G1 Transformers themed control panel - complete

[Procyon]

So while I'm waiting for all my stuff to arrive, I have a question about powering the LEDs:

Am I better off trying to break a power line directly from my power supply out of my desktop to run a 5 volt line into my controller, or is it sufficient to plug a USB cord into one of my desktop's open connections and just use the 5v line from that?  Are all 5v lines created equally?

[dkersten]

Your 5v from a USB is not going to have as much current capacity as a direct 5v from the PSU.  I would just break one out from the PSU personally. 

[PL1]

So while I'm waiting for all my stuff to arrive, I have a question about powering the LEDs:

Am I better off trying to break a power line directly from my power supply out of my desktop to run a 5 volt line into my controller, or is it sufficient to plug a USB cord into one of my desktop's open connections and just use the 5v line from that?  Are all 5v lines created equally?

You're skipping this important step.

Once you pick the type of RGB LED you want to use, we can calculate the power requirements.

Did you choose RGB-Drive II (20mA current draw per channel) or Helio9 (55mA current draw per channel) LEDs?

Once we know the type and quantity of LEDs, we can calculate the total current draw.

Based on the current draw, you can select a suitable power supply.


Scott

[Procyon]

Your 5v from a USB is not going to have as much current capacity as a direct 5v from the PSU.  I would just break one out from the PSU personally. 

OK, cool.  Googling around did not produce a lot of result for tips on how to do this.  I understand the basic idea, and would just need to find a cable long enough, but are there any decent guides on how to do this?

Once we know the type and quantity of LEDs, we can calculate the total current draw.

Based on the current draw, you can select a suitable power supply.

Ah, ok, thank you.  I went with the default selection of the RGB-Drive II LEDs.  At this time, I calculate that I will be lighting 20 of them, 12 of which will only light one color, and 8 of which will light two, for a total of 28 lit LEDs.  I imagine this quantity makes a difference.

[PL1]

Ah, ok, thank you.  I went with the default selection of the RGB-Drive II LEDs.  At this time, I calculate that I will be lighting 20 of them, 12 of which will only light one color, and 8 of which will light two, for a total of 28 lit LEDs.  I imagine this quantity makes a difference.

12 * 1 = 12 channels
  8 * 2 = 16 channels
              ---------------
28 channels * 20 mA = 560 mA

Too much current draw for USB, but no problem for a molex power connector.

If you fully light all 20 RGB LEDs (60 channels * 20 mA) it will draw 1200mA.

Your 5v from a USB is not going to have as much current capacity as a direct 5v from the PSU.  I would just break one out from the PSU personally. 

OK, cool.  Googling around did not produce a lot of result for tips on how to do this.  I understand the basic idea, and would just need to find a cable long enough, but are there any decent guides on how to do this?

Use a molex power plug, euro-style terminals, and 20 or 22 AWG wire.





Scott

[Procyon]

Use a molex power plug, euro-style terminals, and 20 or 22 AWG wire.

Thanks very much.  What I'm still unsure of though, is do I just run a wire straight out of my desktop (either through an exposed gap behind one of the PCI slots, or just sticking out of the case enclosure of my desktop) or is there a more sophisticated way of doing this, like something I can put in a slot that makes the connection between my PSU inside, and my line to the LEDs outside?

I realize it's a moot point... just don't want my toddler daughter to have something else to pull on and break

[PL1]

Is this going to be a standalone/portable panel that you plug into a PC or a full cab build?


Scott

[Procyon]

Standalone, pedestal style, pretty much the same form factor as my original stick.  The desktop sits inside the pedestal, like so:



Wires run from the back of the control panel to the exposed back of the PC (the side not shown in the picture).  I'll have to take better pictures...

[dkersten]

Are you de-casing the computer or just leaving it in the case and enclosing it inside?  I would hope that whatever you do, any wires coming off that computer aren't accessible to be pulled on by your daughter.. Or any wires coming off the CP for that matter.   

This weekend I took the computer for my latest build and drilled a 1/2" hole in the side with a step bit, stuck a rubber grommet in there, and then took one of the drive molex's inside the computer, cut it off, crimped off the yellow (12v) and one black, and then connected my power cord that plugs into my LED controller (ipac ultimate) to the red (5v) and black (ground).  I tied it to the frame of the computer case with a zip tie, and then stuck the plug end of the cord through the hole and put the case side back on the computer. 

On my personal cabinet, I run 30 of the RGB drive 2's and one trackball RGB led (two individual LED's of each color) off an ipac ultimate with this being the only power source for driving the LED's.. I don't know the total draw when all of them are on "white", but I imagine it is right around 2 amps.  But the PSU in the computer kicks out more than enough for it.  If I tried to run it off a USB alone I would cook it..

[Procyon]

OK, so I got some of the parts in and I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed about this project.  Either it's just that I've gotten older, or some things seem a lot more complicated than the first time around that I did this.

@dkersten: Before I forget, in response to your question, I leave the case enclosed inside of the pedestal.

Artwork: The artwork arrived from Brad and it's beautiful.  My real concern here is making sure that I get the relational position between the trackball and the art that I'm going to cut out from the matrix just right.  The U-Trak came with the bezel so I figure I can incorporate the artwork on to the bezel where the "fingers" around the matrix are reaching up.  So I have to be really precise where I cut.

Trackball: The U-Trak looks good, but it was missing the installation parts.  I emailed Andy and Ultimarc and he already responded saying he would send them along.  I'm not too worried about this one, although it looks like I have to bust out the pre-supplied wires and replace them with the ones that came with the MiniPAC, which isn't a big deal.

Joysticks: Like I planned, I went with two Sanwa JLFs, and one Sanwa JLW.  I intended to get the balltop version of the JLW, but I got the battop version by mistake.  Now I understand that the balltop version is discontinued, so I'm going to have to make due with having a battop on my 4-way joystick when I really would have preferred a balltop.  I didn't realize that the JFLs don't have tabs for solder-less connections.  I thought it was going to be a lot of trial of error trying to figure out which wire maps to which direction and correctly plug into the MiniPAC until I found this: http://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server500/d90a4/products/72/images/2299/JoystickWiringGuide2__90136.1405451777.1024.768.jpg

Buttons: As I am still waiting for my shipment from GroovyGear, all I have so far are the 8 Seimitsu PS-14-KN admin buttons.  There again, I did not count on them not matching the solder-less connections I figured I would use.  They have solder-less tabs, but they're much smaller.  I might just loop some exposed wire through the small hole in the tab for lack of a better idea, as it seems silly to solder them.

One thing I'm not sure of is what screw/washer size to use to mount the joysticks.  I looked through several guides, but I haven't found any mention of a specific size.  And when I go to that section of Home Depot, my head spins.  Since I'm using artwork, I'm not sure if I should try to top-mount or bottom-mount the joysticks.  I'm really kind of torn over whether to have the stability given that the artwork can just cover all the screw heads, or keep the surface smooth so that the artwork doesn't have any weird texture beneath...

And I still haven't entirely figured out how I will power the LEDs (although I think I have the right idea) but that's a problem for later.  I'm planning on cutting through the wood this weekend...  We'll see how that goes.

 EDIT: I just realized as I was re-reading this that if I bottom mount, it will be easier to replace joysticks when they wear out than if a top-mounted plate is covered by the artwork.

[Slippyblade]

One thing I'm not sure of is what screw/washer size to use to mount the joysticks.  I looked through several guides, but I haven't found any mention of a specific size.  And when I go to that section of Home Depot, my head spins.  Since I'm using artwork, I'm not sure if I should try to top-mount or bottom-mount the joysticks.  I'm really kind of torn over whether to have the stability given that the artwork can just cover all the screw heads, or keep the surface smooth so that the artwork doesn't have any weird texture beneath...

I'm a big fan of T-Nuts.  You route out a small depression in the top of the panel and hammer in the T-Nut, then you use a bolt from the underside to mount the stick.  Then use some filler to smooth over the T-Nut so your artwork lays smooth and flat.

[PL1]

looks like I have to bust out the pre-supplied wires and replace them with the ones that came with the MiniPAC, which isn't a big deal.

If you ordered the Mini-Pac OPTI you should have a harness with three 4-pin female connectors.



BTW, make sure you don't mix up the spinner connector with the trackball connectors.

Different order for the spinner and UTrak pins, but some of the older UTrak's (like mine) use wire colors for one axis that appear to match with the spinner wires. (Andy said he'd use the correct wire colors in newer production runs)

Buttons: As I am still waiting for my shipment from GroovyGear, all I have so far are the 8 Seimitsu PS-14-KN admin buttons.  There again, I did not count on them not matching the solder-less connections I figured I would use.  They have solder-less tabs, but they're much smaller.  I might just loop some exposed wire through the small hole in the tab for lack of a better idea, as it seems silly to solder them.

You can use the .187" QD on the .110" tabs, they'll just have a bit more wiggle to them.

Once installed, give the QD a *little* squeeze with vise grips if it's too loose.

One thing I'm not sure of is what screw/washer size to use to mount the joysticks.  I looked through several guides, but I haven't found any mention of a specific size.  And when I go to that section of Home Depot, my head spins.  Since I'm using artwork, I'm not sure if I should try to top-mount or bottom-mount the joysticks.  I'm really kind of torn over whether to have the stability given that the artwork can just cover all the screw heads, or keep the surface smooth so that the artwork doesn't have any weird texture beneath...

You have read this part and this part of the FAQ, right?

Screw size/length depends on the hardware and method you use to mount the stick.

#10-32 (#10 diameter, 32 threads per inch) hardware is a great choice.

IF YOU USE TEE NUTS, THE LENGTH IS CRITICAL.
[/shouting a critical point that you do not want to overlook and cue the "That's what she said" jokes]

Screws used must be long enough to engage the tee nut, but not so long that they break through the top of the control panel.

Depending on how far you countersink the tee nuts, #10-32 x 1/2" Round-Head Machine Screws should be fine for metal mounting-plate sticks -- change the '1/2"' (length) if needed.

I prefer this kind of #10-32 tee nuts (same thread size as the screws) and wire brads instead of the kind with the prongs.  YMMV.




Scott

[Procyon]

Well, I'm back to square one with my wood.  I had the wood cut to the right size, and I spec'ed everything out just perfectly, and was ready to finally start cutting away.  I was working with my neighbor, who's done a lot more work cutting wood, and is a much better craftsman.  We popped the hole out for the trackball, and I was really happy with how that came out.  Then at one point we were discussing which side would be the bottom and which would be the top.  I figured it didn't matter too much since the artwork was going on top, and he convinced me to consider the top that I DIDN'T draw on to be the top, making the side I drew on the bottom.

Well, we popped out one hole for the joystick, and routed out the bottom to give the shaft some more height, flipped it over... and I realized everything was going to be backwards.  The joysticks were now on the right, and the buttons were on the left.  And it was too late to fix anything since we routed out a huge portion of the wrong side. 

So I'm going to need to go out and buy another sheet of wood, get it cut, and spec everything out all over again.  Such a bummer cuz it took a while to get the measurements just right, but I thought "hey, I only have to do this once..."

I did realize one thing though... the shafts on the JLFs are short!  I'm starting to think that they HAVE to be top mounted.  Do other people commonly use JLFs with 3/4" plywood?  I'm worried I made the wrong choice on those sticks.  Not in terms of quality, but in terms of compatibility with my design.  I was hoping to bottom mount everything so that I could be modular about everything and replace the sticks if one went bad.  If I top mount everything, and then lay the artwork over the top, that's it, those sticks are going to be stuck there for better or worse.  Feeling kind of stumped... 

EDIT: After searching around, it really looks like getting the S plates might be the solution to my problems...  Any thoughts?

[PL1]

Here's some good news for you.

You now have a piece of scrap MDF to test different mounting methods mentioned in the 2nd FAQ link.   

You have read this part and this part of the FAQ, right?

If an "Under mount (recessed)" is still too low, check out EMDB's "Under mount (support blocks)" pics.

If you want an even stronger mounting method for the metal plate/bars, substitute tee-nuts for the threaded inserts -- only downside is the extra prep work to get a smooth top surface, but you were going to need to do that anyway.   


Scott

[Procyon]

Finally got some progress to show.  No mistakes this time, every cut is on the right side of the board. After busting one of the JLFs I had trying to replace the flat mount for the S mounts I bought, I had to buy another stick, but I got it all fixed.    Between that and the board, and the wrong shank size I bought for the slot cutter arbor, I figure I've made about $50 in mistakes, but that's not too bad.  Another $70 in tools I'll only use for this project and never again probably...

But the routing was beautifully done by my neighbor, and just about everything is exactly where I want it to be.  He took it to his shop where he's going to sand it and spray paint it for me, and then it's time to mount the vinyl.  I've already cut out the hole where the trackball will rise up through the middle of the matrix.  Can't wait to see how it looks once the vinyl is applied and the trackball is fully attached.  Will keep the thread updated with progress.

[Procyon]

A major step forward, and a lot of progress to show.  I finally got the illustration attached.  It was really nerve wracking, making sure I lined up the hole with the trackball just right, and making sure the rest of it was completely straight.  I left a little bleed edge and folding it over, and it's held beautifully in place by the T-molding.  Now everything is in place except for the three joysticks, whose positions I want to get just right.

I'm almost ready for the wiring.  Unfortunately, I made a discovery that some of the wires on the wire harness that came with the Mini-PAC aren't long enough to reach the farthest buttons (the player credit and start buttons) without some modifications.  That's not a huge hurdle to overcome, just a pain.

However, a bigger problem I still have is trying to find a way to power the LEDs.  I actually just found a molex breakout bracket to stick in one of my case's PCI slots, so that solves the problem of how to get power from the inside of the case to the outside.  But I need about 3 to 4 feet of wire to just to reach from the case to the panel, and I don't know how I'm going to do that.  The longest molex I could find on monoprice for example, was 12 inches, and I don't want to daisy chain a bunch of those just to reach the panel, that would be ugly.  Would it be possible to hack a long USB wire just to shuttle the power along?  Maybe just cut off the USB heads and wire it up directly?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Am I making this overly complicated by not just going ahead and buying an LED driver PCB?  Then I would just run a USB wire up to power it?  But then the concern is whether there are enough amps for all the lights... 

[yamatetsu]

Like Scott said earlier :

Use a molex power plug, euro-style terminals, and 20 or 22 AWG wire.





Scott

Cut the cables of the molex. De-isolate the cable ends so that you get the blank wire. Slide the euro-style terminal over the cables so that each cable goes through it's own 'tunnel'.
Take cables of the desired length, de-isolate the ends. Twirl the ends of the molex cables around the ends of the long cables, so that each of the molex cables has contact to it's 'extension cord'.
Slide the euro-style terminal over those contacts and screw the screws in the top of it down, thus securing it.
You now have successfully extended your molex cable.

[dkersten]

I am a little confused, it seems the most simple thing to do here is to extend the wires.  Unless you are talking about USB cords, the wiring involved in a control panel is just wire, nothing special.  Buy some wire, cut it to length, cut the wire you want to extend and splice the extra wire into place using whatever connection method you prefer (solder, crimping, etc).  Unless you REALLY don't want to cut the wires in your computer, just cut the red and black wires off a free molex and splice it to a pair of regular wire, run it out of the case through whatever hole you want to use (or drill a hole and stick a grommet in there to protect the wire) and run it to where you want, and attach whatever kind of plug you want to use to the other end. 

As for the LED controller, I would mount it on the back side of the control panel, run the wires to it, and run a USB and a 5 volt pair to the computer.. MUCH easier than trying to extend 4 wires x 20 RGB LED's all the way down to the computer.. Heck, nearly all LED controllers have a 6 foot USB cable, and it can reach your computer easily. 

[Procyon]

Thanks very much everyone, and I apologize for my hesitance.  I'm too used to ready-made solutions and I don't have a lot of confidence in my DIY skills.  I know I'm making it more complicated in my head than it really is.  I will head out tomorrow and see if I can pick up some of those materials.  Then maybe it won't seem so mysterious.  Thanks again.

[Cobolisdead]

Quick question. Why that version of Megatron?

I am loving the Control panel, but I was just curious why use that one, as its just a recent remold of a Bludgeon figure and doesn't fit the G1 look.

[Procyon]

That's a fair question, and my honest answer is simply personal preference.  I'm investing in the Cloud line, so I figured I'd go all the way with the motif.  As you can see in the early preview versions, I was using Cloud Hot Rod and Cloud Starscream as well.  Plus, it was actually kind of difficult to find cool looking action pose artwork of original G1 Megatron.  I had considered this one: http://khaamar.deviantart.com/art/CCE-Megatron-72775563

[Procyon]

Well, it's finally complete.  I couldn't have done it without all the help you each provided me with, especially Scott.  Managed to get all the lights set up great.  I thought I'd want cyan for the trackball, but it turned out that blue looked just fine without the green, so I went with that.  There's still a number of improvements I would like to make, but for now it's fully functional.

The biggest item on my list of potential improvements is to try and get a deeper purple color going on the player 2 side.  I know that would involve adding a resistor to all of the red connections of the LEDs in order to tone down how much it shines in comparison to the blue.  For the hexadecimal minded, right now I have 0xFF00FF, when what I'm really shooting for is 0x8000FF, so about half as much red would be good.  Problem is I have no idea what grade resistor to get.  Even if one of you could point me to the right one, can I place just one resistor between the ground and every red connection?  Or do I need one resistor each for each connection?

Anyway, thanks again for all your help.  Here are some pics.  I'll probably take some more tomorrow when there's some natural light in the room.

P.S. I'm too embarrassed to show you the wiring inside...  Kind of looks like a Transformer was sacrificed to make the thing.  Clean wiring is not my strong suit.  But the euro-style terminal worked beautifully.

[PL1]

Well, it's finally complete.  I couldn't have done it without all the help you each provided me with, especially Scott. 

Looks great.  Glad to assist.   

The biggest item on my list of potential improvements is to try and get a deeper purple color going on the player 2 side.  I know that would involve adding a resistor to all of the red connections of the LEDs in order to tone down how much it shines in comparison to the blue.  For the hexadecimal minded, right now I have 0xFF00FF, when what I'm really shooting for is 0x8000FF, so about half as much red would be good.  Problem is I have no idea what grade resistor to get.  Even if one of you could point me to the right one, can I place just one resistor between the ground and every red connection?  Or do I need one resistor each for each connection?

You can use one (or two) variable resistors/potentiometers like this to fine tune and balance your lighting so P1 and P2 are equally bright and P2 is the desired shade of purple.

If the brightness difference between P1 and P2 isn't an issue, you should only need the one pot for red.



To figure out the resistor you need, let's start by figuring out the power rating in watts you'll need to handle the red channel on P2's buttons.

7 buttons * 20mA per red channel (max current draw for your RGB Drive II LEDs) = 140mA

Volts * Amps = Watts

5v * 140mA = 700mW

A 1 Watt or greater power rated resistor should work great.

To figure out the value of resistor you need, try a 5k ohm linear potentiometer like this one from Radio Shack. (figured you'd prefer to get it locally and that's the best option I found there)

The problem with that pot is that it is only rated for .5W, so you'll need to connect only 5 (or less) LEDs for testing.

Connect the wires in the diagram above to tabs 1 and 2 or tabs 2 and 3 of the pot to use it as a variable resistor. (tab 1 to tab 3 will always be 5k ohms)

The value that you are looking for will be rather low, probably less than 50 ohms.   

Once you dial in the desired brightness/color, measure the resistance value that the pot is set at (make sure power is off first so you don't fry your meter  ) and replace the pot with the corresponding 1 Watt resistor that will easily handle all 7 LEDs.   


Scott

[Procyon]

Potentiometers GET!  Picked one up at Radio Shack today.  I'll start messing with it over the weekend. 

I wanted to share the file I used with all of the layers to make the illustration with everyone.  The problem is, the correctly sized 300dpi template is over 250MB, so that won't work.  Instead, I'm sharing the earlier template I used which is much smaller, but should do the trick.  It's the right ratio, but the wrong size and lower dpi.  It's a GIMP xcf file, so hopefully that will work for people.