EMPCCCC
This page last updated: December 21, 2012 as of December 2017
EMPCCCC Hardware and Software setup, followed by links to project instructions
The shipping antistatic plastic is under the XBee USB board which is bolted to the cardboard container (Hexbug larva). The container thus provides protection from static electricity, rough handling and the dome protects the XBee wire antenna. The wire antennae is kinda delicate, the solder might have wicked up the wire so be carefull bending it. Rather than standing straight up, if it is stiff at the base just loop it upwards with the base almost horizontal until it bends easier. Dunno if the wire even needs to be bent up... it would seem it would change its omnidirectional direction.
- Hardware: Sites that sell the hardware have excellent information for their installation.
- The Arduino site has excellent and up to date instructions for getting, installing, and setting up the Arduino micro-controller hardware and software. The current software version is 1.0.3 as of Feb 2013. Jumped to 16.x.x in 2015 to program All the Arduino variants. There are many types of Arduino hardware; Uno and Mini-pro are used in most EMPCCCC projects and a Mega for the Ship self-unloader.
The digi.com XBee site has excellent and up to date instructions for getting, installing, and setting up the XBee hardware and software. The current version is 5.2.7.5 as of Feb 2013. If the firmware is 10EC or above, the consensus is there is no great need to update. Be advised they update often and AFAIK the current is greater than 22... Suggest if you update that you do it After the program installation to avoid hanging chad.
XBees work out of the box for all my purposes. I have not updated nor changed anything.
- Adafruit
has excellent instructions and code for her products.
Sparkfun used to, then they started their educational pages and all the old instructions disappeared... hope they resurface someday.
- The InfraRed IR detector and keypad used is from Adafruit
- XBee 1mW Wire Antenna for Base station with
adafruit or
sparkfun USB board for the PC base station. (Pro 60mW Wire Antenna is NOT required - if the normal 1mW ones cannot talk back then nobody is listening either.
- XBee 1mW Wire Antenna on a sparkfun breakout board and an Atmel ATmega328 : Mini-pro for each receiver-to then operate things per instructions from Base-Computer. If the mini is 3.3 V the Adafruit board cannot be used except for initial XBee configuring with a FTDI cable. Sparkfun sells a breakout board for the XBee or just get a XBee header and solder wires to it - it is not advisable to solder wires directly to the XBee.
- The Arduino Uno can be used at stationary projects like the Rotary dumper or Hump yard, they are too large to fit inside a train car, however they would be easier to handle, more durable, and support shields for additional functionality.
- The Hitec HPP-21 is very usefull in testing the servos, prior to installation and when attached to the launcher or roof. It is used to determine the Up and Down values to be used in the program. Their PC program displays the number to set for the max min range to raise - lower functions. Simply slide the bar with the mouse to move the servo arm. Be advised it starts at mid-range so when attached to the roof or launcher, manually move the roof or launcher -prior- to running the program. It is available at many stores that sell RC equipment. and Yes something similar could be built with a slider input and LED panel value output, so you just go ahead and do that while I simply use the HPP-21.
- "WARNING: Using the servo arm to turn the servo motor may cause the gears to break or jump and the servo will stop functioning correctly. This is true for all servos regardless of servo manufacturer." <- a quote from the internet -> "Danger Danger Will Robinson Danger Danger" these little ultra sub- nano micro servos are delicate .. so are the tiny electronics...
Running a new servo on the modified Arduino 'SweepTest' program for a while to 'loosen' it up (spread the grease around) [after you have determined from a Hitec HPP-21 and input the actual Min Max ranges into the program... the default Arduino values seem very 'wide' ] would be helpful. Actually, manually 'sweeping' the servo with the Hitec HPP-21 and verifying the end-range values is enough to break-in the servo and ensure that the servo actually works. Thats what i do... so much easier and controllable.
- A Hitec HPP-21 is undeniably essentially required. Was it mentioned that a Hitec HPP-21 is handy to have? A Hitec HPP-21 is handy to have.
- Links
- hansenhobbies Deluxe Crimping Tool for making servo connectors and other detachable connections.
Cut off 1/8" insulation, position it in the connector, squeeze the tails to hold the wire, slip into the crimper small slot (in until the metal is even with the crimper edge {i hold it so when my fingers are against the crimper the metal is fully inserted}) which has already been squeezed to the first ratchet point (make sure it is horizontal with the crimper to avoid messy crimps), and squeeze until it grins and the ratchet releases.
- vexrobotics mechanical parts a Larger-longer Tracks parts source. Most other tracks seem too short to be used as conveyors or train positioners. The track prices seem reasonable, it is the small parts needed to connect things together that seem expensive : gears, drive rods, ...
- Positioner
- Linear Motion Kit $24.99 contains racks
- Advanced Gear Kit $19.99 contains rack and the pinion gears you have to have
- 2-Wire Motor 393 w/ Motor Controller 29 $28.99 OR smaller for ~$20 to move along rack The large one is HEAVY. and so as of 2015 they only make the larger one:(
- Drive Shafts $5.49 to connect motor to pinion gear
- Plates $4.99 to mount small servo to moving positioner
- 8-32 screws ~$10, and some with nuts from a hardware store... 6-32 screws, washers, spacers, ...its the small parts... and all those you dont use that come as part of a 'kit' just to get that 'one' part.
- Rack Gear (16-pack) $19.99 to use the other rack for another positioner... and have 12 left over - enough for 2 more positioners - except you need the parts from all the other kits...
- ... robotshop sells all the stuff ... and more...
- Tools
- X-Acto knife, #11 & #17 or #18 blades
- scissors made for cutting plastic
- Razor saw (Atlas Super saw)
- Glue: Elmer's wood glue, Plastic model (Testors tube-solvent, Plastruct Weld-contains MEK), GOOP (contact ashesive), Vaseline and/or grease (to NOT glue things {especially used on the GOOP threads -before- it has been opened});
Putty : Tamiya, Testors Contour, Squadron white; Acetone on a cue-tip to smooth the putty
- Hole saws : 5/8" and 7/8" to drill small and large flanged bearings to hold the 8mm rod to hold the GT2 gears for conveyors; 1" to drill holes for the coal chutes; 3/4" for No idea what.
- No Cry gloves for cutting and working with brass sheet
- Soldering iron, solder, wire. Soldering iron capable of up to 800+ degrees F for brass with a variety of tips, small pinhead for electronic, broad flat for brass
- hansenhobbies.com sells all things needed to make servo wires & connectors. Get everything sold.
- Strip 1/8" off the wire and place in the terminal, squeeze the wings to grip the wire, insert into the crimper and squueze till it goes numb.
- Scotch Super 33+ electrical tape to cover exposed elctronics, Scotch Extreme mounting tape to use for servo tape, Gardner Bender 'Liquid Electrical Tape' paint on for those hard to tape connections.
- thread locker and/or fingernail polish
- paint ... The demise of Floquil and PollyScale paint ... Testors changed focus to their other brands of paint. MicroLux paint is available exclusively from Micro-Mark
- Meccano - Erector sets parts. Adafruit and Sparkfun now have products for constructing animimated mechanicals. actually their stuff is really mainly for 3D printers...
- Dremel and all the tools (Moto Saw is great for cutting small-thin pieces of plastic and wood), assorted Tweezers, hex wrenches, drill, pin vise and mini drill bits, wire stripper(s), assorted pliers, Z-bend pliers, Kadee coupler pliers, 7" wire dikes (linesman pliers), assorted screwdrivers (WIHA for intricate work), wide mouth bottle opener, alligator clips on the end of a stick, wood clothspins reassembled so the flat end is now the gripping end, fingernail sanding foam boards, a full piece of sandpaper glued to a plywood panel, Cutco 9" serrated blade knife to cut foam board, plastic straws to make a sliding space for wires running through scenery ...
- Decals: using Testors products
- Clear (transparent): Use on WHITE cars and locomotives.
- White (translucent - Not opaque - colors beneath Will show somewhat): For intricate patterns and letters make a 'block' of the car color UNDER the letters. Best used for 'signs' and patterns that have an easy to cut 'edge'. When using Clear there is NO WHITE in the decals and they will not 'work' when applied onto cars that have color.
- After printing the decal and the ink has dried spray a light coat of 'Decal Bonder' onto the decal and let it dry for several hours to a day... depending on the temperature and humidity. I spray a light coat in all 4 directions across the decal... probably too much, however when you apply a decal and the ink runs... well that is not fun.
- Decal setting solution : Walthers solvaset (Heavy metal) and/or Microscale series : micro mask,set,sol,flat,gloss,kristal klear. Use sol first and then use solvaset until the decal conforms to all the cracks and crevices.
- hmmm...
- Seeking to clean the resin off a board to make it look pretty, I used Goo Gone and a cue tip. After that I tried to remove all the stringy fibers with a toothbrush. I did not see the blue smoke but the green light did not come on either. I have forgone cleaning resin.
- If a servo grinds or growls or chatters : Pull the plug as there is something wrong. Have the blink sketch already available so you can quickly Upload it so it will not start in that state the next time it is plugged in and powered up.
Attach the servo when first needed -rather than in setup- detach to stop all the grinding when not needed.
- The Serial Monitor does strange things with Servo and Resets the program when started.. reported as doing this with Linux and Mac, guess what, the PC does too.
- If the XBee connection get-becomes-is broken it might be necessary to power down both the computer program and the arduino to reestablish communication. Simply closing and opening the computer port might work, however when it pops up the Error messages the end is nigh. Game Over. Sayonara. Period. Reboot.
- The IR detector needs 5 volts to "work". Plugging in to VCC on a 3.3 volt arduino mini pro does not provide that 5 volts. UHMM NO it runs 3 to 5V so something is buggered
- The FTDI board used to do USB to the arduino has a side labeled GRN and the other side labeled BLK : SO does the Arduino Pro-mini ! Remember to connent them GRN to GRN and BLK to BLK ! it dont work backwards :(
- The analog pins can be used as digital pins (except #6 and7 on the uno etc, all work on the Mega, dunno about the others) .. the Analog is to allow sensor data to be input and AD (Analog-Digital convert) to digital 0..1023
- Software:
- Initial installation is documented at each software program site below.
- XBee configuration includes getting the latest drivers from their site (or not). When the Arduino compiler program is installed and the XBee driver is downloaded it might be a good idea to 'keep' those versions if they work together or when you get a 'set' that works together... unless there is something developed that you 'really' need. .. just my antiquated method of stable programming.
- The comport communications component is used to communicate between the PC and the XBee. It is needed if there is a need to compile the program and is installed like any other Delphi component. The Delphi version 5 comport code is included in a folder, all other versions can be downloaded from the link provided (Changes after 5 make them incompatable with Delphi5). It is used in the Mobile Missile launcher program. It is not needed for normal operation as it is compiled into the program executable
- This is my com port usage ... yours will probably be different ... the thing is each Arduino will have a different Com Port ...Uno and XBee and mini ... and the more you have the higher the Com port becomes nine is currently above 12 and i dont really do much - have that many... pro-mini at $9 each they are neat-somewhat inexpensive to do things with :) ...and on Ebay 2015 at +-$2 each they are really tasty.
- Uno on Com4 Pin 2 RX to Xbee TX ; Pin 3 Tx to RX
- In depth per project:
- Mobile Missile
- 4.8V battery, Arduino Pro-mini, XBee, 4 servos, ... 4 sets per Battery Plus Uno and XBee for test station. code : ArduinoMissile and ArduinoMissileV2
- Frick Missile Launcher is an Estes rocket on a flatcar
- 4.8V battery, On/Off switch, Pro-Mini Arduino, 1 XBee, 2 servos
uhm well not so much. The command car is cardboard, the electronics are stuffed in like missile cars, and the source code is posted as FrackMissile.
- Cannon train exploding boxcar - 4 $25 servos, mini-pro Arduino and NO room to install an arduino power supply...
- Rotary Dumper
- Uno, 4 switches, 3 LEDs, 1 IR, 1 Light detector ... Rotary & Positioner & Arm servos and switch, code : IRRotaryDumper
- Rotary dumper - too exacting to place cars with a locomotive Thus need 2 positioners OR a passing track to unhook loco and a 50' flat car to place on the back end so all coal cars can be dumped ...
- A rotary dumper at the steel mill, one at the ship loading, one at the paper plant, one at the barge
- Paper Plant : Rotary dumper down to wood chip loader
- Loads chips into cars : basic info so far--Conveyor -Dumped into from above and moves chips out to loader. Simulated wood chipper fed by the Mecha arm from train cars.
- Basic Oxygen Furnace and steel mill LED lit cars. Infra Red controlled Basic Oxygen Furnace... code : IRBOF
Steel_Mill_Rota-dump is a pantilt that moves steel plates from the roller into a gondola.
Steel_Mill_Magna-dump is similar to the container lift, this moves steel plates around.
- C130 : 5V Pro-mini), 4 motors (5V from Arduino), 2 servos, 1 IR, ?speaker?, 12V connector, [Electronic : Many lights, 2 red strobes, Panel with switches] code : IRC130Hercules
- Spaceships
- dish Alien saucer :Uno, 9V connector, 2 servos, 1 IR, 1 speaker, [Electronic : 2 to Many 4x LEDs]. The electronics : running LEDs from the power is described in C-130, the source is posted as IRAlienDish.
- Busch Alien saucer : 12V connector, [Electronic : 4x LEDs] //No Arduino used. just lights randomly blinking. The electronics : running LEDs from the power is described in C-130.
- Robbie, Metal Earth models,and LED diorama stuff. Robbie the robot ... Arduino controlling lights and a sound card from IR control... code is posted as RobbieButton, not much to really talk about... use thin wires.
- An LCD display on-in the side of a boxcar displaying changing bitmaps. Do it as a billboard for along track side entertainemnt. Use a 10" LCD on the side of a building for a Blade Runner Coca-Cola ad. Not much code or instructions just buy from Lada ada and follow those instructions. My code is posted to Sourceforge as LCDBillboard and LCDBoxcar.
- Put Lipo battery operated Christmas tree lights inside of things to make them glow. Put LEDs inside ... Add switches and recharge plugs for easy access. Cut the Lipo wire and solder both pairs of wires to the on/off switch and run the plug end out to access point for recharge capability.
- Wishing_Well ... simple rotating servo turning a metal spike in a resin pond
- DCC investigation - experiments began 2015
- Unfinished DCC projects ...pfft... barely started .. Summertime Blues
- DCC controller - DCC receiver ... to do What ? ...
- Loco net DIY <> PR3 ~$70 ...
- DCC RR turnout switch - servo and controller ...
- RR crossing Currently only have the lowering bar- No light-bell pole ... Really the Faller system one would be the one to get as the cars would stop when the train is passing... so of course they discontinued making it.
- DCC operated crane : 3 Athearn and 2 Bachmann : DCC controller per is ~$25 , and all the litle parts...
Making Connecting Cable (background) for panels and things is easier using crimp type connectors (on the right) rather than the ones with little solder points really close together (on the left).
- Layout Tools
- Table saw, scroll saw, destructo saw, belt sander, drill press, grinder-buffer, ... drill & bits,
Copyright © 1991..2017 by Ivan Lee Herring
