2017-04-27 (Th) Pi0 Laser Tag PiTagErrUs

Work with the hardware started again since the software has reached a point where it could be tested. Parts were gathered to assemble the LED and lens configuration. This should take a couple days since it will be a matter of fine-tuning the lens and the parts associated with it.

Parts ready for assembly

A baseline measurement was taken at 230mm (9 inches) with a bare LED. This was the farthest possible distance where some red light was easily visible on the wall. A simple CR2025 battery was used to power it. For the purposes of demonstration and easy visibility, visible light LEDs were used but, of course, infrared LEDs will be used in the actual taggers.

Baseline measurement with LED and battery

The same battery and matching LED were installed into the forward array with a lens. The LED was mounted 45mm away from the lens, which was the published focal length. The same battery was clipped to the LED leads and the apparatus was slowly pulled back from the wall. The visible spot of light can be seen as it slowly grows in diameter. More accurate tuning of the focal length should collimate (wiki: collimate) the light and keep the spot the same size.

Demonstration of focused light

A list of necessary changes to the parts used was made. The changes for the models are relatively small but mostly include printing spacers for the parts. Despite the advantages of being able to tune each LED, the complexities outweigh the convenience. Small washers can be used to adjust the distance between the lens and LED if necessary. This should speed up assembly as well.

Parts on top of list of changes

Downloads:

The rest of the posts for this project have been arranged by date

First time here?

Completed projects from year 1 
Completed projects from year 2
Completed projects from year 3


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2017-04-23 (Su)

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