{"id":948,"date":"2016-01-16T19:15:20","date_gmt":"2016-01-16T17:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/?p=948"},"modified":"2016-04-26T11:37:11","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T09:37:11","slug":"the-uss-enterprise-refit-from-star-trek-the-motion-picture-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/?p=948","title":{"rendered":"The USS Enterprise (Refit) from Star Trek: The Motion Picture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Build Log:\u00a0 Part\u00a06<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s been a while since I updated this, my apologies to everyone for my tardiness\u2026here\u2019s the news!<\/p>\n

I am intending to have some “action” lights on the floor of the shuttle bay, basically running lights that indicate “takeoff” to be ready. \u00a0To accomplish this, I need a timer circuit and a set of lights to strobe properly. \u00a0LEDs make best sense, and I know someone out there has lots of these sorts of circuits, so I went hunting for a little kit to do the job. \u00a0I found a small electronics assembly kit of six chaser lights using red LEDs and a potentiometer that is used to control how fast the chaser works.\u00a0 (For those who are interested, it\u2019s this one:\u00a0 https:\/\/www.conrad.de\/de\/conrad-6-kanal-led-lauflicht-190128-bausatz-6-15-vdc-190128.html<\/a> – very clear instructions, easy to build).<\/p>\n

\"All<\/a>

All the parts laid out in foam holds to keep them from running off.<\/p><\/div>\n

I first assembled the chaser board.\u00a0 After opening up the kit, I arranged the parts in order of their mention in the instructions (they\u2019re labeled there as \u201cR1\u201d, \u201cR2\u201d, etc. for resistors, \u201cK1\u201d etc. for capacitors, and so on).\u00a0 By poking them into a spare piece of foam I kept them handy and kept them from rolling away out of sight.<\/p>\n

I find it useful to keep the master diagram right in front of me while I\u2019m working to be a fast-glance reference of what I\u2019m doing.\u00a0 The board itself also was marked with appropriate labels, but it helps to have the written diagram since some of the elements are polarized and only work one way (cylindrical capacitors and LEDs being particularly notable in that regard).<\/p>\n

\"Keep<\/a>

Keep the instructions nearby for easy reference.<\/p><\/div>\n

The legs on most components are too long once the part is inserted, so once they\u2019re in and soldered securely, snip off the excess.\u00a0 Meanwhile, those \u201clegs\u201d are very useful in keeping the element in place \u2013 once you insert the legs and get the part into proper position, you can stretch the legs out to get a friction grab on the board and hold it in place while you solder it.<\/p>\n

I find a temp of 350C to be ideal for soldering, as it melts solder really fast as well as heats the parts up properly very quickly \u2013 so I can get the job done quickly, and heat won\u2019t transfer too far through the parts from me holding the tip against them for too long.\u00a0 If yours doesn\u2019t have a temp control, don\u2019t worry about it, chances are it\u2019s quite hot enough.<\/p>\n

For those of you who haven\u2019t soldered before, here\u2019s the basics of what you\u2019ll need:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A soldering iron or pen (I find the pen models a lot easier to use, the \u201cgun\u201d ones don\u2019t\n
  2. Resin-core solder (you could get some that doesn\u2019t have a resin-core and use a pack of flux instead, but I find resin-core a lot more convenient). This basically does a job of cleaning the parts while soldering them.\u00a0 Less than $2, generally.<\/li>\n
  3. A drop-cloth or surface you can set under your operation (a couple sheets of office paper works fine, too).<\/li>\n
  4. A wet kitchen sponge or soldering sponge (most irons come with one attached to the holder)<\/li>\n
  5. \u201cHelping Hands\u201d \u2013 a cheap pair of alligator clips mounted on an adjustable bar, usually with a magnifying glass. You can get one of these for $5-$10 on ebay or something.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The process goes like this \u2013 turn on the iron.\u00a0 Let it get hot enough to sizzle the sponge (fancier electronic stations have temp readouts).\u00a0 You position the parts\/board in the proper place and secure them so they don\u2019t drift around (usually you can \u2018friction-fit\u2019 them together well enough for the purpose), and mount them in the Helping Hands unit so you can get at them easy. Once they\u2019re ready, get a string of solder<\/p>\n

    \"Using<\/a>

    Using a grip tool like Helping Hands takes a lot of fuss out of the work at hand.<\/p><\/div>\n

    in your off-hand, and with your primary hand, place the tip of the iron against where the parts\/board meet.\u00a0 Immediately hold the tip of the solder against the parts.<\/p>\n

    After a few seconds, the parts will heat up enough to melt the solder, and it should flow easily.\u00a0 You want to cover the surface of both the part and the board, ensuring that you have a solid bond between them and that the solder establishes a clean connection between them.\u00a0 Don\u2019t use so much that you end up with a big glob on the connection, just use enough that you\u2019ve got a silver surface on it.\u00a0 It should end up looking like water sticking to things, where it \u201cclimbs\u201d he part a little bit.<\/p>\n

    You don\u2019t want to overspill the connection, either, as that might touch another connection and cause a short (at best this would result in your board malfunctioning, at worst it\u2019ll burn your board out completely when you put power on it).<\/p>\n

    When soldering, clean the tip (using a wet kitchen sponge is fine if you don\u2019t have any<\/p>\n

    \"Here's<\/a>

    Here’s what some good solders should look like – I might have even used a little more solder than I needed here.<\/p><\/div>\n

    specific items for this purpose) between every use by dragging it across the cleaning surface.\u00a0 It\u2019ll sizzle and leave tiny nuggets of solder that can be disposed of later.\u00a0 When the tip is shiny it\u2019s clean.\u00a0 You don\u2019t want to be using a tip that is caked up with slag when you\u2019re trying to do precision work.<\/p>\n

    Also \u2013 when you are soldering cables or wires, it is very helpful to \u201ctin\u201d the ends of them before connecting them where they belong.\u00a0 What this means is to strip a short section (.5cm, or maybe 1\/8 inch) bare, and then heating it up with the iron and applying solder to the end so that it takes on a coating of silvery solder.\u00a0 This burns off any residues that might be clinging to the surface and also coats it with low-melting-point clean solder that will merge with the other part and the solder you are applying, making the connection a lot quicker to accomplish.<\/p>\n

    So, the board got built, I tested it and adjusted the speed of the chaser to where I was happy with it.\u00a0 (Remember, I\u2019m only going to get to set it once, it\u2019ll be embedded in the engineering hull under the floor of the shuttle bay when I\u2019m done.)\u00a0 I painted the LEDs with clear gloss acrylic to shield them and also to prevent frost \u201cghosting\u201d happening when I glue strands to them.<\/p>\n

    \"The<\/a>

    The finished board.<\/p><\/div>\n

    I then took the floor of the shuttle bay, and measured spacing about 3mm to either side of the yellow center line of the bay.\u00a0 I marked off six spots on each side, 1cm from each other, and drilled them out with a .5mm pin-vice (I also managed to scratch the floor of the bay, which resulted in a long and painful repair process).<\/p>\n

    In the bottom of the engineering hull there\u2019s a perfect spot to mount it, right up against a bulkhead beneath the bay.\u00a0 I opened up a pair of gaps so I could slip the power wires into the forward compartment when the board is mounted.\u00a0 Based on this location, there\u2019s going to be about 12cm of space between the LEDs and the holes that correspond to them in the bay floor. \u00a0(Image later, once I start the mounting.)<\/p>\n

    \"Fiber<\/a>

    Fiber optic strands, showing the “nail head” after being touched to the soldering iron.<\/p><\/div>\n

    I cut 13 lengths of .5mm poly fibre optic strand of 15cm each.\u00a0 The extra one is for something special I\u2019ll tell you about when I get it working (plus in case I screw it up I\u2019ll have a spare).\u00a0 Each one of these I then \u201ctapped\u201d an end against the soldering iron, producing a small, flat \u201cnail-head\u201d surface.<\/p>\n

    Using cyanoacrylate (CA) super-glue, I then glued two strands of fiber to each of the six LEDs towards their top, where they are brightest (this is important, if you glue them too low they won\u2019t pick up a lot of light and might be easily missed).\u00a0 The \u201cnail-head\u201d end is what makes this easier, since it gives a larger surface to grip against the LED.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have any zip-kicker available, or I would have tried that.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t really certain if that would have caused the CA to frost up, so it\u2019s probably best I didn\u2019t have any.\u00a0 This use of CA glue is why I painted the LEDs with gloss clear acrylic earlier \u2013 CA tends to cause plastics and glass to \u201cfrost\u201d over from humidity or softening of the surface, but a gloss acrylic won\u2019t suffer from this.<\/p>\n

    Once the CA was thoroughly dry, I applied a hot-glue glob to each LED, covering the CA and reinforcing it.\u00a0 I\u2019ll later paint black over these to prevent light leakage and keep the chaser lights isolated to only the fiber strands.<\/p>\n

    \"The<\/a>

    The first four strands of fiber are applied here.<\/p><\/div>\n

    I have not yet affixed the board to the bay floor, but what\u2019s going to happen there is I\u2019ll feed the fiber strands up through the floor with a few millimeters extending above the floor and glue them in place there.\u00a0 Once the glue dries, I\u2019ll shave the protruding ends of the strands with a razor knife in a fashion very similar to how one shaves a skin of hair.\u00a0 At that point, we\u2019ll have sequenced running lights strobing in a \u201ctakeoff\u201d pattern.<\/p>\n

    That\u2019s it for now.\u00a0 I\u2019ll update again, hopefully a lot sooner than the frequency between this update and my last.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    USS Enterprise – Build Log Part 7<\/a> :\u00a0USS Enterprise – Build Log Part\u00a05<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Build Log:\u00a0 Part\u00a06 It\u2019s been a while since I updated this, my apologies to everyone for my tardiness\u2026here\u2019s the news! I am intending to have some “action” lights on the floor of the shuttle bay, basically running lights that indicate … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,57,73,1],"tags":[64,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-build-log","category-model-kits","category-sci-fi","category-uncategorized","tag-model-kit","tag-polar-lights","tag-star-trek","tag-uss-enterprise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=948"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1056,"href":"https:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948\/revisions\/1056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}