Tag: ProjectBacklog

Wings v1

Project Status: Backlog

Click on the links below to jump to the various sections of this design….

Intro

The idea behind this was to create a set of mechanically articulated wings. They should be powered either by mechanics, pnumatics or hydralyics. Its the actual maechanics that I’m really interested in and have in mind a finshed product that is either styalised stem/cyber punk or devil/dragon wings. I have a feeling that I will simply build two sets once I have the mechanics working neatly and simply. There are several versions around that are controlled by moving the upper arms but these have never appealed to me!

Time & Money

 EstimatedSo Far…
Time to Design30 hrs 
Time to Build (Including sourcing/scrounging materials!)3 Months0 hrs
Cost to Build£300£0

Initial Thoughts

This was my first ever prototype in cardboard and string that I have carried tucked away for about 12 years!

This is my recent full-scale mock-up using Correx (for-sale-signs) and 6m bolt and wingnuts.

I think that I want to make two sets of wings – a futuristic angel set of wing with metallic feathers and a set of leathery devil / bat wings.

Having watched lots of videos I think that I want to run these on linear actuators (electric pistons… kind of) as I’m much happier with electrics than trying to work out some pneumatic or hydraulic systems. The linear actuators are a better bet than servos as well as they don’t tack power to hold something in position so the battery packs should last a lot longer.

Component Ideas

12v Linear Actuator

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000849922418.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.21a13c00d0an4l&mp=1

Aluminium Box Section

https://www.aluminiumwarehouse.co.uk/

A waist strap with an aircraft buckle would look cool

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal-Aircraft-Buckle-Extender-Safty-Seat-Belt-Black-Airplane-Seat-Belt-ON3/392856297831?hash=item5b780f6167:g:Ak0AAOSwGx1ZznFa

Aluminium blinds to make feathers

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9174157

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pvc-Venetian-Window-Blind-Blinds-In-Black-Cream-White-Silver-Teak-And-Natural/201460865399?var=500640807953&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item2ee800d977:g:Hc0AAOSwWCFbwySV&amdata=enc%3AAQAFAAACYBaobrjLl8XobRIiIML1V4Imu%252Fn%252BzU5L90Z278x5ickkrmmq8hWevtuKE7%252F%252BLfVXth2TaazDnw%252BeJHOHfkoO1aov6BairgSVSk0voFLu64YXB6WG1u0RJ4oOUTk50NFXZWuwkhJAp3cy0N19ARTwGTBvtX%252BjHdIbFa4z%252ByNnP62jk6XZhH%252BoTZ1Ksgzn9GW14I099m5AmKhB%252F%252FNlMPvclJ4ZcF1uTwEU3QLpPHGNMyQv1bmOH9WWhTo7mcfGcVNDb%252BvBzCafJ7yolP0l%252B1BHvnDgVHrqPoC5fdgd%252FPhP6CExcW2jfedmFu%252F6I5Awtj565d9rFILsRg%252Bs%252BdgjDtUUAthGFak5hpWdqf%252BmYYDk9%252Fx9Es6AhfMBozfvILhceSBJEM2LszUjcFqyldg5vLHP6JLL%252F52Ld8CmWoQIk2iiYQdAiXCyg8%252B7n6Zgr4T9QaxD%252FUegOvEzQUKqs55ASTrMHozn4JzAX76AGbiokFhSvBAwJTTkhC%252BylEq077Zkuw4r3C4yOII86D8uRjj361prsTQokskHz1n0h5daDihwdryylHEnhtQaYS73wmMK3Zuc8kK1woRCMcVWtxkafQd%252Fqie93sSUP6iAMCzcztE8mbHDNIIiVsVVSNeGvJFyUtBeHDcCpjdu0ts5KfalcbmQeQN80G0B6QJBkf7HsEnuZvKsN7hvWtBrlCphbAGPRiq4Vq3mivxouYZsU3tDt1Mk%252FNnwjxOzdxsDjZT6y4wDB9JtgJbHqQZ654IFdxrDNuO05Z7K%252BX7PKzYWFzLzArSoH6ehy%252BPV%252FimP9YLmJw8ISIsF%7Ccksum%3A201460865399e1aedc5e098e490bb93cc95088e0389d%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2334524

Narnia Lamp

Project Status: Backlog

Click on the links below to jump to the various sections of this design….

 

Intro

Narnia Lamp

The basic idea is to have a low power LED victorian lamp that can be broken down into sections and easily moved about. The lamp should be capable of being powered from a portable solution, such as a deep cycle battery and solar panel hook up. The idea is to have the whole system portable for use at markets (to cast general lighting on a market stall) and outside tents at festivals.

I’m not sure that I’ll get something as nice looknig as this image and you can get an off the shelf version for around £65. So if the project specs under £50 it might be worth attampting otherwise I’ll buy one and then hack it.

Brief & Inspiration

 Ooooooohhhh what about with hanging baskets as well?
 

It cold easily be an RGB LED light as well!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Victorian-Outdoor-Lighting-Twin-Double-Head-Garden-Path-Lamp-Post-Lantern-Light-/170819424522

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Time & Money

  Estimated So Far…
Time to Design 15 hrs 1 hrs
Time to Build (Including sourcing/scrounging materials!) 20 hrs 0 hrs
Cost to Build £50 £0

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Preliminary Sketches & Development

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Review So Far!

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Flamethrower

Project Status: Backlog

Intro

Another fire toy for me to play with… I often rant about the dangers of fire breathing but all that discussion is covered on the Home Of Poi site – Dangers of Fire Breathing. So rather than breathing fire its more impressive awe-inspiring to build your own flamethrower! I’m not going into too much detail here as I’m not sure of the legalities but it will be a gas fuelled flame thrower and NOT a liquid fueled flame thrower (much safer!).

Click on the links below to jump to the various sections of this design….

 

Brief & Inspiration

I had a play with one built by Angus and Hannah in Perth, Australia and it was a lot of fun!

Inspiration

Parts Sources

 

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Time & Money

  Estimated So Far…
Time to Design 15 hrs 0 hrs
Time to Build
(Including sourcing/scrounging materials!)		 20 hrs 0 hrs
Cost to Build £200 £0

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Preliminary Sketches

The charge/fire valve needs to be an L-Valve NOT a T-Valve….  https://valveman.com/blog/understanding-tport-vs-lport-directional-flows/

I need to get down from the 3 way valve down to the copper pipe, unless I can find a 10 or 15mm compression 3 way valve!

https://www.screwfix.com/p/male-coupler-15mm

 

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Review So Far!

  • Confirmation of accumulator tank sizes.
  • Speak with Jonny about welding and threading the pipe.
  • Should the piping be brass/copper to ensure gas tight fit?
  • Can a T Ball valve be sourced for the isolator?
  • Voice for MP3 playback “weapon armed” – Could Jonny record something?
  • Would be nice to have a Bluetooth / wireless output options.
  • Confirm if the accumulator should be raised to 3 bar and if the pre mix should happen in the accumulator.
  • Where should the flash arrestor be situated, is it enough to have one arrestor prior to the high pressure regulator or should there be an additional flash arrestor between the accumulator tank and nozzle? (cheap enough to do both in proving tests)
  • What are the weight constraints? (Comfort of carrying for 1 hour walk about <15kg including accumulator and fuel)
  • What are the size constraints (storage and transport)? (flight case?)

Audio options

  • Switch between on-board speakers and 3.5mm jack.
  • Use the BTR Audio link on the desk but would need a Bluetooth transmitter
  • Use a radio mike?
  • Play back an audio file using the Pi or the small Arduino board from EMF.
  • Power supply for integral audio, speakers, amp, lights
  • Possible to include a mike in the mask that ties in to the speaker/remote output?

Lighting options

  • LED charge indicator
  • Pilot light indicator
  • Glowing / pulsing symbol?
  • Integral Spot?

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Helper Robot

Project Status: Backlog

Intro

Helper bot is intended to be a tracked robot with both autonomous (making it a robot) and remote control. The first prototype will be a small scale working model that I can then scale up to a full size version.

Click on the links below to jump to the various sections of this design….

 

Brief & Inspiration

These two photographs are of German remote control tanks, captured by the British during World War II. There were three varieties of these Funklenkpanzers with this being the smallest. The basic concept for these tanks was to remotely drive them up to enemy weapons, armoured vehicles or emplacements and then detonate the charge that they carried.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_tracked_mine

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Time & Money

  Estimated So Far…
Time to Design 100 hrs 5 hrs
Time to Build
(Including sourcing/scrounging materials!)		 100 hrs 0 hrs
Cost to Build £400 £0

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Preliminary Sketches

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Review So Far!

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Sci Fi Collar

Project Status: Backlog

Intro

The Sci Fi Collar is something that I’ve been thinking about for a while! A long futuristic looking collar / facemask / neck-piece.

Click on the links below to jump to the various sections of this design….

 

Brief & Inspiration

No brief for this one as its just something that has been in the back of my mind for a while. But I have been ispired by some artwork done by Bluefley.

http://shadowness.com/Bluefley/-first-snow-
http://bluefley.cgsociety.org/gallery/434879/

First Snow by Bluefley
First Snow by Bluefley

I like the idea of the large hood and the solid collar piece with the lighting on it which would be easy enough to do. I would just need to embed some LED’s into the collar. There could be a variety of functions built into the collar such as uplights for the face, red LED running lights as in the artwork above and front facing flood lights for use at night.

It would be nice to have a control panel for the lighting built either into the sleeve of a coat or onto a wrist piece. The control themselves sould also be illuminating creating a glow from the wrist unit. A variable control for dimming the front spots and a pulsing heartbeat LED should also be on the wrist unit.

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Time & Money

  Estimated So Far…
Time to Design 15 hrs 1 hrs
Time to Build
(Including sourcing/scrounging materials!)		 20 hrs 0 hrs
Cost to Build £100 £0

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Preliminary Sketches & Development

Basic ideas at this point are to have the collar in two seperate parts; Collar and Controls. The collar is going to need controls for the various lighting options and these control could either be wrist mounted or hip/holster mounted. In either case there would need to be power and control leads from the control unit to the collar.

Either configuration could feature extra lights and dials on the Control Unit. The wrist controls could feature a torch inline with the wrist. A hip/holster control unit could feature extra storage to be used as a pocket.

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Review So Far!

At the moment I am leaning towards having the hip/holster Control Unit as oppose to the wrist version.

I am still torn between having a futuristic sci-fi industrial look or a steam-punk look. I can go ahead and build the electronics anyway and see how the costume evolves.

I still have to decide how best to build the collar – foam / latex / fibreglass / vacuum molded plastic…. etc!

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So this whole thing is totally achievable in foam. I’ve been watching a lot more tutorials and this one for example basically covers all of the techniques…