Metroid Arm Cannon - Build thread

Youkai

Edit history:

Youkai: 2013-03-27 12:07:37 pm

2013-03-27 12:03:09 pm

Don't know what to speedrun :(

The arm cannon does look a little different in MP2 than it does in MP1. Mine is based off of the MP1 arm cannon. I know it isn't perfect but it's pretty close based on the screenshots and videos I've seen.
EDIT: Just noticed he had an image of the MP1 beams in that link you provided. I'm sure I could make it a little more closely matched but to be honest I kind of like the way it is currently and it's close enough so I think it's good.

I've thought about having the top and side parts be slightly recessed like you mention but I ended up deciding against it because of space considerations. If I get into working on it and it turns out there is plenty of room I might consider it but for now I'm going to have to stick with what I have. Don't forget I need to get some sort of track as well as the servo that moves the pieces AND all the LED's that light it packed in under the moving parts and they have to be placed so they are not visible from the outside.

A little more about your youtube comment. The morphs in the game are far more complex than I could possibly do in my model; and when I was first planning this project I really had no idea how much of it I would actually be able to do so I really needed to distil it down an simple as possible. I have thought about having two of the sections be active for each beam; so: Ice = Top+Side, Plasma = Top+Front, Wave = Front+Side. So when I get it put together that might be an option. I haven't ever built anything like this before so there is a lot of research and testing and discovery going into it and it still remains to be seen if it will actually get completed as I envision it.

The arm cannon does look a little different in MP2 than it does in MP1. Mine is based off of the MP1 arm cannon. I know it isn't perfect but it's pretty close based on the screenshots and videos I've seen. 
EDIT: Just noticed he had an image of the MP1 beams in that link you provided. I'm sure I could make it a little more closely matched but to be honest I kind of like the way it is currently and it's close enough so I think it's good.

I've thought about having the top and side parts be slightly recessed like you mention but I ended up deciding against it because of space considerations. If I get into working on it and it turns out there is plenty of room I might consider it but for now I'm going to have to stick with what I have. Don't forget I need to get some sort of track as well as the servo that moves the pieces AND all the LED's that light it packed in under the moving parts and they have to be placed so they are not visible from the outside.

A little more about your youtube comment. The morphs in the game are far more complex than I could possibly do in my model; and when I was first planning this project I really had no idea how much of it I would actually be able to do so I really needed to distil it down an simple as possible. I have thought about having two of the sections be active for each beam; so: Ice = Top+Side, Plasma = Top+Front, Wave = Front+Side. So when I get it put together that might be an option. I haven't ever built anything like this before so there is a lot of research and testing and discovery going into it and it still remains to be seen if it will actually get completed as I envision it.

Heidrage

2013-03-28 10:48:15 am

Willing to teach you the impossible

Have you thought about battery replacement? Might want to look into using easy to find batteries like AAA or 9V, doubt watch batteries would do the job but the size would be awesome. Just something so that you dont need a specialty store to get more of. Most small batteries only produce 1.5v each so 5 small batteries. Or at the very least a way to recharge the batteries so nothing needs to be removed.

Youkai

Edit history:

Youkai: 2013-03-28 10:59:38 am

2013-03-28 10:57:27 am

Don't know what to speedrun :(

The Raspberry Pi board I'm using requires 750mA of power at 5 volts. I don't know how many mA a standard battery provides but I doubt it's enough. I went to the Hobby store and got a LiPo battery pack for a RC Car which provides 800mA at 7.4 volts. I run that through a volt limiter to regulate it down to 5 volts. The LiPo battery pack is: small, self contained (i.e. I don't have to wire anything together), and rechargeable. Also I suspect it's energy density is better than a standard off the shelf battery meaning the rig will run longer without needing to be charged. I'll just make sure the battery mounted in a place where it's easy to detach from the arm cannon so you can remove it and charge. Also I'm not sure if the one I got is enough but I suspect I could get a battery pack strong enough that I could run the whole arm cannon off of one battery which would be awesome.

EDIT: See this video for the battery pack I'm using:

Code:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUQpDzmornvtoYDVRJF4w_7Q&v=HVmPqjNxZo0&feature=player_detailpage#t=113s

The Raspberry Pi board I'm using requires 750mA of power at 5 volts. I don't know how many mA a standard battery provides but I doubt it's enough. I went to the Hobby store and got a LiPo battery pack for a RC Car which provides 800mA at 7.4 volts. I run that through a volt limiter to regulate it down to 5 volts. The LiPo battery pack is: small, self contained (i.e. I don't have to wire anything together), and rechargeable. Also I suspect it's energy density is better than a standard off the shelf battery meaning the rig will run longer without needing to be charged. I'll just make sure the battery mounted in a place where it's easy to detach from the arm cannon so you can remove it and charge. Also I'm not sure if the one I got is enough but I suspect I could get a battery pack strong enough that I could run the whole arm cannon off of one battery which would be awesome.

EDIT: See this video for the battery pack I'm using: [code]https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUQpDzmornvtoYDVRJF4w_7Q&v=HVmPqjNxZo0&feature=player_detailpage#t=113s[/code]

nate

2013-03-28 11:39:22 am

http://www.liquidware.com/shop/show/BB-BJ2/BeagleJuice%2C+2nd+Gen

the stat you are looking for is "capacity" in mAh (milliamp hours). if your pi really uses 750mA then you might get ~11 hours out of that beaglejuice high capacity. however in my experiments with a similar application i've gotten less than half that. so your mileage may vary.

Youkai

2013-03-28 11:55:32 am

Don't know what to speedrun :(

The item you linked is too big to work in my project but thanks for the information. Really I don't imagine the arm cannon being used for extended periods of time so if it ran for a solid hour I'd be happy. Actually if I construct it right you will be able to bypass the Raspberry Pi which would just run the Arduino and the LED's (i.e. no sound) which would consume significantly less energy and would probably at least quadruple the run time. So if you wanted to use it as a costume or take it to a -con or something you could run it without the sounds for a lot longer.

Youkai

Edit history:

Youkai: 2013-05-14 10:02:31 am

2013-04-14 07:45:56 pm

Don't know what to speedrun :(

Progress!

Youkai

Edit history:

Youkai: 2013-05-14 10:02:08 am

2013-04-16 02:45:34 pm

Don't know what to speedrun :(

More progress.

TrUShade

2013-04-16 03:43:17 pm

The TrUest of Shades

There is so much want o.o

This is looking amazing Youkai keep up the great work

Youkai

2013-04-17 05:41:12 pm

Don't know what to speedrun :(

Well crap. Crap crap crap. I don't know what to say guys. It's looking like I'm not going to be able to get the movement working in anything resembling a reasonable amount of time. I just keep running into one problem after another. I had been making progress on the moving pieces and was finally getting to a point where I was happy with them. Now I'm having an issue where I don't have a way to control the LED's and the Servo's at the same time. I was doing some more testing and planning and noticed there aren't enough pins on my Arduino board for it and it seems that the item I'm using to control the LED's won't work very well with my servo.

I think for the sake of finishing the project, like ever, I'm going to have to nix the moving parts and just go with lights and sounds. Also the cost is getting pretty high with all the stuff I'm buying so I kind of need to not be doing that as much. The only upside is that the cannon will be more stable without moving parts. The hinges and whatnot on it were going to be a major weak point in the build but now I'll be able to just glue the whole thing together. This sucks a lot.

Well crap. Crap crap crap. I don't know what to say guys. It's looking like I'm not going to be able to get the movement working in anything resembling a reasonable amount of time. I just keep running into one problem after another. I had been making progress on the moving pieces and was finally getting to a point where I was happy with them. Now I'm having an issue where I don't have a way to control the LED's and the Servo's at the same time. I was doing some more testing and planning and noticed there aren't enough pins on my Arduino board for it and it seems that the item I'm using to control the LED's won't work very well with my servo.

I think for the sake of finishing the project, like ever, I'm going to have to nix the moving parts and just go with lights and sounds. Also the cost is getting pretty high with all the stuff I'm buying so I kind of need to not be doing that as much. The only upside is that the cannon will be more stable without moving parts. The hinges and whatnot on it were going to be a major weak point in the build but now I'll be able to just glue the whole thing together. This sucks a lot.

sinister1

2013-04-18 07:33:56 am

sinister1

so pro u don't even know

Quote from Youkai:

Well crap. Crap crap crap. I don't know what to say guys. It's looking like I'm not going to be able to get the movement working in anything resembling a reasonable amount of time. I just keep running into one problem after another. I had been making progress on the moving pieces and was finally getting to a point where I was happy with them. Now I'm having an issue where I don't have a way to control the LED's and the Servo's at the same time. I was doing some more testing and planning and noticed there aren't enough pins on my Arduino board for it and it seems that the item I'm using to control the LED's won't work very well with my servo.

I think for the sake of finishing the project, like ever, I'm going to have to nix the moving parts and just go with lights and sounds. Also the cost is getting pretty high with all the stuff I'm buying so I kind of need to not be doing that as much. The only upside is that the cannon will be more stable without moving parts. The hinges and whatnot on it were going to be a major weak point in the build but now I'll be able to just glue the whole thing together. This sucks a lot.

This is still gonna be awesome without the movement. We understand you are not on a Hollywood budget so JUST lights and sounds is still pretty damn good imo.

[quote="Youkai"]Well crap. Crap crap crap. I don't know what to say guys. It's looking like I'm not going to be able to get the movement working in anything resembling a reasonable amount of time. I just keep running into one problem after another. I had been making progress on the moving pieces and was finally getting to a point where I was happy with them. Now I'm having an issue where I don't have a way to control the LED's and the Servo's at the same time. I was doing some more testing and planning and noticed there aren't enough pins on my Arduino board for it and it seems that the item I'm using to control the LED's won't work very well with my servo.

I think for the sake of finishing the project, like ever, I'm going to have to nix the moving parts and just go with lights and sounds. Also the cost is getting pretty high with all the stuff I'm buying so I kind of need to not be doing that as much. The only upside is that the cannon will be more stable without moving parts. The hinges and whatnot on it were going to be a major weak point in the build but now I'll be able to just glue the whole thing together. This sucks a lot.[/quote]
This is still gonna be awesome without the movement. We understand you are not on a Hollywood budget so JUST lights and sounds is still pretty damn good imo.

ozzy88

2013-04-23 12:38:52 pm

^ this

<3

Youkai

Edit history:

Youkai: 2013-05-14 10:01:42 am

Youkai: 2013-04-23 08:46:58 pm

Youkai: 2013-04-23 08:46:48 pm

2013-04-23 08:45:42 pm

Don't know what to speedrun :(

Well it still sucks that it's not going to be as awesome as I planned but thanks for the support guys. Here's a new video:
For those of you that are curious it worked out that I'll need one LED every 4 inches.

Youkai

Edit history:

Youkai: 2013-05-14 10:01:10 am

2013-05-05 09:26:51 pm

Don't know what to speedrun :(

New video:

Youkai

Edit history:

Youkai: 2013-05-14 10:00:47 am

2013-05-08 08:38:34 pm

Don't know what to speedrun :(

Another video. I have been making good progress this week. Hopefully it continues.

Youkai

Edit history:

Youkai: 2013-05-14 10:00:19 am

2013-05-09 12:31:03 am

Don't know what to speedrun :(

More progress; on the same day; who's a superstar? I am. I've been working for a couple days on an update to the sound effects and lighting for the project. As I say in the video I'm still unhappy with the volume output of my little speaker thing so I edited the audio track in the video to make the sound effects louder. Anyway here it is:

Youkai

Edit history:

Youkai: 2013-05-14 09:59:32 am

2013-05-13 09:54:40 pm

Don't know what to speedrun :(

New video:

Heidrage

Edit history:

Heidrage: 2013-05-14 09:55:56 am

Heidrage: 2013-05-14 09:55:25 am

2013-05-14 09:53:23 am

Willing to teach you the impossible

Do you think the color of the arm cannon being white makes the lights seem brighter than what they will look if they are dropped against the final product's color?

Side note for viewer convenience: You could use the "share" function on the video page/upload page to get a short link that is clickable and wont take up space on the forum.

Example from your last upload:

Just copy and paste, no extra code in the forums needed.

Youkai

2013-05-14 09:58:46 am

Don't know what to speedrun :(

I mention that briefly at the end of the video. In short yes, possibly the brightness and also the perceived color. When I get around to painting I'm going to have to do some tests with the LED's reflecting off of the blue/green that it will be painted. There will be a white base coat over the whole surface. I may need to leave that base coat exposed where the lights will be reflecting. So the area under the raised pieces would be white to allow for better reflection.

Also thanks for the tip on the link.

Youkai

2013-05-26 11:14:41 pm

Don't know what to speedrun :(

So the Arm Cannon project is a complete failure. Every step of the way I kept running into issues and every one I overcame resulted in two more. A while ago I abandoned the moving parts idea and was just going to do lights and sounds. Today I found out that my LED controller chip can't handle as many LED's as it needs to. It overheated and died. So I'm going to have to give up on the project it seems. Next time I'll pick a less ambitious thing to create. Here is a video of what happened:

So now the only question is do I give up and scrap the whole thing or do I go ahead and put the foam peices together and make a "model". I would be ok doing that but my only concern would be that I definitely made some modifications to the cannon for the sake of my project. If I started out with the goal of making a model I would have carved it differently in a few places.

Sorry guys I was really really looking forward to this project but it's just not meant to be. Hopefully the next time I start a project I'll pick one with a more realistic scope and I'll actually be able to make it.

So the Arm Cannon project is a complete failure. Every step of the way I kept running into issues and every one I overcame resulted in two more. A while ago I abandoned the moving parts idea and was just going to do lights and sounds. Today I found out that my LED controller chip can't handle as many LED's as it needs to. It overheated and died. So I'm going to have to give up on the project it seems. Next time I'll pick a less ambitious thing to create. Here is a video of what happened: http://youtu.be/Qn3bCR-l2Nc

So now the only question is do I give up and scrap the whole thing or do I go ahead and put the foam peices together and make a "model". I would be ok doing that but my only concern would be that I definitely made some modifications to the cannon for the sake of my project. If I started out with the goal of making a model I would have carved it differently in a few places.

Sorry guys I was really really looking forward to this project but it's just not meant to be. Hopefully the next time I start a project I'll pick one with a more realistic scope and I'll actually be able to make it.

Sir VG

2013-05-26 11:24:10 pm

Fucking Weeaboo

Awww, that sucks. Sometimes shit like this happens. All you can do is learn from it and move on.

CosmoNaught

2013-05-27 06:40:29 am

Artsy Fartsy

Hate to see it go like this, but sometimes you can just have to move on. I've lost a bunch of projects due to overestimating my abilities and equipment. All you can do is learn from it. Don't let it get you down.

Onin

Edit history:

Onin: 2013-05-27 06:45:28 am

2013-05-27 06:45:13 am

I'd say at least make something presentable out of it. A nice looking arm cannon without any functions is still cool enough for a give-away in my opinion Smiley

Cranson

2013-05-27 07:12:02 am

Imo, you should at least try to make a foam model out of it, even if the lights/sounds don't work out. It was looking really cool, and even a stand-still model of that quality is something to be proud of!

mikwuyma

2013-05-28 07:35:06 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Noooooooooooooo. This was looking so good too. Cry