY handy when building blinky circuits, since they allow you to vary the speed of the blink, or clock, or pulse source - the most useful parts are 100,000 ohms (or 100 K ohms) up to 2,000,000 ohms (2 meg ohms).

One of the handiest Variable Resistors for blinky circuits is: the 200K ‘trimmer’ variable - you set it once, and usually don’t fiddle with it anymore, unlike a ‘volume control’ which is meant for constant adjusting. ALL part # TP-200K - 10 for a buck. A dime a shot. Cheap. OR JAMECO’s part # 3362P-204 $0.59 @. If you need more resistance to make a circuit blink slower - put a larger resistor in series with this one and use the 200K to adjust the speed within a smaller range. These are quite small, too.

I keep an selection of tiny variables on hand ranging from 1K up to 2 meg ohms. I buy assortments, then sort ‘em.

If you are going to light models, you will probably want some LEDs, which some in all sorts of sizes, colors, voltages, and brightnesses. Generally, the brighter the LED, the more it costs. Generally, the cheapest LEDs are common colors like RED, AMBER, ORANGE, YELLOW, most GREENs - these usually need between 1.8 and 2.4 volts to operate. The more expensive colors are BLUE, WHITE, some GREENs, VIOLET, PURPLE, and ULTRAVIOLET - and these also usually take 3.6 volts to operate.

You can also use “Electroluminescent Sheetâ€￾ or “Electroluminescent Wireâ€￾ ( EL sheet or EL wire ) for lighting effects. This stuff is essentially a plastic sheet or wire that lights up - or at least glows - when energized by the proper inverter. These things often come in complete kits with inverters and places to put the batteries.

Another option is “Cold Cathode Fluorescent Tubesâ€￾ ( CCFT ). Like regular Fluorescent tubes, but very small and thin, they need to be driven by their own Inverters to provide the high voltage (at VERY very low amperage) they need to operate.

DO NOT try and power EL sheet, EL wire, or CCFTs with 110 VAC or whatever comes out of your wall outlets or mains outlets. Use the proper inverters and batteries to prevent possible lethal shock hazards.

Do NOT try and use “Light Bulbsâ€￾ - those little glass things with wires inside that get real hot and burn out SO easily and quickly. Don’t. EVER.

JAMECO has some excellent parts packs or “Component Cabinetsâ€￾ - carefully selected groups of resistors, caps, etc pre-packaged into bundles so you can buy one line item and get a pretty good assortment of values. These are factory new, prime units selected to have the ‘most useful’ values commonly needed.

There are two ways to buy these assortments - with a nice cabinet of drawers to put them in, or without. If you have a source of cheap drawer units, get the ones ‘without’ the cabinet which costs about $12.00.

Favorite assortments:
Resistors - 1/8th watt (tiny) 108302 12.95
Resistors - 1/4 watt (larger, handle more power) 103165 12.95

Capacitors - the ceramic assortments are nice but have a LOT of small values that you probably will not use, the tantalums are expensive but have a good range of values. My suggestion? Buy a selection of capacitors as discrete batches. You don’t need high voltage rating for any of these - if you power your circuits with a 9 volt battery, then a 16 volt rating cap should be just fine. And small. (The higher the voltage a cap is rated at, the large the physical size of the cap for a given value and construction.) JAMECO’s mylar caps run between $0.04 (yup, 4 cents each) up to $0.26 for useful values. At a certain point, it’s cheaper to go to aluminum caps.

Selecting for ‘cheap’:
.018 uF mylar - 207837 - $0.40 for 10
.047 uF mylar - 26930 - $1.20 for 10
.1 uF mylar - 135562 - $1.40 for 10
.47 uF mylar - 26999 - $2.63 for 10
1.0. uF aluminum axial lead - 10866 - $1.11 for 10
4.7. uF aluminum axial lead - 11076 - $1.62 for 10
Total cost - $8.36 - less than a pre-bundled assortment containing values you will probably never use..

They also have “Grab Bagsâ€￾ of mixed assorted parts, which they make NO attempt to sort other than by general types. I like the Grab Bag of assorted trimmer pots just to get a bunch of assorted units cheap.

Oh, and you might get together with a few other builders and get a POUND “Grab Bagâ€￾ of assorted LEDs from Jameco - expensive at $45 but you get a LOT of LEDs. Mixed - anything that they have to hand, but neat stuff. JAMECO part # 135271 for $45.00 - and about 1900 LEDs!

Sources for ‘stuff’ in general order from cheapest to most expensive:

ALL electronics - www.allelectronics.com - small company, some real good prices, modest stock. A quite extensive range of discrete resistors, and some 1 WATT LEDs.

JAMECO electronics - www.jameco.com - a medium sized company (and getting larger) with decent prices, a broad product line. Extensive lines of capacitors, limited resistors. Good selection of IC’s at good prices.

DIGI-KEY electronics - www.digikey.com - large commercial house with extensive lines of merchandise, LEDs especially. Normal commercial prices too.

For LEDs you might try The LED Light - www.theledlight.com - with good stocks of commercially priced LEDs including 1,3, & 5 WATT units - REAL bright.

Also Superbright LEDs for - well - real bright LEDs! www.superbrightleds.com Good prices, some unique units.

Yeah, there are lots of other sources of stuff. These are just the ones I often use.
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