Brick Fest Live Schedule

Here is the Brick Fest Live events we plan on attending and displaying at.

July 13-14  Pasadena CA

July 27-28 Reno NV

Aug 17-18 Pleasanton CA 

Aug 24-25 San Diego CA

Sep 14-15 Sacramento CA

Hope to see everyone at these events.

 

 

 

 

Floating Platform - Fixed

 In the last post, I discussed the assembly problems with the floating platform.  Since the potential to break wires was very high, I needed a new solution..  Thus I spent the last few days working this out.  The floating platform is the first place where I expanded the use of the old 9V 2 x 2 connectors as described in this post with implementation ideas in this post.  I took this to next level and used these ideas to eliminate the wires between the platforms, thus it is truly plug and play.

This is the structure that I built to connect to base plates in the floating platform.  The orginal version had different ends, not sure why I did that, but it complicated the assembly.  It had to go on one way, but it was not obvious which way that was.  This is the first change I made, this still goes on way, but that is for electrical reasons.

First I placed a distribution PCB in the base and connected one of the 9V connectors.  This is where power will be inserted to the floating platform.  It will also serve as distribution point, if needed.

This is what the final assembly looks like from both sides.

I built three of them.  Two have power distribution and one does not.  The one with out power distribution still has a connector in it.  There are no wires.  It is used to connect the power between the connecting base plates.

The wire that ran between base plates is now replaced by three 9V connectors.  Two of them are on the base plate and connect to the distribution PCB on the floating platform.  This is shown in the two pictures above.

To ensure that the 9V connector stays in place and to provide a guide, a 4 x 4 plate covers half of the 9V connector.

While this goes together very nicely now, there is still one problem .

This connector is in the support structure.  In the picture of the support structure above, the studs on the left are one polarity and the studs on right are the opposite polarity.  That means that the platforms that connect to the support structure have to be mirror images of each other, electrically.  To solve this problem the connector and cable on the mirror image platform have to be reverse wired.   

Now this can cause a large problem, especially with Brick Controllers that have minimal reverse power connection protection, since all of their power connectors are keyed.  So in the picture above you can see there are red tiles and plates.  These are there to indicate which base plate side connects to which side of the support structure.  Finally I will install an LED on the base plate that has the Maintenance shed.  The Shed can only be installed when this LED is on, that will indicate that wiring polarity is correct.

Finally while doing all of this, I also finished the floating platform.

I added  the final landing base plate, the one on the far right.  I also added a small work area at the grey octagon.  I was originally going to add a 16 x 16 plate, but this angular implementation adds more character.  This new work area will have the fueling station, since it is accessible to all three landing areas.  More on this later.

Floating Platform - Assembly Problem

 

Well I thought I had solved the assembly and made it much easier.  That turned out not to be true.  

Over the weekend I was at the BayLUG meeting.  I had taken this to the meeting to test the setup process.  It had been about 4 weeks since I had set this portion up on the build table.  Thus I had completely forgot how this goes together.  But it needs to be obvious.  There has to be guides that ensure it can only together one way.

Obviously this was not the case, as I struggled for 15 minutes or more trying to align the three platforms.  Plus the cable that runs between the base plates is just too short.  

So it is back to the build table and another attempt to simplify this assembly.  My limitation on the display is now the time it takes to setup and tear down.  At 3.5 hours of setup and 2.5 hours of tear down, I am pushing the limits of what is allowable.  I cannot add much more because there will not be time for setup and tear down.  I would have to radically change the way the display is assembled.

Floating Platform Update

 

 This was my first incarnation of the floating platform.  The first time this was shown was in the fall of 2023.  It was simple, but I had more landing platforms and had more ideas.  

I started with a simple ramp the returning patrol marched up.  But it did not fit into the story, since the black was supposed to represent the abyss.  It started because I had these plates.

That expanded to the first picture.  A short description is here, but there are multiple blog posts about this portion of the display. But I always wanted it to be bigger.  It provides the necessary contrast to the cliffs.

Here is where I ended up, for now.  I added a third connection point on the original platform and moved the lights to the end.  There is still a connection near the mid point on the long side on the left.  I still have left a complete set of plates, one landing and one T style plate.  I may still use these, but that will force me out 10 16 feet pretty easily.

The rest of this post will be the night shots I took of this and a quick movie at the end.

 

 

 

 

Another Curved Cliff - Post 10

 This will be the last post in this series and is about the wiring is run on the cliff side.  I sort of forgot to mention this in an earlier post.

Let us break down the above picture a little more.

The arrow points to the channel in the 1 x 2 Brick (p/n 4216).  This is where the wire is hidden and allows for sufficient room to run the 30 gauge, 2 conductor wire from the base of the cliff.  Then it goes into the interior of the cliff on the first floor along the ceiling.  It enters and exits through a 1 x 2 technic brick (p/n 3700) that you can see just above the arrow.

After exiting the technic 1 x 2 brick, it is held in place with four 1 x 1 round plates.  There is sufficient gap between the base of the plates for the wire to placed and held securely. 

Here I used the 1 x 1 round plates to create a small channel for the wire to be placed in.

This shows a different view where you see the wire placement.  Not shown is another row of 1 x 1 plates up against the panel to allow the wire to safely get into the cavity of the 1 x 6 x 5 panel.

Once the cliff is built around it, we get to the top.  The wire needs to run in along the ceiling of the second floor cliff.  In the above photo you can see the wire passing through the 1 x 2 technic brick.

I left a 1 x 1 brick size space.  This leaves half of the pin hole in the 1 x 2 technic brick exposed so that the wire is not compromised by bricks pressing against it.

Here is an expanded photo, thought the shadows still make it hare to see the wire.

Finally I use a 2 x 4 slope to cover the whole and secure the stacked slopes.

This is just one technique for hiding wires.

 

 

 

Another Curved Cliff - Post 9

 

Now that the internal wiring and lights are done, we can move on to some of the internal structure that will define these spaces.

The end platform will be a bar on the lower level and bunk room on the upper level.  In both cases there needs to be a line of demarcation, ie a wall.  On the lower level I have created mostly a glass wall, with a door.  On the upper level it is mostly tan brick with windows on either side of the door.  I had thought that transparent light blue would work for the windows and door, but too much light is bleeding in from next door.  So I am looking at other colors, transparent blue or transparent red.  The red color being the most likely since the bunk room will be lit with red LEDs.

This is next platform to the left.  The bottom will be a maintenace control area where they document the work in the hangers.  The upper part will be a small classroom for training.  I turned the stairs because that was the most efficient use of space.

Another view.

Here is a view of the two new platforms along side the existing end hanger space.  You can see the bar on the lower level, the upper level bathed in red and then the next space to the left.

This is a fitting exercise for the bar area.  The final will be done in dark red.  There is a lot of detailing to do here to make it look like a bar from a far flung outpost.

Another view.  I will post another entry when I get this area finished.