Nifty. I look forward to snapping up two of these when they are ready.
I hope everything goes well, been waiting forever for this.
Gettin closer.
Can’t wait.
cant wait. i will be getting at least two!
You really are the tech god of SRK toodles.
Yes, by DA fetus of Gawd!, I want two of these also please!
Awesome!! Do want!!
If you can make it as sensitive as/more sensitive than an LS-56, I’ll throw a parade around my house in your honor.
I’m excited. Can’t wait to throw one or two of these in a stick and bedazzle people with optical goodness. :lovin:
The unfortunate thing is trying to find a balance, and its not easy trying to pick what to shoot for.
If I make it as sensitive as possible, then the diagonals will be huge around the restrictor. I think that’s why the octo gate was included with the Flashes way back when; because it had a slightly different sensitivity, it needed a different size restrictor to make it feel right on the perimeter, otherwise the slices for the diagonals would be either smaller or larger than the slices for the diagonals, making one or the other harder to find.
I know a lot of people would like for it to be as sensitive as possible. If I do that tho, with all of the existing restrictors, the diagonals would be overpowering. That could be fixed by putting in what other folks would like as well, a very small circular restrictor, but then its back to the drawing board trying to find the circular restrictor that gives perfect 45 degree slices to each of the eight directions.Thats more time, testing, boatloads of money, and more expensive plastic molding costs.
I think my current goal should be to try and match the sensitivity of the JLF microswitch board, rather than the Flash (whoops, said JLF, meant Flash). That way would make it work with all of the existing restrictors, and save a more sensitive ‘pro’ version as an option for later down the road, if the original model proves popular enough.
post new pics plz :bgrin:
If you can’t, that’s fine tho.
How’s this?
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/1617/dsc01996tr.jpg
All of the resistors and capacitors were changed to 0805 size surface mount; very cheap, easy to hand solder. Hopefully some or most of you can see how the traces are very large with the exception of one small trace that weaves between the two holes of an LED; that one little spot is 12 mil I think, while everything else on the board is 24mil width or greater, and the layout just looks clean, with minimal vias, smooth lines, and great separation distance. I love that part.
The housing has four holes on the top that look a little rough because I had to do them by hand with a dremel. I forgot to put those holes into the design when it was milled, so had to add them by hand. Adding them to the housing design is step 1 when I get more of those made.
I compared the spark I was playing on all weekend to a flash. The results were that the flash was a hair bit more sensitive than the spark. Myself and the local guy who played on it all weekend both think it plays very well as is. I did try something though. I had made a version of my housing with the posts to go into a flash board instead of a spark; I put it on and tested the sensitivity. It was crap. In a square gate, the corners were way too small, meaning it was less sensitive than it needed to be, and way less sensitive than it was with the original housing. So my earlier assumption that the housing was fine and wouldn’t need tweaking was wrong.
So, I’ve got three numbers I still need to hammer down:
- Spacing between ‘beams’
- Spacing between the ‘windows’ in the housing.
- Width of the ‘windows’ opening.
If we say the windows are centered on the beams, then 1=2, and I just have to solve this little subjective equation for 2 variables. I’m going to talk to the guy who laid out the housing part, and see if there’s a way to get housings with slightly different windows and spacing without having each being treated as a separate part, otherwise testing out different combinations of spacing and window size could get spendy.
:crybaby:
Toodles,
Most of us WILL wait.
I can afford to wait.
Take your time and perfect your product!
The end result will be worth the heartache.
I think you’ll have it perfected as much as possible within 6-9 months myself…
Christmas time would be nice, but don’t put a hard deadline on it just yet…!
That seems like a reasonable conclusion. I was kind of under the impression that your GT-C could set you up for an interesting Flash clone monopoly. I know you’ve probably considered this, but what would happen if you could make variable power for the optical sensors? Does that in turn affect the sensitivity?
Also, what did you study to become so awesome? Are you an engineer or is this sort of thing just a hobby for you?
I can’t wait to get my hands on one
This is an awesome milestone. I’m so thrilled that this project is coming to fruition. If it takes another year for this to happen, I don’t mind because it’s reached a point where it’s safe to say this is actually happening.
When is MadCatz going to hire you man? When is Hori going to hire you man? A one man show is putting whole companies to shame.
He probably majored in awesome with a minor in kickass.
wow, havent’ checked this thread in several weeks and it seems like toodles is on the ball with this! hey toodles, i was curious exactly what engage distance/sensitivity you’re gonna use? personally, i think for he octo or circle gate, the engage distance of the ascii optical/jlf are too long and makes the diagonals too small. the flash engage distance feels about “3 pieces of paper” (as in per’s ultimate mod) inside the omron switches making it much more sensitive and, if you’re riding the gate on an octo or circle gate, the diagonals and primary directions are very very close to equal. this is my personal preference and what i think is ideal if you’re planning on making the spark with the circle and octo gates in mind.
anyway, here’s to hoping the rest of the project is smooth sailing 
I know you and a number of others want an uber sensitive stick and a restrictor to match. The initial goal is to try to match the regular JLF microswitch sensitivity; explanation given a few posts up.
My next step is to try something with the housing. I want to get some more made, with the same inside walls to prevent light pollution from neighboring LEDs, but with wider windows for each ray. If my current thinking is right, the inside walls are the important part of keeping it reliable, not the windows. If I’m right, then the housing would be finalized and I’d be back to focusing on getting the right spacing in the pcb. As a perk, that would also mean that I could use the same housing on a more sensitive ‘pro’ model down the road, and would only have to worry about making a new restrictor to match.