Mark VI Lightsaber Build Log (OT)

[kresty]

Lara's on her fifth lightsaber cane now (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:981345) so I'm looking at making it more robust and "easier" to build/repair.  (I just realize that if you count labor she's gotta be in the top 1% of expensive cane owners).

Thus, the Mark VI Lightsaber.  Each version so far has had "improvements", but hopefully we're getting close to a stable design.

The idea is to simplify the circuits to make them smaller, this improving assembly, and probably reliability.  Additionally the smaller size will hopefully allow for more space in the cane handle.  More space means more room for reinforcement in the 3D print, which means less breaking.

To be continued...

[kresty]

Most of this could be similar to the flashing lights and sounds of droid builds, which is why I wanted to share it.  We have a "maker garage" at work where people teach about new things, and I learned about making my own circuit boards!

To start I attacked the LED part, it's simpler than the brain and seemed like a decent proof-of-concept.  I'll do this backwards and show you what we ended up with.  Tons of thanks to Hiroo Umeno for designing the actual PCB (I meant to help, but he was done before I finished describing it!)

This is a custom PCB from OshPark after I populated it with the components.

Mk VI Lightsaber Cane PCB
LED board for Lara's sixth lightsaber cane (LED side)

(plug side)

Unfortunately, I haven't gotten the soldering right, apparently I fried several of the LEDs in the oven  But the board's good!

Hiroo designed it with an output plug so I could daisy chain them for other projects, but for now I don't need that, so that isn't placed.  I also skipped C5 because the plug is a 90 degree plug, but I'd thought it'd be vertical

Compare that to the old board.  7/4 of the LEDs (eg: power) in the same space, much more neatly and probably about the same assembly time (well, once I figure out how to not fry the LEDs!)

Mark IV Lightsaber Cane LED
Old LEDs

Next time I'll chat about building them. Oh, and did I mention what a big help Hiroo was!