What's in the box! Don't look in the box!

RE: What's in the box! Don't look in the box!

mayermakes — Tue, 18 May 2021 18:59:11 GMT

bringing new life to old stuff is always worth the challenge! You played a high risk high rewards game here. and time is not in favor of those. nevertheless a relly good project idea and a great couple project!

RE: What's in the box! Don't look in the box!

easyejl — Fri, 07 May 2021 13:00:37 GMT

Sigh, today is the deadline and no real new progress to report. i'm going to try to put it in the box at least and semi-permanently mount the TOF sensors + all to make a nicer video. functionally, the video above is as far as I got. I'll at least add a "What did I learn" piece here. Also either way I will be continuing on the project as I do want to see it running the sewing machine [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-0e23a6f3-32ea-48f4-bdd2-ea0e206238a2/0358.contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16] and it has real value as there are a number of people with disabilities that make using a normal foot pedal difficult to keep good control.

RE: What's in the box! Don't look in the box!

easyejl — Wed, 05 May 2021 20:36:18 GMT

Well woohoo-ish. I got a very simplified, not using their library, version of the dimmer actually outputting correct AC power. so now I need to integrate that back into the sewing controller

RE: What's in the box! Don't look in the box!

easyejl — Mon, 03 May 2021 21:12:47 GMT

Arg I just can't figure out quite how to get this triac/dimmer module to work. I'm sure the issue is around the zero cross, just not entirely sure what I need to do with it [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-0e23a6f3-32ea-48f4-bdd2-ea0e206238a2/8080.contentimage_5F00_2516.png:16:16] there's a github repo but it seems like its incomplete or doesn't work [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-0e23a6f3-32ea-48f4-bdd2-ea0e206238a2/8080.contentimage_5F00_2516.png:16:16]

RE: What's in the box! Don't look in the box!

easyejl — Mon, 03 May 2021 17:28:17 GMT

Welp, after connecting the triac + stuff, one of the TOFs refuses to init anymore. I'm going to peel the breadboard apart and try running that one solo to see. Only a few days left.

But... The paint job on the sewing machine is done at least

[View:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDM2ljOMXU4:740:466]

RE: What's in the box! Don't look in the box!

easyejl — Sun, 02 May 2021 20:53:11 GMT

So here's the video of current state. both TOFs are used to control the motor speed as if you were turning a wheel. So swiping to the right raises the speed, to the left lowers it. The current power level plus the temp (the sensor will be attached to the motor to monitor that) are displayed on the oled. the optical interrupt will get used just to tell if you open the box this is contained in, since it will have 110v power so theoretically dangerous to open and poke around inside [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-0e23a6f3-32ea-48f4-bdd2-ea0e206238a2/2425.contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16]

Once the above component comes in (which is whenever today Amazon gets here) i'll wire it up to a sewing machine motor and add another video

[View:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jRijgibJSA:740:466]

RE: What's in the box! Don't look in the box!

easyejl — Sun, 02 May 2021 20:49:35 GMT

I'm getting close now. I had ordered a triac and opto isolator only to realize I didn't get anything for the zero crossing, so making the direct motor control wasn't going to work. instead I ordered this

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B072K9P7KH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

RE: What's in the box! Don't look in the box!

easyejl — Sat, 24 Apr 2021 02:59:04 GMT

This evening got 1 of the VL tof sensors hooked up displaying the distance on the oled. Realized I need either a multiplexer or a 5 pin 1mm jst sh connector to use the second i2c channel to have bot tof sensors connected. Ordered both,but won't arrive till Sunday.

Tomorrow will be working on the triac for the AC motor control. As well, probably try again (maybe just in code) to get the opto interrupter working.

RE: What's in the box! Don't look in the box!

easyejl — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 12:04:50 GMT

Well, this weekend was mostly a disaster working on this.

I moved to working on using the optical interrupt phototransistor and in the process blew up the MKR Zero. i had pulled it off my breadboard to do some stuff with a pi and temp sensors for something else, and plugged the mkr zero into the usb just sitting on my desk. what I hadn't paid attention to was that I had a small jewelers file on the desk, and apparently some of the pins touched it and fried the usb interface [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-0e23a6f3-32ea-48f4-bdd2-ea0e206238a2/contentimage_5F00_403.png:16:16]

So I switched to an arduino uno to keep going on development and for the life of me I can't get consistent results off the phototransistor. the readings go all over the place. if i'm watching myself, I can tell the difference between the beam being interrupted and then opening again, but leaving it closed the values climb until its back in the range with it being open. so I need to look into debounce circuits I guess, or try and figure out another way to get better results based on how I was planning on using it. That or to change how I was planning on using it [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-0e23a6f3-32ea-48f4-bdd2-ea0e206238a2/2158.contentimage_5F00_2516.png:16:16] or write enough code that i'm looking at just the difference between last reading and new reading. I wish I was better at electronics [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-0e23a6f3-32ea-48f4-bdd2-ea0e206238a2/8015.contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16] I might have to post some questions up in one of the other areas before I pull my hair out of my head.

My triac and associated stuff came, so I can start on that as soon as I get the rest of this.

My wife's work on the sewing machine is moving along, its been stripped and the bobbin winder cover primed, couldn't get to priming the main body as it was too rainy.

RE: What's in the box! Don't look in the box!

easyejl — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 02:18:01 GMT

Today we reached measurement, which took longer than expected[View:/resized-image/__size/1600x557/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-0e23a6f3-32ea-48f4-bdd2-ea0e206238a2/contentimage_5F00_207808.png:1600:557]

RE: What's in the box! Don't look in the box!

easyejl — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 17:39:38 GMT

So after some struggle, i've worked out the pinout on the breakoff portion of the TOF boards. It appears ST "intends" for them to be used with their nucleo eval board setup which with header sockets soldered on it would directly plug into. the VL53L1X portion of the boards has direct contacts that are marked, but the other side doesn't.

More entertainingly, my wife has conned me into a specific project for her using the box.... She lately has been into restoring old sewing machines. She has a variety ranging into the 1950s, and some of them have some really interesting mechanics primarily related around pop in cam systems to do designs and patterns. But she also has 2 100+ year old singers with motors, a whopping 1/20hp. One was overall in fairly decent shape and she already has that one restored to usable and maybe just needs a little cosmetic help but isn't bad overall.

The other one is kind of a mess all around, seized up, etc. She's already managed to sneakily talk me into (as if it was my own idea) to use some of my chromaflair pigment to paint it after she's taken it apart and stripped the paint off it. [View:/resized-image/__size/1200x900/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-0e23a6f3-32ea-48f4-bdd2-ea0e206238a2/contentimage_5F00_207806.jpg:1200:900]

So that's got nothing to do with the box right? Well after conning me into using the chromaflair for the other one, she then shows me a video from one of the sewing groups she's in of a woman controlling the speed of a sewing machine using Alexa. Then tells me that the woman said she can't take it over 75% because at that point the sewing machine is too loud for alexa to hear her [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-0e23a6f3-32ea-48f4-bdd2-ea0e206238a2/contentimage_5F00_2516.png:16:16] . She lets me talk about how impractical the idea is, because I know how to use a sewing machine and the combination of normal alexa lag time plus the way you'd really want to use it wouldn't work well. Then she sets the hook "it's useful for people who have difficulty keeping consistent pressure on a foot or knee pedal"....

And so talked me into a gesture controlled sewing machine from the box. It works out almost perfectly, the phototransistor can determine the light in the room and automatically turn on the sewing machine light if its dark, the temperature sensor to monitor the motor temp, the oled to display the temp and the motor speed and the TOFs for the gesture. She's going to end up with a pretty wacky space age 110 year old sewing machine once we're done.

So I need to get triac and a couple other parts to do the motor control, the motors are AC but with brushes which is easier and harder at the same time [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-0e23a6f3-32ea-48f4-bdd2-ea0e206238a2/1680.contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16]

Hopefully tonight i'll have time to solder up connectors on one of the TOF boards (just soldering jumpers in for now) and breadboard it with the oled into a laser tape measure with the arduino. Assuming that goes smooth i'll lay out the other parts and figure out what i'll need to 3d print for it enclosure wise, and any other features that might make sense (like a row of 10 or 20 leds that represent the % of power for instance) over the weekend.

RE: What's in the box! Don't look in the box!

danzima — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 21:44:30 GMT

SOMEONE on the e14 team made this same joke in a group call, and we decided it was too dark!