Tag Archives: yoyo

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more pov yoyo cost research

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scale of 50 yoyos. project will be working on over the next month by dan fourie, laura shumaker, and I as a for-fun project spawned out of an idea my for-grades 2.008 team passed over.

functional parameters:
yoyo with integrated persistence-of-vision display

design parameters:
as of right now, for each side:

  • 5 LED display, similar to (josh gordonson and zach banks, fellow mit students) earlier work: 
http://olopede.com/media/img/micropov-hand.JPG
  • Goals: user-friendly and mod-friendly
  • Two buttons, high enough that can be accessed by pressing down on the clear thermoformed plastic cover over the circuitboard (similar to plastic water bottle in feel)
    • on/off power button(decided against the centrifugal switch designed by paulina mustafa, another classsmate, for their iron man arc reactor yoyo, because gives user option to operate pov-display without spinning the yoyo for a more stable display)
    • “change text displayed” button, and you can change the display by holding it up to your monitor ala http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/4.140/people/robert.hemsley/week8.html. This method means the user doesn’t need to have special cables to change the displayed text, and we don’t need a complicated / non-intuitive button interface.
      • http://tomscircuits.blogspot.com/2009/04/micro-pov.html
      http://parts.digikey.com/1/parts/389604-8-pin-test-clip-alloy-soic-15-923650-08.html 8pin: $14, 14pin: $17
      • if we order pcbs, can have holes for people to stick FTDI or ISP headers in, so people don’t need to solder little wires straight to the microcontroller if they want to edit or update the firmware on the ucontroller (or make a clamp breadboard) or buy one of the clamp programmers 
      • can have another mode (hold down button longer?) to change the flicker rate, since we’ll be using internal microcontroller clock which is RC and due to manufacturing variability only accurate to +- 10%
      • discarded option: right-angle button which sticks out side of yoyo. more complicated injection molds and I was worried if it’d be structural enough, since solder joints would be taking the strain. Seemed most likely to fail after repeated use.
  • PCB should snap fit in, so people can mill their own pcb’s and swap out the pcb if wanted
  • Rectangular PCB should fit, so it’s easier to panelize and easier for people to make their own board (can etch and shear off one side instead of having to have a mill and mill a circular board, although circular boards look cool .___.)
  • Ideally PCB is single-sided
  • run off a 3v button cell and contain a spare so people can go longer without ordering their own.
    • pcb serves as cell-holder, batteries should snap fit in to further simplify mechanical design
    • TODO not sure how batteries will be electrically connected to the board
  • for changing the battery / updating the firmware, top half of each side will be removable via a notch on the side
  • assembly: teach a microcontroller series and have people assemble two and keep one?

–maybe have a fourth state changing the flicker rate, in case a specific microcontroller’s clock is off (on/off/text programming/flickr rate programming)

cost estimate: 
$4.30 for two attiny85’s off of digikey, + shipping. || $2.96 for each attiny88 ($6).
cheap power-hungry LED, well.

Circuit: Shane’s interior-routed circuitboard

(http://scolton.blogspot.com/2011/10/strobe-attack.html) cost ~$50 + shipping for 12 of them off of myropcb. Ladyada has a cost calculator for multiple suppliers and comments for each supplier: http://www.ladyada.net/library/pcb/costcalc.html
That’s like $12 for each yoyo.

So uh… Maybe instead I will sink $80 into buying my own 1/64” and 1/32” spindles for the modela (each good for ~50 boards).
$2 per yoyo
ebay: $25 for 3x 9” by 12” FR4 board. Est.: our boards max 2” diam, so 1.5” square is 6×8 = 48 boards. So maybe $50 for 96 boards, or about
$1 copperclad per yoyo

Buttons:
75c ea @ 100 off of digikey. http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/B3SN-3112P/SW262CT-ND/60835 (need 200). or ebay, 100 for $7 incl shipping. $14 / 50 = 30c per yoyo. but late shipping…! may be too late for the semester
$3 per yoyo.


phototransistor: 28c each @ 100.
$1.20 per yoyo.


10k resistor, 50kohm, 5x zero ohm, 4x 500 ohm, 1uF cap.
14c each @ 100, cap http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/C3216X7R1H105K/445-1423-1-ND/569089
0.017 @ 100, 10k, 50k http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/RC1206FR-0710KL/311-10.0KFRCT-ND/731430 http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/RC1206FR-0749K9L/311-49.9KFRCT-ND/731890
0.01292 @ 250, total 400 needed, 500ohm http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/RC1206FR-07499RL/311-499FRCT-ND/731891
total 500 needed
0.00676 @ 500, total 500 needed, zero ohm
(this is if pov circuit does NOT need any resistors etc. ala , these are all for voxel light-programming)  http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/4.140/people/robert.hemsley/week8.html
total = .14*2 + 0.017*6 + 0.013*4 + 0.007*5 = 0.469
About 50c per yoyo. these are all 1206 packaging!

CR927, 4 batteries each, 200 total: $22 http://www.ebay.com/itm/200-CR927-DL927-LM927-ECR927-KCR927-927-Cell-Battery-E2-/180756330972?pt=US_Batteries&hash=item2a15eab9dc#ht_2063wt_1163, 30 mAh, used in blinkies
44c ea. yoyo
(alternative: rechargeable ones, $1.44 ea 55 mAh TINY 6.8mm diam http://octopart.com/ms621fe-fl11e-seiko-8119587, with solder tabs: $1.29 ea 48mAh 12 mm diam http://octopart.com/br1225-1vc-panasonic-155413, $1.71 550mAh 23 mm diam http://octopart.com/cr-2354%2Fgun-panasonic-13183344
octopart search: http://octopart.com/partsearch/#search/requestData&q=lithium+battery&rangedfilters%5Boutput_voltage%5D%5Bmin%5D=1.5&rangedfilters%5Boutput_voltage%5D%5Bmax%5D=4.9945883802956885&rangedfilters%5Bavg_price%5D%5Bmin%5D=0.24250000000000002&rangedfilters%5Bavg_price%5D%5Bmax%5D=1.8412916540799584&start=10)

accelerometers 0.67 ea @ 100, http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/MMA7660FCT/MMA7660FCT-ND/2186165, as used by

http://rucalgary.hackhut.com/2011/04/26/upov-with-better-firmware-pics-video-and-source/
Indeed mill-able on the modela — http://www.freescale.com/files/sensors/doc/data_sheet/MMA7660FC.pdf 0.5mm gap, 0.3mm pad — DFN package
25 mil pins (15.6 mil gap and 10 mil pad/trace) — for modella, can achieve. aka 0.398 mm gap / 0.254 mm pad

$1.40 per yoyo

unless I figure out how to make accelerometers — see http://www.dimensionengineering.com/accelerometers.htm, and the borked link is J. Doscher, Innovations in Acceleration Sensing Using Surface Micromachining http://www.analog.com/en/mems-sensors/inertial-sensors/adxl202/products/technical-articles/CU_ta_Innovations_in_Acceleration_Sensing/resources/fca.html
— I’ll just pre-program the flickr rate (and make it adjustable via the light-serial-programming protocol?)

total: $15 per yoyo + some digikey shipping costs, so close to $17 each if we count the aluminum molds and injection molding / thermoforming raw mats as free (due to 2.008). and of course free labor XD

=====
Previous research:
LEDs
If we use those super-efficient LEDs, they are 30c each if we buy 400 (50 yoyos * 8 = 400 LEDs).
(http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=38K3409&CMP=AFC-OP&CMP=AFC-OP via http://octopart.com/partsearch/#search/requestData&q=Kingbright%20KPTD-3216SURC)
x8 = $3 (if we include shipping)
Total = $118 + $10 shipping (so upward bound of $130)
So, about $2.60 per yoyo

3V Batteries — batteries are somewhere around $15 / 100 on ebay w/ free shipping, so $0.30 per yoyo)
 if we want them (I don’t think we do, we should design this into our mold or PCB) holders would be $1.50 each http://octopart.com/partsearch/#search/requestData&q=cr2032

Microcontroller ~$1.50 each http://octopart.com/partsearch/#search/requestData&q=attiny25, maybe $10 for shipping, aka $1.70 per yoyo

Here is how the “spin-activation” would work:
http://cdn.makezine.com/make/2010/06/WP105LEDYo-Yo.pdf

So, at 50 yoyo’s, we’re looking at $6 each which is over our budget. However, I’m confident if we look a bit harder we can get the prices down to $5 each.

=====

Timeline:

Thursday: [everyone] finish the CAD for the molds
Friday: [nancy] check the dims / tolerances with Pat and Dave
Then CAM over the weekend Saturday, say meet for dinner on putz @ 5pm and then CAM (putzgiving is Sunday). Order electrical parts.
Hopefully mill / turn the molds over Mon – Wed before thanksgiving.
Finish electrical design -> gerber and programming over thanksgiving break and order pcbs if ordering them. by 26th
And injection mold / thermoform the week after (done by Friday December 2nd).
Assembly done by Dec 9th.

=====
PoV no accelerometer notes:
I got nanopov example working this weekend — no accelerometer indeed means there’s an optimum speed the display wants to be waved at. wave it too fast and the image gets stretched out, too slow and the whole image isn’t displayed or it’s super-squished.

Oh, Tom went over this in his blog post:

One downside of this design is that there is no synchronisation between movement of the display and the display output. So if e.g. you wave it left-right-left all output is mirror-inverted half the time. Also, there is no stable, repeating image as you would get from a constantly rotating POV.

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centrifugal switches (spin activated yoyo electronics)

doing some research for 2.008 instead of freaking out over 6.131 lab

Edit 10/17/2011: Found it! Thanks to Charles.

See explanation of “tilt sensors,” which include both mercury and rolling-ball type ones, here: http://www.ladyada.net/learn/sensors/tilt.html

http://www.adafruit.com/products/173

Cost: $2.00.
(octopart search: http://octopart.com/partsearch/#search/requestData&q=tilt+switch&rangedfilters%5Bavg_price%5D%5Bmin%5D=0.54&rangedfilters%5Bavg_price%5D%5Bmax%5D=2 can maybe get it for $1)
http://smparts.com/-Switches-Rolling-ball-switches-%28AT%29/c0_2_561/index.html — but no prices listed, hah.

Hmm. So I know there was at least one previous design in 2.008 that used these switches. They put two on each side (top and bottom), facing outwards. Then, when the yo-yo spun, both switches would contact (and presumably switch on LEDs). Apparently they had issues with the thermoform shrinking and squeezing the ball switch and preventing it from switching though. All in all, I’m a bit iffy about these rolling ball switches. There’s no way to adjust their sensitivity (although I guess regardless PoV yoyo requires a microcontroller anyway, but the less pin-count the better), so what if it switches on when the the switches are rotated to (left right) and the yo-yo is slightly tilted? We’d be stuck with 100 useless switches.

I like Paulina Mustafa’s design of a flexure switch, she was prototyping this at MITERS (but I can’t find a blog for her). Looks sort of a like a ying-yang design, and the tips are flung outward and make contact with the sides when the yo-yo is spun. She’s using copper-tape, but I think something like conductive glue would be easier to apply.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Conductive-Glue-And-Conductive-Thread-Make-an-LED/step1/Make-Conductive-Glue-Conductive-Paint-and-Conduc/

=====
Earlier Research

via
http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=33567 “DIY Night Blades”

centrifugal switches:
http://www.atomicmods.com/Categories/Tutorial-1-28-Mini-Z-Rim-Light-Installation.aspx
(spring inside a brass tube)

The batteries are wired in series with the LED and the centrifugal switch. The centrifugal switch is simply a tiny spring inside a brass tube. When you accelerate, the spring swings to the outside and makes contact with the brass tube turning on the lights. It is really quite simple and very reliable. This also makes the batteries last a long time since they are only on while you are driving and you will never forget to turn them off.

types of switches and design of switch contacts (including mercury switch aka “tilt switch”): http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_4/chpt_4/1.html

quora question
http://www.quora.com/Mechanical-Engineering/What-centrifugal-switches-are-suitable-for-use-in-a-yo-yo

still failing to find suppliers o.o

mercury switch:
http://mondo-technology.com/yoyo.html

paperclip style:
http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol22?pg=115#pg117

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Ideas: PoV Yoyo, Press-fit food || Classes, Spring 2011

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Mmmmm…. classes.
Started out with:
2.008 (Make a yoyo)
6.131 (Power electronics)
6.042 (Math for CS majors)
6.003 (Signals and Systems)
6.004 (Computation Structures)
Some HASS class

Now:
2.008 (Make a LED persistence of vision yoyo)
6.131 (Power electronics)
MAS.863 (How to make almost anything)
21M.611 (Foundations of Theater)
Possibly either 6.003 or 6.004, still.

In other words, I was ecstatic when I heard I got into MAS.863 and that flipped me in favor of not double-majoring in 2 and 6 (unless I decide to take an extra semester or something).

==mas.863==
Our first assignment:

Trying to think of interesting new ideas, I thought of pressfitting food (sparked by my interest in etching poptarts for nyancat poptart). The hunt for a suitable material is on…
Gingerbread recipe: http://homecooking.about.com/od/cookierecipes/r/blcookie111.htm
Other house-building person: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/arch-sass-0703.html, http://cba.mit.edu/events/10.08.FAB6/Sass.pdf
Other materials guy: http://web.mit.edu/bin/cgicso?options=general&query=bredt came up with powder solution for 3d printing

(Other people’s projects, which overlapped with some of my other ideas:

General Prettiness:

===2.008===

In the meantime, I’ve also been ignoring the present day and contemplating the near future of 2.008. I think we’re supposed to be making paperweight designs or something, but my partner is a but hard to contact, so I’ve fallen back on daydreaming about LED persistence-of-vision yoyo’s. Doesn’t seem to have been done already, surprisitngly. And now for linkspam research:

PoV
Other products

DIY
Yoyo

2.008 Yoyos
In order of awesomeness / completeness of online documentation:

Youtube videos:
==misc.===
RFID tags idea: oohh, someone in a previous 863 class had a similar idea for not forgetting things. Or rather, exact 
passive, duct tape + magnet wire: http://scanlime.org/2011/05/duct-tape-rfid-tag-1/