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If you fancy a Star Wars rebel trooper blaster pistol, you have basically 2 commercial options. There is a blue plastic dart gun by Hasbro, or a great looking, solid but non-functional $400 model from Master Replicas. Neither of them shoot bolts of red light accross the room.
I wanted one that really "worked" and looked good, so I made my own. The project was more about learning electronics than anything else, but in addition to the new understanding of how to build blinky lights, I ended up with a pretty neat toy. I modeled mine after a Hero (that means it was used for close-ups) ROTJ Blaster prop that recently sold on ebay.
The blaster build consists of 2 sub-projects : building the electronic effects, and making the gun itself.
The circuitry is pretty basic and was my first real scratch-built electronic project. It involves a 555 IC timer circuit to trigger the sound and LED effects, and a 4017 decade counter chip to make the LED chaser effect seen at the rear of the gun.
The chassis of the blaster is made from PVC and aluminum tubing, some sheet aluminum a real scope and grip and a few other doodads.
I wanted one that really "worked" and looked good, so I made my own. The project was more about learning electronics than anything else, but in addition to the new understanding of how to build blinky lights, I ended up with a pretty neat toy. I modeled mine after a Hero (that means it was used for close-ups) ROTJ Blaster prop that recently sold on ebay.
The blaster build consists of 2 sub-projects : building the electronic effects, and making the gun itself.
The circuitry is pretty basic and was my first real scratch-built electronic project. It involves a 555 IC timer circuit to trigger the sound and LED effects, and a 4017 decade counter chip to make the LED chaser effect seen at the rear of the gun.
The chassis of the blaster is made from PVC and aluminum tubing, some sheet aluminum a real scope and grip and a few other doodads.
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Signing UpStep 1Electronic Effects Overview
When the trigger is pulled, the gun shoots out a pulse of bright red LED light out of the barrel, a pulse of laser from a laser diode, and a "blaster" sound is triggered. In addition, there is a line of 10 blue LED's that chase down the side of the gun creating some visual excitement.
In order to keep the effects synchronized and of a consistent duration, each trigger pull will set off a one-shot timer, which will trigger all of the effects for about 1/4 second, and then turn them off even if the trigger (switch) is held closed.
The Laser diode, Red LEDs (muzzle flash), and the sound effect module, and the blue LED chaser are all turned on by transistors that are triggered by the timer.
The LED chaser effect consists of another timer set up as a normal oscillator, which is driving a 4017 decade counter chip. The decade counter lights up each of the 10 LEDs in succession.
You can see the effects in action in this video:
In order to keep the effects synchronized and of a consistent duration, each trigger pull will set off a one-shot timer, which will trigger all of the effects for about 1/4 second, and then turn them off even if the trigger (switch) is held closed.
The Laser diode, Red LEDs (muzzle flash), and the sound effect module, and the blue LED chaser are all turned on by transistors that are triggered by the timer.
The LED chaser effect consists of another timer set up as a normal oscillator, which is driving a 4017 decade counter chip. The decade counter lights up each of the 10 LEDs in succession.
You can see the effects in action in this video:
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Oh, and there's enough on this page -- the assembly of the housing -- to warrant a full instructable on its own. You "expoxied aluminum skin to the cone?" Finding out more about how you did that, alone, would be worth the price of admission.
(I know...whine whine whine, more more more! :) )
As far as making the sound play, mine just worked when triggered by the transistor. Maybe try removing the diode. Someone told me that I didnt realy need to use them. Although mine didn't work without them. And double-check the diode polarity.
thanks anyway