Star Trek: Maquis Raider!: 2/15/09

The Maquis Raider (Raw Video Format)

The Maquis Raider in Action!

Note: This is a raw video... I will have a better quality and better shots of the model (+ montages) coming up soon!

The Assembly!

This post will include the first pictures of the completed model!!

So I started to assemble the pieces together... and in order to ensure I have a nice tight seal, I used elastic bands to hold it down. I trimmed away the excessive fiber optics and flatten out the ends with a soldering iron =)

The Long awaited.... Maquis raider!

(Pictures taken with background lights)

(Pictures taken without background lights)

The Next Post! Video of the Maquis Raider!

Power on!

For the power supply, I used.... hmm, iono how you call these things lol.... so I'm just gonna take a picture of it instead....

So I took the male end and set it up underneath the ship, and the female end on the inner side of the ship.

(Outside of the ship, bottom part [left], Inside of the ship, bottome part [right])

Then I hooked up the wires according to the proper nodes, and included a copper 1/4" tubing which i may improve on as my stand.

Impulse/Warp Engine Hookups!

I wanted to set up my impulse engines and warp engines to flicker really fast, and I had an idea of using my earlier switch to change the flickering mode to regular "all on" mode. But when I start wiring the LEDs in parallel using the circuit, it burn out my 555 timer. I tried this 2 more times before I realized that the circuit can't handle that much current??! iono, need to consult an electrical engineer about it.

Anyways, so i cheap out, I decided to only add the regular mode on this model. I used a total of 8 super bright blue LEDs and 6 wide angle red LEDs for the warp and impulse engines separately. As usual, I link them in parallel and tape them down accordingly =)

LED blinkers!!!

The long awaited blinking LEDs.

I have two 555 circuit in this video. The ones near the bridge I believed I used a 10uF capacitor and 110k ohm resistor for "resistor A" and 50k ohm resistor for "ressitor B". The ones at the back I used a 10uF 250k ohm resistor for "resistor A" and 25k ohm resistor for "resistor B". istor B". Again, I used fiber optics and stuff the tiny circuit inside the ship =)

Next posts will be for warp engine lights!

555 Timer circuit!

In order to make your LEDs blink in a specific timing, you can use a 555 timer to set your "on" and "off" ratios.

(Here's a 555 timer)

and here's what I've used for one of my timer circuits. (pardon the ugly drawing).

Timing is given by the formula:

Time off = t=0.693 (resistor A + resistor B) * capacitor

Time on = t = 0.639 (resistor B)*capacitor

Therefore, with bigger resistors or capacitors, you can change your timings longer.

so for my circuit:

time off = 0.693 (250 000 ohm + 25 000 ohm) * 10x10^-6 F = 1.9 seconds

time on = 0.693 (25 000 ohm) * 10x10^-6 F = 0.17 seconds

Note: this is the timing for the back blinkers near the engines. (see next post)

Stationary Lights!

This post is for my non-blinking (stationary) lights.

I have 2 general light setups; stationary lights and blinking lights.

I will explain the blinking lights (555 timers) and if you want, you can get blinking LEDs but you won't be able to change the timing on those.

Note: I used a 5V D/C as my input source and connect everything in parallel. My white LEDs are 3Vs (used 100 ohm resistor), red LEDs at 2.2v (used 150 ohm resistor), blue LEDs at 3.3vs (used 83 ohm resistor) and maybe the Green/Blue blinkers at 3V (100 ohm resistor)

But anyways, here are my non-blinkers and how they're set up =)

The first up is the bridge lights. Again, I used epoxy to diffuse the light. For lighting, I used a wide-angle, White LED (120degrees) to capture all the main windows. I usually tape down the LED and wires once I get the correct position to keep things neat. In all my circuits, I use "heat shrinks" to cover up the soldering junctions for protection (ie, breakage, shock...etc).
Note: heat shrinks are elastic tubings that shrinks when heat is applied.... it helps making all the circuit components compact and tight.

Next I connect a RED LED to the "warhead launchers". Again, I used epoxy to diffuse the light. I also added a second 150 ohm resistor to make the light dimmer.

In the second picture, I used aluminum foil to block out the white LED from shinning anywhere else inside the model. Aluminum foil also help deflect light, so it makes the windows slightly brighter.

There are 2 tiny spot lights on the sides of the bridge. So I drilled tiny holes for fibre optic cables to run 2 small lights via a single LED. Fiber optics works by transducting light through a medium so that the incident light (source) is almost at the same brightness at the exiting point. (Check out optics in terms of refractions and medium). Fibre optics are used for small lighting and hard to reach spots because of its flexibility. Anyways, for this setup, I have 2 fiber cables running throught a single White LED. With a little heat shrink, the fibers are snap tight to the LEDs and no excessive light would shine out either =)

Light test #1!
Note: The cables won't be cut and trimmed until all lighting is complete =)

For the main "shield generator", there's room to fit a large spot light!!! So I drilled a hole on the piece and 2 small holes for the wires to go through from the main hull piece (second picture)

Here are the results!!!!

Next entry will be about 555 timers!

Electricity 101!

Before we go into wiring the LEDs... here's some common terminalogy for the not so circuit wiz!

Basics of electricity is:

V=IR or R = V/I where R = resistance, V = voltage and I = current.

The big "plugs" that you plug into you walls are transformers, that basically converts to a proper voltage that your device/machine requires to operate. The plugs in the wall are 120V A/C (alternating currents) and your transformers change the "power" usually into a D/C (direct current) with lower voltage (if you look closely at these plugs, they usually say "output"D/C ___ voltage).

Once you figure out which voltage you'll be using as your input source (usually 5V or higher), you have to figure out the proper resistor for your LEDs so they don't out prematurely cuz your input voltage is more than what your LEDs need.

So some backgroun info on LED's
White and blue LEDs usually take about 3Volts
Red. Green, Orange and Yellow LEDS usually takes about 2.2Volts

All LEDs run on a 20mA (a current measurement).

To figure out the resistor you need for a specific LED. this is the formula:

R=resistor value =[(voltage of source)-(voltage of LED)]/current of LED

say for a white LED:
R=(5v-3v)/0.02A = 100 ohm resistor.

so White LED must have a 100 ohm resistor in its path when a 5V source is used.

Next, circuits!
I connect my LED's through a parallel circuit pattern, so I have a proper resistor for each LEDs that I use. This is to ensure all LEDs will receive the proper voltage, and it is superior than series design because if a single LED burns out in series, the circuit breaks and the rest of the LEDs will not light up!

Series pattern:

-----power (+) -----resistor-LED (Cathode)----LED (cathode)-----back to power (+)
-----power (-) --------------LED (Anode)----LED (anode)-----back to power (-)

The LED's are linked in "series"

For parallel:

abcdefghiklmnopqurs/top----resistor-LED (cathode)---\
-------power (+)----splitabcdefghiklmnopqurstaafdafdaa- (reconnect)---back to power (+)
splitabcdefghiklmno \bottom-resistor-LED (cathode---/

abcdefghiklmnopqursdf/top----LED (anode)---\
-------power (-)----split abcdefghiklmnopqursdf(reconnect)---back to power (-)
abcdefghiklmnopqursdf\bottom-LED (anode)---/

Light Assembly!

I filled the parts that are to be lighted with epoxy in order to spread out/disperse the light better. I cover the entire part first with epoxy, then cut out the excess to make a proper fitting.