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Tutorial - Nerf Maverick Aimtrak Mod with Solenoid Recoil
SammyWI:
:applaud: Very nice write up. I'm especially interested in the solenoid recoil setup. Very cool.
captaincatalyst:
After proof-reading, I noticed some errors and corrected them. There are probably still some errors. I also updated some steps to hopefully be more clear.
Thanks to everyone who has given feedback so far. I'm interested in getting feedback from anyone who actually uses the tutorial. Let me know if something is not clear.
Also if there are any EEs that would look at the schematic for the solenoid recoil, I'm curious if there are any glaring issues or if there is any kind of feedback you can give. I'm considering buying a power supply that can produce 24v DC since the solenoid should be more powerful at that voltage, but I'm not sure if the transistor or wires will be able to handle the amps required. The parts are pretty cheap and I have extra, so I might try it anyway. I have played through a few games that require rapid firing and the solenoid is holding up fine under continuous use. It isn't getting too hot or anything at 12v, so I'm not sure if the jump to 24v would cause issues with heat or not.
mattmayhem:
Very nice write up, welcome to the board. :applaud:
I have been researching light guns for my project and found this was very helpful. I do have a question about your 2 in 1 switch. Was it necessary to add a smaller switch inside the cherry? Meaning, couldn't you have just run 2 leads off the cherry switch (one set going to your ipac/interface, and one set going to the solenoid)? I understand why you did it, but it seemed like you wanted that perfection in timing that you could have easily got from just using 1 switch. Did I miss something? Sorry if I overlooked a detail and the 2nd switch was necessary. ;)
captaincatalyst:
--- Quote from: mattmayhem on January 02, 2011, 04:38:52 am ---Very nice write up, welcome to the board. :applaud:
I have been researching light guns for my project and found this was very helpful. I do have a question about your 2 in 1 switch. Was it necessary to add a smaller switch inside the cherry? Meaning, couldn't you have just run 2 leads off the cherry switch (one set going to your ipac/interface, and one set going to the solenoid)? I understand why you did it, but it seemed like you wanted that perfection in timing that you could have easily got from just using 1 switch. Did I miss something? Sorry if I overlooked a detail and the 2nd switch was necessary. ;)
--- End quote ---
That's a good question. The issue is that I'm dealing with 2 parallel circuits. If I wired the Aimtrak and the Solenoid Control board circuit into the same pole on a switch, there would likely be unwanted side-effects. I don't want the current from one circuit touching the other. I'm powering the solenoid circuit with a separate power supply from the PC running the Aimtrak, so they don't share a common ground either. I'm not an EE so I can't say exactly what would happen, but I'm not going to risk damage to the Aimtrak. There are probably better solutions like a 2-pole microswitch, but a quick Google search doesn't bring up any results for anything like that. :-\
Edit: This 2-pole switch might work... http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/SMS-224/2-POLE-SNAP-ACTION-SWITCH//1.html
mattmayhem:
I figured it was something dealing with grounds. Thanks for the info!
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