Tips and Tricks for making the Helmets

[ThreeFN]

Well, I am kind of wondering how your face will fit in there what with all the arduino boards and eventual "video glasses". I for one would love a full explanation of what's doing what and so on, but just explaining all of that would take way too long and take you away from actually working on the helmet.

*rubs jaw* Just a few bruises. Nothing broken.

'Unfortunately' I'm away for the weekend with family and on proper vacation next week for the 4th. Hence why I wanted to get it done. Of course, I still have A LOT of work to be done moving my code base to OOP (object oriented programming) so I'll probably work through that while I'm away from the rig.

yeah, how is your head going to fit into this? your helmet is going to be a bit on the big side no? also, your doing the camera method right? that means your going to have a screen in there, which will take up more room.

The helmet is about the same size if not a bit smaller overall than GM's first gen LED helmet(s). ThreeFF and I were both in agreance we really wanted to get the 'scale' of the thing right and then we would figure out how everything was going to fit Probably not the best order but it's what we decided.

It's really bloody tight in the helmet. To get an idea, first remember that the breadboard won't be there, that's just my bodged together solution for the communications bus for right now. The video goggles go in that nice gap you see between the upper 4 and bottom 2 rainbowduinos. There's also just enough space for my nose that way. The bottom 2 rainbows are also slightly canted so that my nose can slide through the center without too much problem.

Keep in mind the video goggle 'unit' is quite small since I stripped it of the superfluous sunglasses 'shell.'

Once I have the helmet on, the front of my head, about where my hair line is, rests on the second row down of rainbows. The bottom of my nose is just about the bottom 2 rainbows. I'm basically breathing right into those two at the bottom. VENTILATION FANS WILL BE CRITICAL TO NOT PASSING OUT. Even in quick tests I could feel early effects of CO2 'poisoning' much like breathing in a paper bag.

The boards that will control the side lights will go in the last remaining space at the top of the sub visor. Basically the gap where the big red gator clip is. They're a few mm smaller than the rainbows but a lot flatter so they should be stack-able. The only component I don't know where it's going to go is the last rainbow that controls the auxiliary lighting.

The next tricky bit is wiring up all that aux lighting. The two 'cheek EQs' on either side are RIGHT next to the main display 'grid' so I can't get those LEDs in without first pulling the whole matrix out. I managed to do this with the left side (view from back so technically the bottom right from the front) quite easily with some gently coaxing. I haven't tried the right side yet but I think with gentle enough prodding it should be doable.

[Daftchack]

finally

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0xtnv2dg_M

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[tekparasite]

Awesome work ThreeFN.

I haven't looked into all the posts, so maybe this has been covered already. Given that you have the most components into a single helmet (that I know of), are you considering slimming down the components by using PCBs and/or Flat Flexible Cables?

Awesome work either way!!

[ctwalrus]

dear daft god.

three fn that is amazing

are you looking to show up dp actual helmets..? you are on your way lol

[ThreeFN]

Awesome work ThreeFN.

I haven't looked into all the posts, so maybe this has been covered already. Given that you have the most components into a single helmet (that I know of), are you considering slimming down the components by using PCBs and/or Flat Flexible Cables?

Awesome work either way!!

Because this is such a unique project, really what you see really is the best combination of time, effort, complexity, and availability for a hobbyist level electronics project. I've had more ideas than I can count on how I could have done all this, but ultimately they fell by the wayside for one reason or another.

dear daft god.

three fn that is amazing

are you looking to show up dp actual helmets..? you are on your way lol

Yah, have a read of my signature. it's really become the heart and soul of the project. I also like to describe it as "turning everything up to 11, admitting that isn't enough, and then going for 276."

EDIT:
I've also described it as "turning everything up to 11, admitting that isn't enough, and then cranking until my ears bleed."

[ctwalrus]

now... are the leds only red and blue?
and can you make it say daft punk? XD

[Crank729]

Threefn........amazing. Simply Stunning. Anyway, I am still looking for the guy manuel pepakura as a pdf. Any version is fine, and any help is greatly appreciated.

[MrPinski]

The gm pep is the easiest thing to find. You can just google it and a bunch will come up.

[ThreeFN]

now... are the leds only red and blue?
and can you make it say daft punk? XD

Actually, in the video, only the primary colors are being used: red, green, blue. The display is so much brighter than my test stand that it washes out the camera and just looks like a bright point of light.

I have a Daft Punk 'text wall' back in one of my earlier videos. I think it was done in green.

Threefn........amazing. Simply Stunning. Anyway, I am still looking for the guy manuel pepakura as a pdf. Any version is fine, and any help is greatly appreciated.

Dungbeetle's are probably the best pep. Not sure if he did pdf's or not. Google should pop something up. I'm sure I posted about this in the last few pages.

[sporgo]

I believe Dungbeetle has removed his models from most places. I don't think he wants them distributed by third parties any longer.