Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

The AVR and Freescale (ex-Motorola) micros are good matches for C. I don't know about the PIC- at least the early 'F84 class. I can tell you about that... The so-called "mid-range" PICs (16-series, like the old discontinued 16F84 or the more current 16F628 I use now) basically are no good...

I'm told Blender is a good one to check out, too. It's also free software. Blender is good, but you have to invest a fair chunk of time to figure it out. I've been learning Blender - I felt like most of the learning curve for me was just getting a feel for how you get things done in a 3-D mesh edit...

You just need to know a little more to use them and I know C so I'm good to go. Glad to hear the new product's coming along nicely.. Microcontrollers are fun stuff - though I'm going to think twice before working with surface mount controllers without a printed board again. :) I'm curious - how do ...

I believe you've got an AC motor there, so I don't see how you could reverse its direction. DC motors are sometimes (not always) reversible by reversing the polarity of the input voltage - this reverses the magnetic field created by the electromagnets in the spinning part of the motor. AC motors wor...

I haven't worked with it a lot - I tend to use Doro Doro more often (need to stock up, though...) - but poly putty in general is good stuff for various jobs. It's a good space filler, especially cheaper varieties like Bondo... Finer varieties like Mori Mori, Tamiya Poly Putty, etc. are good for diff...

UNIDEN AC Adapter Model: AD-420 Input: AC 120V 60HZ 7W Output: DC 9V 350mA Consider this: Often, these stats lie. Specifically, with an unregulated wall wart, the voltage is usually intended to mean "you could connect this wall wart to a voltage regulator to get this voltage". So that 9V ...

Hey guys, I started a thread in General Modeling and was told to check this forum out. I've started reading over the LEDs threads. I'm getting a general feel for how you guys are talking about using the LEDs. I'm still curious, though... --Before you guys put together a circuit, do you do a circuit...

I assume you're talking about a wall-powered AC->DC wall wart (so the output is 9V DC, 200mA maximum current...) Really, there's not much potential for injury from the output of that thing. If you touched it to your tongue you'd get a nasty taste in your mouth, that's about it. The input (the wall v...

Then again, the cheapest source of LEDs is Christmas Lights - as long as you get the LED types. Phillips has some nice strings of 70 LEDs in BLUE, GREEN, WHITE (maybe others) that can be disassembled easily. (FIRST cut off both plugs from each end of the string, THEN start removing the LED lamps fr...

Wow.

What are you driving with all this power, anyway? (<- says the guy who's not yet lit anything bigger than the 1:1000 PL Enterprise)

One possible outcome of this thought process is a version of my product with a socket for the MCU. Dont like the program? OK, write your own if you're so inclined. Want to pay me to do it, OK, that works too. That, or provide an in-circuit serial programming connector - that way the controller coul...

I'm researching what I can get for my next product and how I can do it most economically (ie: CHEAPEST) and you know what? I found a couple of 8-bit microprocessors for less than a buck each, in singles! Damn things have more ram than my buddies old TRS-80 and run faster too. What does this mean fo...

wow, didn't know someone actually just made ball sockets! Better believe it. When you want to know about parts for modularity or posability, ask a Gundam modeler. There are some potential problems with using ball joints for modular assemblies, however. First off, most ball joints are the latter var...

You don't want to use future. I don't have a problem with that... but why?

Thanks for the tips.Would a regular motor with a trimmer work? I have a few small trimmers for LED circuits, for dimming engines for photography. It depends on the speed you want and the motor you've got. Personally I doubt it. DC motors have to use their spinning inertia to push their brushes acro...

Stevi, that is exactly what I am looking for! The blink rate looks good too. Thanks a bunch. I am going to Radio Shack later, so I can pick up all the components there. I have seen all of them, so I know they have them. The only question is of the 4017 chip. The last time I needed one they didn't h...

For a "chaser" effect any kind of a microcontroller is overkill - but if "small" is your concern, you can't get much smaller than a microcontroller with its own oscillator built-in, and you can make any animation effect you like. For instance, I'm doing animated nacelle lights fo...

Thinning putty with thin liquid glues or lacquer thinner or the like can make it easier to apply the stuff, as it'll really settle down into the cracks more readily. Tamiya basic, when new, will often be plenty thin enough straight from the tube, but it has a tendency to dry out sometimes, and in th...

Yeah, I have one set of the Minitronics connectors but I never used 'em for anything because they're too expensive to replace. (How's that for logic? :)) The Century Interconnect and Gradconn listings are fairly interesting, but not quite what I need, as all their 1mm headers seem to be double-row. ...

Hey, Back when I was first getting into this hobby for real I did a lot of my shopping for supplies and such at the local hobby shop which specialized in railroad stuff. One of the good things about that is they had a great selection of electrical parts (if vastly overpriced) from Miniatronics . One...