[slicerd1]

While a I didn't always plan on building a gigameter the amazing designs on thingiverse made me thing about how I would make the internals work and once I had an idea I figured there was no reason not to build one. I am only semi-competent with electronics so no servos, micro controllers, or fancy programming will be involved. Just some mediocre soldering.

First off was printing parts. Mostly stock from thingiverse but I modified the handles for switches I already owned and did a few other tweaks.


Next up was electronics. The "ears"/microphones had chasing amber/yellow/orange leds and I modified a very cheap ($1-2) board from ebay to get this effect. The board runs on 3v-14v so its a easy to drive. Also there is a blinking white led a couple square yellow leds and volt display that adds a cool look and requires no programming and only 2 wires to hookup.


Another shot of how I built the leds to fit into the ears. Not easy but not super hard.


Mockup of front display


Picture of my hackjob wiring


I am using those tiny gear motors to drive both the ears and the dome. You can get them for different speeds so the ears are slower and the dome is faster. Below you can see my setup for mounting the motor and to the left you can see the mount that will turn and drive the ears. I went this route because it is much easier than a servo. I will get video of this when I can.

[WindDrake]

Neat, I recognize those parts!

Eccentric crank on the ears?

[slicerd1]

I had to look up eccentric crank but yes that's it. I am also going to try to use the same/similar mechanism for a PKE design.

I really do love the parts, if you hadn't put all the effort into them I probably never attempted a gigameter but I am pretty excited about it. Waiting on a handful of parts from china right now, hoping to start again soon so it's ready for a Phoenix Comic Con in may.

[Tyrael]

Neat, I recognize those parts!

Me, too!

Nice work so far! Definitely doing great and I'm looking forward to the end result!

[slicerd1]

Thanks Tyrael, and also thanks for all the hard work on the design!

I have the ears working now and I vacuum formed my own clear domes this weekend. The only part I am am missing are the acrylic rods but those should be in this week.

Your can see how the ears work pretty happy with it.


Alternate ear view


Process of vaccum forming. I did 6 pulls and ended up with 2 good domes. Trial and error always occurs I should be able to make more with much less waste in the future.


Roughly assembled product. I think I will have to slightly redesign the crossbraces.


Wiring job for the dome lights. Kind of pretty.


Out of focus shot of the body. I found a battery sled the perfectly fits in the lower body, I will use double sided tape to make it stay there. I wired up the switches but didn't give myself enough wire to actually connect, so now I get to rebuild that.

[slicerd1]

Finally finished! I assembled the dome but the gear motor didn't have enough RPMs to get the circular light effect I desired. I ended up with a 600rpm at 6v motor that looks pretty good, it probably runs a little slower with all the leds on it only supplies about 5v.

Little pieces of cellophane covering the windows for the dome. This was a pain because the red needs like 3 layers to not look pink, I used 2 layers for the green.


End result looks pretty good. Maybe still a little more pink than I would like.


Pic in motion


All wired up. I used a 4 AA long battery sled which fit perfectly into the lower handle portion.


Video of dome


Final Results. I know the red button is not accurate but who can resist a red button?



And videos for both. The ears action on one is a little weird and it jumps, I do worry about this one a little if too much stress will cause it to die over time, I guess I may just have to build another eventually.



My only complaints are the dome lights. I wish they were brighter and didn't leak so much white light. Maybe finding an alternate way to color the windows would help an a slight redesign of the dome housing could fix the leakage. If anybody has ideas of alternate way of coloring the dome light please let me know. I have some leftover materials and these were pretty cheap to build ($30-$40 a piece) so if anyone has better ideas I might give it another go.

[DarkSpectre]

Man I hope mine turns out half as nice as this one. The electronics are killing me

[slicerd1]

Thanks man, It was a sweet build and I tried to simplify the electronics as much a possible and even still it's deceptively complex.

[Tyrael]

Wow, gorgeous work!

[slicerd1]

Wow, gorgeous work!

Thanks man! And thanks again for your great work. Like I said I probably would of never built one if you hadn't designed this but I am pretty happy with how they came out and it's just a cool prop.

[WindDrake]

Nice work! The Gigameter is one of my favorite props, and stuffing them to the gills with electronics is why I'm never building another one.

[darthbuster]

You said only semi competent with electronic! Looks pretty amazing to me!

[ProfessorProton]

Hey!!! Thought ya might like to know I have fired up a brand new CR ps and am abohtb3/4 done printing parts for this project! I appreciate all the work that everyone has put into this so far. I have all the electronics already on hand so it should go pretty quick!!!!

[dav59300]

Hey guys currently trying to follow that thread as reference to try (really try) to build a gigameter.
I am a bit lost on the differents parts from different person on thingiverse and was looking for tips and advice to what i need to print from which person, as there is different person on thingiverse for parts.

I also ordered some motors yesterday, the long wait from china ll start. do you recomment a specific speed /rpm for the ears motor ? the dome is 600 rpm/6v right ? I also noticed there are missing parts compared to your build like the eccentric gear and the motor mount for the ears, wher ecan i find thoses parts please ?

For electronic i m not an expert, so i thought if i don t use sound and only mecanical for both motors and only leds could i just work electical wiring without using any pcb ? which voltmeter do you recommend for the dial screen ? i bought some from amazon (with 3 wires) but it look like it doent work under 9 v.

Sorry for all the questions and thanks in advance

[dav59300]

anyone can help about missing parts for this project guys ?

[Ginty TM]

Hi, is there any chance you can point me in the right direction please, ive noticed that you have motor mounts and fittings to push the gears for the microphones. do you have a link to the stls or information on how to obtain them?


tya.

Ginty.

[dav59300]

mostly files are on thingiverses but missing thoses parts, and the accurate panel got error on the sculpt ! don t know if anyone can help here

[Ginty TM]

I had the error too and it printed no problem, i think its down to the motor mount as there is a small gap at the bottom that allows the gear to pass through. i have all parts printed and mostly assembled, just need the rotation disk and motor mount for the mics/ears.

[dav59300]

this one isn't an error, it s for the gear, more speaking about the "Giga meter Accurate Faceplate" you can find on thingiverse that got an error, and absence of the motor tower for the ears and rotation disk you re right

[prodestrian]

this one isn't an error, it s for the gear, more speaking about the "Giga meter Accurate Faceplate" you can find on thingiverse that got an error, and absence of the motor tower for the ears and rotation disk you re right

Had the same error, didn't notice until after I'd printed it:


In the end I just used the faceplate from the original Thingiverse page, it's also easier to print.
But it means I'll need to dremel out the curved rectangular piece above the display (because I want to add the glowing white LED there).

[dav59300]

guess i ll do the same

[Ginty TM]

Hi, i have printed this myself and never noticed the gap before and unlucky for me my Giga Meter is all put together minus the clear dome. but i have split and reattached the faceplate, so no longer has the missing segment and error free. I will upload this to thingyv if you want to print and give it a try as ive not tested it myself.

uploaded the remix, if you do print it, please let me know how you get on with it.

[dav59300]

thank you

[prodestrian]

Hi, i have printed this myself and never noticed the gap before and unlucky for me my Giga Meter is all put together minus the clear dome. but i have split and reattached the faceplate, so no longer has the missing segment and error free. I will upload this to thingyv if you want to print and give it a try as ive not tested it myself.

uploaded the remix, if you do print it, please let me know how you get on with it.

Nicely done! I haven't decided which version I plan to use yet, so I may print your remix anyway just in case:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5332564
I've sliced it in PrusaSlicer and it looks printable

[luke_saul]

Is there a more complete wiring diagram available for this setup as I'm thinking of replicating something similar