Logic Ripper EM - The Electro Solution - PreOrder

[CoolHand]

I know how that is. My local field has closed up. I'm driving 90 miles into Kansas Saterday to play.
edm

Eactly. It's 120 miles to the nearest field, and I'd have to play walk-on.

I HATE playing walk-on. The kids are all super AGG, don't know their asses from a hole in the ground, and generally push me to the point of murder in 15 mins flat.

Walk-on paintball isn't fun anymore, especially when you have to drive 120 miles to inflict it upon yourself.

I've always said that I'll quit when it's not fun anymore, and now it's not fun anymore.

But I don't have to play to still build cool stuff. Hell, even in my hay day, I played less than 25 times a year, and then when I went into business, I was lucky if I got on the field two or three times in a year. So it's not like things will change drastically from what they were three years ago.

I'm getting to be out of touch with what paintball has become, but from what I've seen of it, that's not necessarily a bad thing . . . . . . .

[mustangii]

I was invited to play at a paintball club, so it's not really walk on.

http://www.freewebs.com/oskieops/index.htm

Hope to have fun
edm

[going_home]

The point is, dont give up on paintball, and dont turn off the creative spigot .
We (the AGD community) dont want to see an innovator go belly up on us.

[DanMan]

Eactly. It's 120 miles to the nearest field, and I'd have to play walk-on.

I HATE playing walk-on. The kids are all super AGG, don't know their asses from a hole in the ground, and generally push me to the point of murder in 15 mins flat.

Walk-on paintball isn't fun anymore, especially when you have to drive 120 miles to inflict it upon yourself.

I've always said that I'll quit when it's not fun anymore, and now it's not fun anymore.

But I don't have to play to still build cool stuff. Hell, even in my hay day, I played less than 25 times a year, and then when I went into business, I was lucky if I got on the field two or three times in a year. So it's not like things will change drastically from what they were three years ago.

I'm getting to be out of touch with what paintball has become, but from what I've seen of it, that's not necessarily a bad thing . . . . . . .

i know that this is sort of a thread ressurection, but i just wanted to say that you should try outlaw ball. If you can find 7 of 8 other guys in the area, then you are set.

[CoolHand]

i know that this is sort of a thread ressurection, but i just wanted to say that you should try outlaw ball. If you can find 7 of 8 other guys in the area, then you are set.

We always played outlaw.

There hasn't been a field within a 2 hr drive of here for years.

I used to have my own airball field, and I still have a high pressure air compressor.

It's just that now, all the guys I used to play with have either moved out of state, or gotten married, or both, so no more paintball for them.

I am the last of my breed around these parts.

The implements, or lack thereof are not the problem.

My friends were what made the game fun. When the friends are gone, the game isn't worth playing anymore.

It is what it is.




Since I'm here, might as well leave a short update:

YDNA has the boards and has started his examination. No ETA yet, but he's working on them.

[p8ntbal4me]

YDNA has the boards and has started his examination. No ETA yet, but he's working on them.

Andy is a good guy,... and he does great work!

I put my Ripper frame in a box and sent it to him,.... he's gonna work his magic!

~ P8nt

[smilestyler]

Hey Ryan, is it time for an update yet?

What's the eta on the boards? Have you started the SULE rails?

[CoolHand]

Hey Ryan, is it time for an update yet?

What's the eta on the boards? Have you started the SULE rails?

I haven't heard anything from YDNA since the last update.

I have the SULE rails programmed and the stock bought, but I still need to build a couple of fixtures, get the coolant basin on the CNC flushed out and refilled, and then pull, reset, and reload the required tools into the ATC.

I'll poke YDNA and see how he's coming. I'll post again when I hear back from him.

Have a good Christmas folks.

[CoolHand]

Update from YDNA:

. . . . . . Anyway here's the dealio. I scoped a couple of the boards out to see
what type of volts were being sent to the solenoid...as I feared it's
way to damn low to be useful. Clicking the little armature is about as
much as it seems we'll get from these things, even in their altered
state. There's no pulse like I wondered earlier, so really I don't know
what the deal is with these boards.

As a result it does indeed sound like an adapter board will need to be
used. That'll stack things up another hundred bucks or thereabouts
depending on the exact cost of the boards, but I always feared that
would be the worst-case scenario so I really don't expect any other
costs. THe only thing is the cost for the componets individually, which
will probably be between $5-10 per adapter.

Ever since I received the package I've been thinking about how to do
this, so I have a lot of ideas, and it will actually work out pretty
good. I'll list the specifics later once I've definitively figured out
the circuit.
The adapter boards will take 2-3 weeks to produce so I'd ideally like to
send their order out right now, but I really really shouldn't do that
before finalizing the circuit. So what I have to do first is order some
test components and make a prototype of the adapter using components
attached with wires. Then hook that up to one of the boards to make sure
it works, then at that point I can send out the order for the actual
board itself.
I'll order the components immediately and they'll be here within a few
days, and I'll whip some stuff together and let know you what comes of it!

There it is folks.

I did not, in fact, imagine the profound broke-assedness of these boards. Vindication at last!

Looks like after the first of the year for sure before I'll have the boards back.

At least we've got an update, and things are moving along.

Have a good Christmas.

[jade_monkey07]

Coolhand, Im not involved in this order, but iv been keeping track of this thread ever since I joined AO. I just want to give you props for sticking with this through all the rough patches. and i cant wait to see the final product in peoples hands. I hope this isnt the last thing you produce either, now that you have a cnc up and running! AO is lucky to have someone as dedicated as you.
cheers
And Merry Christmas!

[CoolHand]

Another update from YDNA:

Well, components have yet to arrive....but I've been dinking around with
the boards a little more. I'm now less concerned with the voltage
amounts and more with the current...although I'm virtually sure the
problem is indeed with the Chaos transistor. My current thought (har
har) is that the Chaos transistor is too small to provide enough
current, and upwardsly enough power. It's physically pretty small which
doesn't usually make any difference, but I wouldn't be surprised if that
were the case here.
One of the reasons I think this is because the board seems to operate
the other low-power solenoids decently. It doesn't seem to have any
trouble until I hook up a large resistance coil, such as some 4.2 watt
MAC solenoids I have here, a large Parker solenoid for industrial use,
etc. The Chaos doesn't seem to have much trouble with many
indirect-acting solenoids, only these big direct acting ones.

There's also this odd issue of the Chaos transistor leaking power to
through the circuit while it's idle/off. All transistors leak a small
amount, just like how all capacitors leak some energy, but in this case
I was able to measure the amount of power passing through as being
almost 0.4 volts. I'm not an expert on these things bit it's weird to
see a 0.4 spike pop up every 2 milliseconds then go back down to
0...repeat over and over. It's possible to be some kind of feedback
being produced by my scope, but I don't think so....hmmm

Anyway, the components I chose are very large and will hopefully provide
enough juice to be useful. I found a startlingly huge transistor which I
hope will function okay, but I admit I'm weary since it's made for audio
applications and might not work as good unless there's a whole circuit
built for it. We'll see....the fallback transistor I selected is rated
to 50 volts at 2.4 amps, and my diode is good to similar amounts,
although I'm trying to find a bigger one just in case. For reference the
Morlock's transistors are 30 volts at 4.6 amps, which is certainly large
enough to power anything used in a patinball marker...hopefully some of
that is overkill.
The ***** of it is even though these components are tenfold what we need
on paper, in reality it'll be a different situation. I'm sure the Chaos
transistor is "rated" to more than these solenoids require, too. Just
with a smaller gap between the solenoid requirement and the transistor
rating.

Enough of that. I'll let you know when something more exciting starts...

Just thought I'd post that.

Merry Christmas folks.

[CoolHand]

OK guys, I have to make an announcement.

When this all started, I told you I would not take on any new PB related projects or sell any of the UEF parts kits until I had delivered your markers and frame kits, and I have kept my word to this point.

However, things are getting very slow in engineering town, and if I am going to be able to continue spending money on this project (to say nothing of paying my mortgage and student loans), I am going to need to generate a revenue stream from somewhere.

To that end, I will be releasing a few new PB projects (Automag related to be sure, and you UEF guys will be happy too I think, keep your eyes peeled for the next several days), as well as some non-PB related stuff, and taking on custom work and such as it comes. I will also be posting up for sale the other 8 or 9 UEF parts kits, unassembled and unanodized, with boards to follow as soon as YDNA gets them sorted out.

I really didn't want to break my word to you guys on this front, but something has to give, and I figured you'd rather me take more work than let this project stall out so close to the end. Plus I gotta eat and keep the bankers at bay, so I've gotta go ahead with these plans, even if it ruffles a few feathers.

I'm hoping you guys will understand.

[fshrmn76]

You've been up front and honest with all of us to this point. I think most of us would agree that if you need to take on more work to keep things moving along (including eating and paying the bills) then take on the work. We have been waiting patiently, we are so close to the end, and right now its out of your hands anyways. Do what you need to. I for one am not giving up on this project.

[CoolHand]

. . . . . .I for one am not giving up on this project. . . . .

That is a wise choice.

YDNA sent along a very long update this evening, which I won't post in its entirety because it is very long and somewhat rambling, but suffice to say that he's got a design fleshed out, modeled, the parts sourced, and some even bought.

He's working very fast, but still taking enough time to think it over from every angle before he strikes.

He sent these solid models to show what he's planning to do:





The green is the Chaos board, and the blue is the intermediate board he's building to fix the crappy design of the Chaos and make the whole gizzmo work like it oughta.

It's looking very good from this end.

I don't know how long board fabrication and assembly is going to take, but at least we can see that he's making good progress.

I really wish I'd called him a year ago. We'd have been done with it for months now.

Sorry guys, you know what they say about hind sight.

[VeeWee]

You've been up front and honest with all of us to this point. I think most of us would agree that if you need to take on more work to keep things moving along (including eating and paying the bills) then take on the work. We have been waiting patiently, we are so close to the end, and right now its out of your hands anyways. Do what you need to. I for one am not giving up on this project.

Ditto