Blaster electronics: FX-BlasterOS goes open-source

[deputyd0ng]

I think I see now, this is for recharging the battery, Can you use a TP4056 board in its place to charge over micro usb?

[RankAndFileTrooper]

Hi Sean, yes, the component you are aksing about is indeed for the battery charging, a so called Recharge Port. My Stardust and Proto boards contain an on board USB charging device, a different one though from the one you mentioned. Nevertheless looking at the specs of the TP4056 it seems it could be used to charge your Li-Ion battery from USB. No guarantee but it might be worth a try.

[deputyd0ng]

1 minute ago, RankAndFileTrooper said:

Hi Sean, yes, the component you are aksing about is indeed for the battery charging, a so called Recharge Port. My Stardust and Proto boards contain an on board USB charging device, a different one though from the one you mentioned. Nevertheless looking at the specs of the TP4056 it seems it could be used to charge your Li-Ion battery from USB. No guarantee but it might be worth a try.

 

 

Thanks, Im relatively new to DIY electronics, but the few I have done have used these boards and I have quite a few laying around.  Im gonna order the parts today.

 

Am I missing anything?

 

Arduino

DFPlayer

Speaker

Micro Switches for trigger pulls

Neopixels

[RankAndFileTrooper]

You are good to go!!! Good luck and let me know if you need any assistance!

[deputyd0ng]

4 hours ago, RankAndFileTrooper said:

You are good to go!!! Good luck and let me know if you need any assistance!

 

 

Im sure Ill be reaching out.  Thanks in advance!

[deputyd0ng]

On 9/1/2020 at 5:21 PM, RankAndFileTrooper said:

You are good to go!!! Good luck and let me know if you need any assistance!

Is there enough power in this to power a PAM8403?  If not, can a potentiometer be placed somewhere for volume control?  or is the DFplayer amp suitable as long as the connected speaker is less than <3w?

[RankAndFileTrooper]

3 hours ago, deputyd0ng said:

Is there enough power in this to power a PAM8403?  If not, can a potentiometer be placed somewhere for volume control?  or is the DFplayer amp suitable as long as the connected speaker is less than <3w?

The DFPlayer has an in-build LM4871 audio amp, capable of driving a 4Ohm or 8Ohm speaker with up to 3W. I do not see how the PAM8403 would be of benefit over it. The LM4871 makes the DFPlayer crazily loud.

 

No need for volume control, you can control the volume from the firmware from 0 to 31, which is again a feature of the DFPlayer.

[deputyd0ng]

37 minutes ago, RankAndFileTrooper said:

The DFPlayer has an in-build LM4871 audio amp, capable of driving a 4Ohm or 8Ohm speaker with up to 3W. I do not see how the PAM8403 would be of benefit over it. The LM4871 makes the DFPlayer crazily loud.

 

No need for volume control, you can control the volume from the firmware from 0 to 31, which is again a feature of the DFPlayer.

 

 

Got it, so map button for volume up/down?

[likemike973]

19 hours ago, deputyd0ng said:

 

 

Got it, so map button for volume up/down?

I just finished mine, and the sound is loud.  It is adjustable through the programming. Maybe in a crowded area you might not hear it loudly, but should be fine for most troops. 

[deputyd0ng]

On 9/9/2020 at 3:54 PM, RankAndFileTrooper said:

The DFPlayer has an in-build LM4871 audio amp, capable of driving a 4Ohm or 8Ohm speaker with up to 3W. I do not see how the PAM8403 would be of benefit over it. The LM4871 makes the DFPlayer crazily loud.

 

No need for volume control, you can control the volume from the firmware from 0 to 31, which is again a feature of the DFPlayer.

I have it bread boarded out, sound is working (havent hooked up the pixels to the board yet.  But it seems like I only have trigger/fire button, not aux.

 

Is there any details on instructions on the config files and which parts could/should be uncommented for configuration?  I dont wanna bugger anything up.

[deputyd0ng]

On 9/14/2020 at 5:52 AM, deputyd0ng said:

I have it bread boarded out, sound is working (havent hooked up the pixels to the board yet.  But it seems like I only have trigger/fire button, not aux.

 

Is there any details on instructions on the config files and which parts could/should be uncommented for configuration?  I dont wanna bugger anything up.

 

 

SO I removed fx-blaster while I was messing around with something else, and now for the life of me cannto get it to compile.  At all.. have followed guide.  But keep getting undefined reference errors exit code 1.

[deputyd0ng]

On 9/15/2020 at 11:38 PM, deputyd0ng said:

 

 

SO I removed fx-blaster while I was messing around with something else, and now for the life of me cannto get it to compile.  At all.. have followed guide.  But keep getting undefined reference errors exit code 1.

 

 

Now managed to get it down to BODS undefined

 

NVM SOLVED---Had wrong board selected from when I was flashing my 3d printer firmware last night.  its compiled now.

Edited September 17, 2020 by deputyd0ng

[deputyd0ng]

On 9/10/2020 at 11:58 AM, likemike973 said:

I just finished mine, and the sound is loud.  It is adjustable through the programming. Maybe in a crowded area you might not hear it loudly, but should be fine for most troops. 

Im having issues making my "aux" button work.  The fire button works fine and I can long hold it to get through the menus but the second button does not work.

 

Am I missing some changed I must make in configuration to allow the second button to work?  Ive looked through the code but havent seen it.

[RankAndFileTrooper]

Website removed

Edited February 9, 2023 by RankAndFileTrooper

[deputyd0ng]

On 9/18/2020 at 4:50 PM, RankAndFileTrooper said:

The long waiting comes now to an end!

 

Look here and make it work literally with one-click:

https://www.protowerkstatt.com/imperial-armoury

(Hint: look for the download and follow the working instructions)

Im almost there, just need to iron out an issue with the nozzle light.  does the DO nozzle light connect to the top and bottom of the flora, and then onto the rest of the wiring?  I have it wires as such and am getting some funky behavoir from the nozzle light

[deputyd0ng]

On 9/18/2020 at 4:50 PM, RankAndFileTrooper said:

The long waiting comes now to an end!

 

Look here and make it work literally with one-click:

https://www.protowerkstatt.com/imperial-armoury

(Hint: look for the download and follow the working instructions)

I got everything working just confused on wiring the nozzle neopixel.  I have 5v and grnd, the data on Top going to the stripe, but, how do I wire the bottom hole?  I tried wiring it to data, and the nozzle stays on when fired.

[RankAndFileTrooper]

On 9/24/2020 at 5:51 AM, deputyd0ng said:

I got everything working just confused on wiring the nozzle neopixel.  I have 5v and grnd, the data on Top going to the stripe, but, how do I wire the bottom hole?  I tried wiring it to data, and the nozzle stays on when fired.

Since the nozzle pixel is the last one in the chain, you only have to wire the Data In to the Data Out of the barrell stripe. Look at the wiring diagram again.

[RankAndFileTrooper]

To take open-source blaster building to the next level, I decided together with the sound font artist who developed the sounds for MK-X to release them, free of charge and open to everyone who wants to build blasters.

 

The sound font bundle contains 3 high quality, complete set of sounds optimized for the FX-BlasterOS platform. You simply need to populate your SD-card with the bundle and using the one-click installer upload the code to your Arduino-based blaster electronics.

FX-BlasterOS Sound Font bundle

 

Please note that a lot of effort and dedication were poured into the creation of these sound fonts. They are as of now the best quality sounds for blaster props, created by a sound font artist. If you like them, consider a donation as a way of acknowledging the great job the guy did on them (see Donate button on the protowerkstatt web site)!

 

Once you have a working prop with FX-BlasterOS via one-click installer and the sound bundle, feedback to User Experience is more than welcome. Please also share pictures and videos of your working prop as a source of inspiration to others.

Edited February 9, 2023 by RankAndFileTrooper

[deputyd0ng]

18 hours ago, RankAndFileTrooper said:

To take open-source blaster building to the next level, I decided together with the sound font artist who developed the sounds for MK-X to release them, free of charge and open to everyone who wants to build blasters.

 

The sound font bundle contains 3 high quality, complete set of sounds optimized for the FX-BlasterOS platform. You simply need to populate your SD-card with the bundle and using the one-click installer upload the code to your Arduino-based blaster electronics.

FX-BlasterOS Sound Font bundle

 

Please note that a lot of effort and dedication were poured into the creation of these sound fonts. They are as of now the best quality sounds for blaster props, created by a sound font artist. If you like them, consider a donation as a way of acknowledging the great job the guy did on them (see Donate button on the protowerkstatt web site)!

 

Once you have a working prop with FX-BlasterOS via one-click installer and the sound bundle, feedback to User Experience is more than welcome. Please also share pictures and videos of your working prop as a source of inspiration to others.

 

 

Breadboard is total success....getting it into the blaster....thats a whole other story im currently working on.

 

A suggestion, I know you were selling your own board, but if you could make a board available on OSH park, similar to what Troopduino did, that would make getting into the blaster MUCH easier.

[RankAndFileTrooper]

On 10/8/2020 at 2:38 AM, deputyd0ng said:

 

 

Breadboard is total success....getting it into the blaster....thats a whole other story im currently working on.

 

A suggestion, I know you were selling your own board, but if you could make a board available on OSH park, similar to what Troopduino did, that would make getting into the blaster MUCH easier.

It sure depends on the kind of blaster how easy it is to fit the electronics. That said in most cases the difficulty is not to get the board or electronics itself to fit but to cram-fu in the wiring and the battery. But it is far from impossible. Especially standard blasters like an E11 offers sufficient room for even a homebrew.

 

Of course if someone wants to have a professional solution which is easy to install, can order a DIYino Stardust/Proto board. Especially for professional installers I offer special deals when ordering in large quantities. Making it available on OSH park I do not consider, for the simple reason that my DIYino boards are known for their excellent, 0-defect quality (i.e. all boards I delivered over the years work perfectly), and I cannot guarantee the same if the production is someplace else... I hope you understand.

 

You have some options for a carrier board though, for example the brewboard from Saber Republic, an excellent homebrew carrier made to replicate my ealier DIYino Prime board design:

https://saberrepublic.bigcartel.com/brewboard

 

and skyone's new arduino carrier board (https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/19322-arduino-a-cheap-board-for-e11-blaster-effects/page/18/#comments) has a very similar component list, at first glance I'm pretty sure FX-BlasterOS can run on his board as well, since it uses a DFPlayer too, and the arduino board he uses has the same controller as the nano.

 

[deputyd0ng]

1 hour ago, RankAndFileTrooper said:

It sure depends on the kind of blaster how easy it is to fit the electronics. That said in most cases the difficulty is not to get the board or electronics itself to fit but to cram-fu in the wiring and the battery. But it is far from impossible. Especially standard blasters like an E11 offers sufficient room for even a homebrew.

 

Of course if someone wants to have a professional solution which is easy to install, can order a DIYino Stardust/Proto board. Especially for professional installers I offer special deals when ordering in large quantities. Making it available on OSH park I do not consider, for the simple reason that my DIYino boards are known for their excellent, 0-defect quality (i.e. all boards I delivered over the years work perfectly), and I cannot guarantee the same if the production is someplace else... I hope you understand.

 

You have some options for a carrier board though, for example the brewboard from Saber Republic, an excellent homebrew carrier made to replicate my ealier DIYino Prime board design:

https://saberrepublic.bigcartel.com/brewboard

 

and skyone's new arduino carrier board (https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/19322-arduino-a-cheap-board-for-e11-blaster-effects/page/18/#comments) has a very similar component list, at first glance I'm pretty sure FX-BlasterOS can run on his board as well, since it uses a DFPlayer too, and the arduino board he uses has the same controller as the nano.

 

 

 

Im putting it in T5H F-11D.  Are you just JSTing all the wires?  Or are you soldering distribution joints for the + /-

[deputyd0ng]

On 10/10/2020 at 5:57 PM, RankAndFileTrooper said:

It sure depends on the kind of blaster how easy it is to fit the electronics. That said in most cases the difficulty is not to get the board or electronics itself to fit but to cram-fu in the wiring and the battery. But it is far from impossible. Especially standard blasters like an E11 offers sufficient room for even a homebrew.

 

Of course if someone wants to have a professional solution which is easy to install, can order a DIYino Stardust/Proto board. Especially for professional installers I offer special deals when ordering in large quantities. Making it available on OSH park I do not consider, for the simple reason that my DIYino boards are known for their excellent, 0-defect quality (i.e. all boards I delivered over the years work perfectly), and I cannot guarantee the same if the production is someplace else... I hope you understand.

 

You have some options for a carrier board though, for example the brewboard from Saber Republic, an excellent homebrew carrier made to replicate my ealier DIYino Prime board design:

https://saberrepublic.bigcartel.com/brewboard

 

and skyone's new arduino carrier board (https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/19322-arduino-a-cheap-board-for-e11-blaster-effects/page/18/#comments) has a very similar component list, at first glance I'm pretty sure FX-BlasterOS can run on his board as well, since it uses a DFPlayer too, and the arduino board he uses has the same controller as the nano.

 

 

 

Brew board would have been perfect, but it is sold out, unfortunately.  And the skyone isnt yet shipping.  May make a carrier board with a blank PCB just to make the soldering easier

[Swornhill]

Good evening! This is my first post, so hi everyone! I hope all of you are safe in these troubled times.

I completely new to blaster building but i'm a fast learner.
I just started 3D printing a E11 blaster. It's a replica designed to receive electronics and i decided to go with the Arduino version.

I understand that these items are all I need:

 - Arduino Board (Atmega 328P)
 - DFPlayer module
 - WS2812 stick
 - RGB neopixel flora
 - Microwitch with long hinge
 - Li-on battery and holder
 - Battery charger/step-up for charging the battery and convert power to 5v
 - PAM8403 stereo amplifier because i want 2 speakers
 - 2x 2w speakers

 - 0.91" OLED display

 - wires and JST plugs

 - main switch

 - usb plug for charging only

 

And now I need some help with the last three items

 - Can i run 2 LED strips on the barrel? My model has a inner barrel and i wanted to glue one strip on each side. Can the arduino run both strips?

 - I want to add a aux switch to change modes and a magnetic switch on the magazine for the reload sound, can I do both?
 - I'd like to know if I can add a second OLED on the scope with this setup.

 

This will be a fun build.
Thank you in advance

[RankAndFileTrooper]

11 hours ago, Swornhill said:

Good evening! This is my first post, so hi everyone! I hope all of you are safe in these troubled times.

I completely new to blaster building but i'm a fast learner.
I just started 3D printing a E11 blaster. It's a replica designed to receive electronics and i decided to go with the Arduino version.

I understand that these items are all I need:

 - Arduino Board (Atmega 328P)
 - DFPlayer module
 - WS2812 stick
 - RGB neopixel flora
 - Microwitch with long hinge
 - Li-on battery and holder
 - Battery charger/step-up for charging the battery and convert power to 5v
 - PAM8403 stereo amplifier because i want 2 speakers
 - 2x 2w speakers

 - 0.91" OLED display

 - wires and JST plugs

 - main switch

 - usb plug for charging only

 

And now I need some help with the last three items

 - Can i run 2 LED strips on the barrel? My model has a inner barrel and i wanted to glue one strip on each side. Can the arduino run both strips?

 - I want to add a aux switch to change modes and a magnetic switch on the magazine for the reload sound, can I do both?
 - I'd like to know if I can add a second OLED on the scope with this setup.

 

This will be a fun build.
Thank you in advance

 

Dear Swornhill,

 

Wow, you really mean to build one!

 

I have some doubts about the following items:

 - Battery charger/step-up for charging the battery and convert power to 5v

Not sure what you intend to achieve with it. You can have a recharge port where you can charge your Li-Ion with a dedicated charger, but to use a DC-DC you need to be careful. I can help you if you provide me with a wiring diagram of the modifications you plan.

 

 - PAM8403 stereo amplifier because i want 2 speakers
Never tried this, but it sounds certainly interesting. Keep us in the loop, if it works I can add it as an alternative way of wiring it up.

 

Now to your questions:

 - I'd like to know if I can add a second OLED on the scope with this setup.

You can use only one OLED: either the 128x32 as a status bar or a smaller one 64x44 for the scope. Not both. The Atmega328 does not have that much memory to support multiple displays.

 

- I want to add a aux switch to change modes and a magnetic switch on the magazine for the reload sound, can I do both?
This should be possible and I already had one blaster where I did just that. However lately I did not check that branch of the code. Please try out and if you face difficulties, let me know and we can make that somehow stale branch back on line.

 

 - Can i run 2 LED strips on the barrel? My model has a inner barrel and i wanted to glue one strip on each side. Can the arduino run both strips?

Sure, this is how all lightsaber props work with neopixel. You simply connect the BAT+, the GND and the data line to both strips in parallel.

Good luck!

 

[Swornhill]

58 minutes ago, RankAndFileTrooper said:

 

Dear Swornhill,

 

Wow, you really mean to build one!

 

I have some doubts about the following items:

 - Battery charger/step-up for charging the battery and convert power to 5v

Not sure what you intend to achieve with it. You can have a recharge port where you can charge your Li-Ion with a dedicated charger, but to use a DC-DC you need to be careful. I can help you if you provide me with a wiring diagram of the modifications you plan.

 

 - PAM8403 stereo amplifier because i want 2 speakers
Never tried this, but it sounds certainly interesting. Keep us in the loop, if it works I can add it as an alternative way of wiring it up.

 

Now to your questions:

 - I'd like to know if I can add a second OLED on the scope with this setup.

You can use only one OLED: either the 128x32 as a status bar or a smaller one 64x44 for the scope. Not both. The Atmega328 does not have that much memory to support multiple displays.

 

- I want to add a aux switch to change modes and a magnetic switch on the magazine for the reload sound, can I do both?
This should be possible and I already had one blaster where I did just that. However lately I did not check that branch of the code. Please try out and if you face difficulties, let me know and we can make that somehow stale branch back on line.

 

 - Can i run 2 LED strips on the barrel? My model has a inner barrel and i wanted to glue one strip on each side. Can the arduino run both strips?

Sure, this is how all lightsaber props work with neopixel. You simply connect the BAT+, the GND and the data line to both strips in parallel.

Good luck!

 

Thank you so much for the help!

About the battery charger, I thought i needed a module just for charging the battery and make the output 5v intead of 3.7v, something like this:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/5V-2-1A-Charge-Discharge-Boost-Protection-3-7V-4-2V-Battery-DC-DC-UPS-DIY-Module/283579416463?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item4206a67f8f:g:VtIAAOSwm5ZdUp5v&amdata=enc%3AAQAFAAACgBaobrjLl8XobRIiIML1V4Imu%2Fn%2BzU5L90Z278x5ickk7PdDazAlGltMLJlUhrWsD%2BwVbzY7X2u0sCJSj7kGdp8Pk0vuUTRhOqJMwDlPrxcEvBayYQJo50SbBUBUb2qM%2FGrvHgprHtDH4DauroygJvazD2hugnkHMxYs%2Fb7XDvnAG8PYKwvq2JzH%2BKmsxql8WT%2BU1FuIx7dGlysC5CfAh%2FcyLemyGtwiXBD3dmQqCQeLOAH2Viaeywf6I1yZTHAKmFhDxeZ9bRmrsRAYHVz5k0rUiVEIoRQsDJlHh2TJqJf3KBSgEZmriYmDLU4n1E6PKbMItIHfdKjCqr4eeWVPC37E36qqguh4ambWrs4KjA%2BvZXR0UVQ2kAHq8hSppiVp8vD3Y%2BIijwn1RzWHgrYw9e1L6eIwTZwpUYIKC6o18hoRvbTxEo5HH4PAsm8pDrqpShaYe%2FIcibIkk%2B2cDj8DJjH1iTDixHVMTH0CCOgcLtZXIb0%2F5t0JqBF9XvsLXrQ%2BFPmerDXMS%2Fqz9lCXGu3HhSLQojjUPHVJAVPIEBVuJ%2BCBDuRVY8HAGpH%2FJHZ7sk0xXN8z%2F0%2BV2OT1xi%2Bhnv%2FSoIckIXu04s6F8mOUKT7%2BYykTPbGdpDQs53kHGA35IYGE%2F55hrFaTnpGCeoNTJF4VSmdCDWV9OT4owLhQBJHrca5tP1MmBSPlLRu7dV0ceO1gl5f62r%2B%2Fvl2%2BO65JGveUOuA8LXNk9iBogE5imfEIDt83HBYyS411c%2BW2GK3PVlvX6GWB3u0bo0u2U6I56xiF7BVmhRmo1%2BgoECU4v%2Fe1bYC0owL9jzqpjdueJenv45jJiXRAqzBo3yR9BmDjIMEZ%2FCA%3D|cksum%3A28357941646378a8ed3f56e541d898bdfd88ce676739|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2334524

 

About the stereo amp, more speakers, more volume! It seems easy to install, i'll post about it in a few months when i have all the parts (we know what happens with stuff coming from china, it's not quick)

About the OLED, I've seen some blaster on youtube with both but probably have the scope display on a separate circuit?

I want to know more about the magnetic switch because it's a cool feature but i need the right parts.

 

About the strips, that's what I thought. 

Actually, I have another question. Is the neopixel stick really necessary? because i see it hidden on the "bullet chamber" most of the times.

 

Thanks!