WhizzyWriter
- Control method: Serial (RS-232)
- CPU: PIC 16F628
- Power source: 4x AA cells (2 sets of)
- Programming language: Microchip PIC RISC assembler
- Target environment: indoors
Well, if Servo Writer is a robot, then so's WhizzyWriter.
Here's the motor. This was the X-axis motor from a printer (the one which pulls the print head across the paper). I have attached a disc of white plastic to it as the reflector for the optical position sensor.
This is an aluminuim U section mounted to the motor. Two screws were screwed into section, one on either side of the motor shaft to fix it in position. Note the black line drawn on the "reflector" and the multicoloured wires from the sensor.
This is the PCB. Couldn't be simpler. 5-way edge connector for the In-Circuit Serial Programmer (ICSP), 8 LEDs and 8 resistors. (Oh, and a pic.) I added 2 resistors and the cable for the opto sensor after this photo was taken.
This is the full machine. The motor is just clamped in a laboratory retort stand. (Doesn't everyone have a couple of these?) Note the batteries at the other end for balance.
WhizzyWriter whizzing and writing.
And, of course, just to fulfill the requirements...
Technically and mechanically, this one's complete, and I'm marking it as such, but I'm going to continue to work on the software (posted above). I want to make it scroll a message and do some other fancy tricks.
14-Dec-2008: Final, final, final update (maybe): New video. New software build (containing COMPLETE ASCII 8x8 font with characters 33 through 127).
Oh, yeah. Here are the uppercase and lowercase portions of the font.
Hee hee ... staying up late
Hee hee ... staying up late BOA ? Nice work I like it... I'm guessin 6 LED's on a stick, pulsing at the right time? How did you make the rotary connection? Or maybe no rotary connection if everything, including power is mounted on the stick.
I have been meaning to build me one for my bicycle - like these ... Spoke POV
Did you use one of your PICs for this?
Nice work !
Patience
I was just too pooped to documrent it last night.
"LEDs on a stick." Hmmm. Crude, but accurate. I think one could do quite a respectable font with only 5 rows. As it happens, my design has 8. I'm only using 6. Future expansion and all that.
Re the connection, I cheated. The battery is whizzing round at the other end of the "stick" as a counterweight. The motor has a seperate battery.
I think I will move to a 10-way bushing, though. I fancy printing some circular tracks on a PCB to see how well that works.
Next task is to add some rotational feedback so it "knows" when to start the message.
Me like!
"Next task is to add some rotational feedback so it "knows" when to start the message."
That would be awesome! Then you could make a text scroller out of it... Looking forward to seeing more!
Rotational Feedback
Beautifull!! I always
Kit? KIT!?!?!?
Please, don't use such FOUL language in my blog!
Kit, indeed!
:-)
:D
BOA and Jack Kirby make
BOA and Jack Kirby make their own chips with layers of silicon and germanium - picture here - which they mine out of their respective backyards.
Don't eat the Northern Irish Yellow Snow
That is just so wrong. And
That is just so wrong.
And funny too.
In the pipeline (!)
Very nice, make a great
How did you get it to make
You said "kit"
Opto sensor.
Where did you procure said
Any old one...
You could pull one out of a floppy drive. I got mine here. Almost any of the listed ones will do the same job.
Here's the component.