Xaero's E-11 Blaster Build (Doopydoo’s Resin Kit, T-Jays Completion Kit, Resin Folding Stock, Arduino Electronics)

[XaeroVore]

Hi,

 

The day has finally come, the Doopydoo's resin kit has arrived and I can start building.

 

My current plan for this build:

 

- I picked up parts of a real folding stock (mainly the buttplate) and some mold/resin kit to make a resin version of the buttplate. In addition to the parts from T-Jay and some trimming of the doopy stock, I should be able to get it working. Now I know it won't be as sturdy as a real folding stock, but I want to make it working and keep the lighter weight.

 

- I'm going to add Arduino electronic, super bright led in the nozzle, speakers for sound, led bar graph for the ammo count in place of the Hengstler counter digits

 

- There will be a working charging lever/bolt that when pulled back will actually trigger the reloading. I think this will be the hardest part for the electronics. Im still debating how to actually implement it. Do I make it so you have to pull all the way back and then it will fully reload, or do I make it incremental, so pulling back halfway only recharges have the ammo count, etc, perhaps steps at 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and full. If anyone else has any additional ideas I'd love to hear them.

 

I picked up a more accurate replacement resin magazine, but it hasn't arrived yet.

 

 

 

Here's to a fun build, more to come.

 

Brett

[Mupfel]

Sounds like a great project!

I am very excited to see the progress...


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[T-Jay[TK]]

Hi Brett, happy to see you started a build thread.   The current setup looks very promising. Following...

15 hours ago, XaeroVore said:

(...)   I picked up parts of a real folding stock (mainly the buttplate) and some mold/resin kit to make a resin version of the buttplate. In addition to the parts from T-Jay and some trimming of the doopy stock, I should be able to get it working. Now I know it won't be as sturdy as a real folding stock, but I want to make it working and keep the lighter weight.   (...)

When I think of an operational folding stock, which also has to be light weight, the first thing in my mind is the kit from @fieldmarshall. Don't want to keep you from building your own stock, I was just not sure if you were aware of that option. You are based in the US, so even shipping would not be an issue. However, I would totally understand if your prefer to build your own and keep this option as a backup plan.

[Dracotrooper]

Really looking forward to your build Marko.  The pulling of the charge handle for different electronic effects is very ambitious indeed. Not to mention upgrading the folding stock to make it functional. A steady step-by-step approach will prove very valuable given the complexity of your build. I wish you all the best and look forward to your posts.

[XaeroVore]

Hi All,

 

I didn't get as far as I would have liked, but I had to get my workshops set up, and that took some time to organize. Its been 5+ years since I used my old jewelers bench, so a few trips to the hardware store, I got everything I needed to organize. CDO (OCD spelt alphabetically as it should be) has its advantages sometimes. At least I finally get to use my wax tools again.

 

 

 

Once I got my model making setup done, It was time to organize the electronics setup. Between Amazon and eBay, I had electronic parts come in every day for 2 weeks (Yey for free shipping), so they all had to be organized and sorted. I may have gone a little overboard on the electronics parts, but maybe I'll find other stuff to build afterwards.

 

 

I started by creating a blue print of the trigger and handle reference image.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once I had the template done, I marked up where I wanted to place everything. Thanks to @Dracotrooper for some of the inspirations. I am using the 3 position switch from @T-Jay's kit as well as adding a vibrating motor for the shot feedback, mode button to play the soundtrack files (thanks to @skyone), i.e imperial march, and finally a potentiometer to control the volume of the sound. 

 

I don't think I will be changing the volume too much, so I am hiding it as part of the bottom screw of the handle. I am going to attach the two together, so I will need to carry a small hex wrench or something to change the volume, but this should be the best and easiest place to hide it.

 

 

I soldered 6" of stranded wire to each of the components except for the speakers which have 2'. I'm not sure where I am putting the speakers yet so I wanted to leave them as long unaltered lengths.

 

 

Added heat shrink tubing to protect the solder joints.

 

 

With all that done, I can start on the resin work.

 

 

 

Created a template for the trigger.

 

 

While trimming the trigger, I took off a little too much off the back of the trigger, so I had to add some more green stuff to the back and build the top portion.

 

 

 

Next up was cleaning up the edges and joints, carving out the channels for the aluminum plates, switch and size screws.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used a drill press to drill out the bottom screw and a 8" bit to drill all the way through the handle. 

 

 

 

 

Once I knew where to drill from the top, I used a drill bit a little bigger than the potentiometer, to drill down to the bottom, leaving enough resin to keep the part inside the handle.

 

 

 

Testing fitting the rotary switch and mode selection button.

 

 

Well, thats all I have done for now. Thanks for reading.

 

Best,

 

Brett

 

[XaeroVore]

Hi Tino,

 

I was not aware there was a kit available, I didn't show up when I would search. At least I know I have options if mine doesn't pan out.

On 4/11/2019 at 4:05 AM, T-Jay said:

Hi Brett, happy to see you started a build thread.   The current setup looks very promising. Following...

When I think of an operational folding stock, which also has to be light weight, the first thing in my mind is the kit from @fieldmarshall. Don't want to keep you from building your own stock, I was just not sure if you were aware of that option. You are based in the US, so even shipping would not be an issue. However, I would totally understand if your prefer to build your own and keep this option as a backup plan.

 

Hi Dracotrooper,

 

Yeah, after reading through your build, it made me want to go all out with this.

6 hours ago, Dracotrooper said:

Really looking forward to your build Marko.  The pulling of the charge handle for different electronic effects is very ambitious indeed. Not to mention upgrading the folding stock to make it functional. A steady step-by-step approach will prove very valuable given the complexity of your build. I wish you all the best and look forward to your posts.

 

[Dracotrooper]

Oh my goodness!! A big salute to you for such fine precision work in and around your grip component

I'm sure your workbench is the envy of many, including myself.

You gave me goosebumps when I saw how you are going about modeling the trigger; I am so familiar with your method

Bravo for such a clean rotary switch housing; keep up the great work ...

Oh, elated for you that you have the Imperial March in your soundFX - way and SO very cool!

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[XaeroVore]

So this update took longer than I expected. It was a quite a bit of trial and error trying to build the functioning part of the folding stock, and I still haven't finished.

 

I picked up some parts of a real folding stock so I can take measurements and understand how it works.

 

 

Here are my blueprints with all the measurements.

 

 

I first tried to create a mold of the parts using Blue Stuff (which is really cool moldable plastic) and then pour a liquid resin in, however, that did not lead to the desired result. I couldn't get the accurate enough detail, it wasn't until later I realized I wasn't heating the Blue Stuff enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since that didn't worked, I used on to using Brown Stuff (similar to Green Stuff, but with better adhesion to metal).

 

 

So I formed rough shapes of the locking pin and inner rod.

 

 

 

I used my belt sander to first square of the edges, then as it moved, I rotated the peice to round it off.

 

Once I had the exact diameter and it fit in the rod, I moved on to carving out the notch.

 

 

For the locking pin, I used my wax files to carve the necessary shape.

 

 

Here is the final result compared with the original.

 

 

Once I had the locking pin done, I could use my drill press to drill the hole into the inner rod. I made the hole a little bigger than I needed so I can install a support rod that the locking pin would sit in. 

 

 

 

Next I moved on to forming the lever piece. I scribed the shape based off the measurements, then used some powered chalk to make the lines more visible. 

 

 

My flex shaft has an attachment to turn it into a mini router table, so I used it to make a rough shape of the piece, then finished with my files.

 

 

 

Once these pieces were done, I moved onto the main rod.  I cut the rod to size, then used Brown Stuff to mold a rough shape of the ends onto it.

 

 

 

A little trip over to the disc sander and I had the ends squared off.

 

 

Once squared, I could start drilling the holes for the rods and the locking pin.

 

 

 

 

I picked up a box a springs from the hardware store and was able to find 2 springs that fit, however, I went with the longer tapered one as the short one has too much resistance.

 

 

With that, I had all the pieces I needed to assemble the arm.

 

 

But alas, my plan was not successful, during a dry fit run, the bottom of the end broke off.

 

 

I'm having some issues with photobucket at the moment, so I'll break this update into smaller posts.

 

Edited May 1, 2019 by XaeroVore
fixed typo

[Dracotrooper]

Incredible work here Bret! That level of detail is a tier up above the rest!! Good to know about brown stuff being better adhesion to metal. I've always worked with green stuff so need to add glue to adhere it to metal than to be safe. I also attempted to fashion that lever piece (so very tiny eh?) and did so with green stuff. Good on you for getting this far; and feel sorry about the breakage. As far as I can tell, I think this is the first attempt at making from scratch, the inner tubing for the folding stock - way to blaze a trail here 

 

[Mupfel]

Great work so far!


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[XaeroVore]

Thanks @Dracotrooper and @Mupfel

 

While it does suck that it broke, its better that it broke now than after its all assembled and painted. I was able to craft a new support rod, but this time, I bought a 1x1x12 bar of Aluminum. Unfortunately, it came in a 4 pack, so not sure what i'm going to do with the rest of it, but that is a problem for another day.

 

 

I cut off the 2 new ends that I needed with a reciprocating saw and compared them to the reference piece.

 

 

 

A little more cutting to get the ends to their proper size.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the small end, I only drilled part of the way through since there is only a small hole on the outside.

 

 

For the large end, I drilled 2 holes, one going all the way through, and another slightly bigger for the rod to sit in. I didn't want the rod to go all the way through to the other side.

 

 

 

Once everything was fit together, some JB Weld to make it permanent.

 

 

Once dried, I started on drilling out the necessary holes, but I didn't pay attention to which side I was drilling through, I accidentally drilled through from the top to the bottom... Oops. I'll just fill that with some resin later.

 

 

 

Once drilled, back over to the belt sander for some shaping.

 

 

 

With all the holes drilled, I used a cutting disc and grinding bit to clean up the locking pin channel.

 

 

And now back to where I was before...

 

 

 

Next up was the folding stock.

 

 

 

I used a Dremel scroll saw to cut off the resin buttstock piece.

 

 

I sanded off the rest of the buttstock with the belt sander.

 

 

With the outside all cleaned up, time to work on the inside. Using my old wax routing bit made this part a breeze, it cuts right through the resin.

 

 

Clean up the channel with some hand files and sand paper.

 

 

Once I had the folding stock cleaned up, I did a test fit of the resin stock, aluminum arm and reference buttstock. I left out the internals of the arm, just making sure the everything fit. Looking good so far.

 

 

Well, thats it for now. I'm currently working on re-creating the two end pieces of the buttstock and how to attach the folding stock to the main barrel and I'll have to drill out the holes on the resin folding stock.

 

More to come.

 

Brett

 

Edited May 1, 2019 by XaeroVore

[XaeroVore]

I finished prototyping and coding the electronics. I'm using a Arduino Mega 2560 to develop with, but will switch to a Arduino Mini Pro once I am ready size down and install. 

 

The blaster will have 3 fire modes, as controlled from the 3 way selector switch from T-Jay's kit. The fire modes are Regular and Stun which are 1 shot per click and Automatic, which is 1 shot every .5 seconds while holding down the trigger. The shot capacity is currently set to 20, and is visualized by the LED bar graph, once all shots are fired, an empty ammo sound is played and can be reloaded which is temporarily controlled by a simple button.

 

Each time the blaster is fired, a vibratory motor will engage to simulate weapon feedback.

 

There is an additional mode controlled by a second button that will switch the blaster from a blaster to a stereo and play music. Currently, only the Imperial March is available, but more can be added in the future. In music mode, the music is stopped and started via the trigger button.

 

Finally, there is a potentiometer that will control the master sound volume from 0 to 25 (The max volume of the audio is 30, but to prevent damage to the smaller speakers, I am capping it at 25).

 

Obviously we won't know the shot count of the blaster from ANH, so I have to use resources like https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/E-11_blaster_rifle, https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/E-11_blaster_rifle/Legends or the many incarnations of games this weapon appeared in. 100 shots seems like the average, so I will probably go with that once the blaster is finished.

 

Rate of fire for the blaster is around 300 RPM, which works out to 5 shots a second or 1 shot every .2 seconds.

 

I still have to tweak, clean up and comment the code, so once I do that, and update the shot count and rate of fire, I will commit the code to Github and make it available to anyone.

 

 

And here is the demo.

 

 

More to come.

 

Brett

 

Edited May 2, 2019 by XaeroVore

[Mupfel]

Sounds like a bunch of great work!

What about adding a dependency on the magazine? Once it is removed, the Power Level goes down?

This could be implemented by a simple electric line...




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[XaeroVore]

Sounds like a bunch of great work!

What about adding a dependency on the magazine? Once it is removed, the Power Level goes down?

This could be implemented by a simple electric line...




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Yeah, I was think of something like that, but had put it off and since I had a different plan to reload.

My magazine will house my battery, so To do this I would have to make sure that the connection are secure while connected but easily removed or connected to prevent accidentally shorting out the battery. The LED bar graph has 2 small capacitors, but I don’t think it will be enough to power a power down mode, so I may need to add a few more to have a reserve to play a power down sound and have the bar graph deplete.

This also affects the issue of reloading, I am planning on implementing reloading by pulling back on the recoil bar since I want that cocking mechanism to actually do something, which is what made me think of reloading. I wonder if I could somehow prevent reloading until the magazine is removed and replaced. This would be much more challenging as and state/variable in the arduino would be lost upon batter removal.

This would certainly require a second arduino and power supply which I just don’t have the room for.

I could probably still implement the magazine removal and power down, just not have it affect the reloading.



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[T-Jay[TK]]

Wow Brett - I am out of words.    You definitely went the extra mile on your operational folding stock. Haven't seen anything like this before.

 

13 hours ago, XaeroVore said:

Would that resin piece still be solid enough when you replicate the drill holes?

[XaeroVore]

Wow Brett - I am out of words.    You definitely went the extra mile on your operational folding stock. Haven't seen anything like this before.
 
Would that resin piece still be solid enough when you replicate the drill holes?

Hi Tino,

Yeah, it’s probably not worth all this work as it may never be used, but it’s more of a challenge to overcome.

As for the holes, I think so, it will still have the solid sides to support any weight. If not, I could probably line the inside with thin aluminum sheets to act as the supports.

Brett


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