Curved Cliff - Part 2

Progress is being made.  The right side section that interfaces the turn is done for now.  Here are some different views.

The interface is obvious, unfortunately.  But it is ot horrible.  If this were a permanent type display, something more might be done.  But since I need to move the display and this is where the break is planned, we will have to live with it for now.  In time there might be a better way to do this, but rectangular bricks and not a 90 degree turn just don't mix.

Here are two more pictures that show the progress in building.

The right side (front view) is the acute angle bridge.  I needed something to go into that space that was small since it is only a few studs wide.

 

I came up with this.  Not sure what it is yet.  It is obviously storage of some kind.  These containers are found all over the Space Outpost, so they must be important.

Finally the bottom level of this section will be the cafeteria and open up to the dining hall.  The second level will be the gym.   More on these two later.

Brick Buddy ONE Upgrade

For some unknown reason, I started upgrading the firmware on the Brick Buddy ONE. Since I had done all of this software work on consolidation and refactoring, I thought lets do it.  Plus I need a 4 motor controller and Brick Buddy TWO is still a long way from being ready.  Thus during the road trip, I started working on upgrading and refactoring.

Brick Buddy ONE was done over five years ago and was written using the C18 compiler.  First task was to transition to the XC8 compiler.  Most of this went fairly smooth as I don't try to rewrite the whole thing and then start compiling.  I stripped it down to just the startup code and worked on it until it compiled without error.  This is the main loop

    while(1)
    {
        ProcessIO();
        PWMCtrl_Tasks();
        SCRIPT_Tasks();
        BT_Tasks();
        USB_AppTasks();
        APP_Tasks();
        BlinkStatus();
    }//end while

So what I do is comment all of these out and then start adding them in one at a time.  Solve the compile issues and move on to the next.  By the end of the road trip, I had left to do Script and Bluetooth.

Before proceeding on adding the remainder in, I connected to the USB port and started testing out the USB interface to the PC program.   Once the LEDs and Motors worked, it was time to get back including the remainder of the code.

One interesting thing that happened was that uint16_t type could not be found.  I got around it by using uint32_t since I was only compiling and not actually running at the time.  Eventually to solve this error I had to delete the project and start over again.  There must have been something in the project file from C18 that was getting in the way.  Once I built the new project, uint16_t no longer caused issues.

Next issue was FLASH size.  The PIC18F45K50 only has 32K of program FLASH, compared to the 64K of better in all the other controllers.  Changing the controller is not an option for the simple reason that the 18F45K50 is the only crystal less USB PIC.  There are multiple larger USB PICs, but all require a crystal for USB 2.0.  At optimization level 0, I exceeded the memory towards the end of the BT implementation and before the Script implementation.  At optimization level 1, I have about 7K left after BT implementation,  Hopefully that will be enough, else I will have to buy a monthly XC8 license to compile this.  Also means that the bootloader may not fit any more, but we shall see.  I also need to make a pass through the code and see if there is any compaction I can do.

Right now I have basic USB interface working and some of the BTLE interface working.  Maybe another week to finish this.

What do I get out of this.  Well a common User Interface for both the PC and Android.  Right now, the Android Interface only works on the new designs and I have limited control over all of the Brick Buddy ONEs I am using.  

Lego Sort from Road Trip

 

Finished sorting all the acquired LEGO from the trip.

I generally do a rough sort by color and then by type-plates, bricks, tiles and other.  But since this haul was overwhelming tan, the other colors were just thrown into a tub and sorted by part type later.

Here is am still trying to sort through the large tub of tan.

It is mostly sorted here.  I thought at the time I had gotten enough 2 x 6 and 2 x 4 tan bricks that I needed for the next cliff builds.  Turns out I went through them very fast.  So now I am searching Bricklink trying to find the least cost at one place so as not to get eaten by shipping costs.

I know I have said this before, but it bears repeating if only to confirm what other people might be seeing.  If you buy bulk bricks like I do, then you need to prepare yourself for spending time sorting and putting them away.  I would say at least 10% of my time goes into the sorting and storing process.  Is it worth it?  Well a piece that you have but cannot find is not very valuable. 😎

Curved Cliff - Part 1

This hole exists on both ends of the display.  There needs to be a connecting cliff between the last module on the front and the next module (often the last module).  But turning a corner at less than 90 degrees with strictly rectangular pieces is difficult.

My first attempt at just building the base.  First I needed to add the six stud wide rectangular spacers.  The space shown above in the first two pictures is just too small to do anything useful with.  On either side of the module you can see these spacers.  (Since these spacers are ones needed elsewhere, I will have to replace them).  The turning module on the right side is the small angle.  Using either the small angle or the large angle one, made it too difficult to find the mating wedge plates for the back side.  So I used a 45 degree wedge plate to form the second angle.  I will discuss this build in a another blog post later.  For now what you see is a place holder so I can get through the more difficult part of building a cliff wall.

 

Here I added to the substructure and began the walk way.  This had to be broken up so that it would fit in the standard Sterlite box.  The connection is located where the four Technic bricks are.  The break is in the middle.  I did not like where the breaks were and I am concerned that there will inefficient use of packing space.  I then decide the center piece would be as wide as it could be on the far back end.  That is mating piece on either side of the center piece would be where the angle ends (not including the hanger sections).  

 

This is the final sectioning of the substructure.

This completes the substructure with the walkway.  The two places where there are no Sand Green tiles are the joints and will be covered with 2 x 4 tiles at display assembly.  Next I an going to start building the cliff wall.  When that is complete, I hope to have a better idea of how the area behind the cliff will look.

Distributing Light

 I have never been happy with the light distribution in these control centers.    The single light in front of the Blacktron logo not only washes the logo out, but does not provide sufficient light for the entire control center.  The change is really not that hard.  I just have to pull the single LED back and then run a new set of wires to the added LED.

Here the wire and LED are removed.

A second LED is prepared to be installed.  Note that both LEDs are mounted on 1 x 1 round tiles.

I went back and installed Technic bricks so that I would have holes to pas the wires through.  The two pictures above show that on either side of the Blacktron Logo.  Also I used 1 x 1 round tiles to hold the wires in place.  As stated previously, the 1 x 1 round tiles leave enough room to pass two 30 gauge wires through the gap.

 This shows the completed wire run and where the LEDs were mounted. 

And the final result at night.  The light distribution is far better.  The detail of the entire control center is visible.  The two LED solution is far superior.  It also allowed me to move the two monitors on the ends out so they can be seen better.

Here it is with the ambient lights on.  Even in this lighting environment, the two LED solution provides the illumination that you would want.  Compare this picture to the one at the top of this blog post.  You can tell this is the better solution.

Lego Exposition - Washington DC

 During part of this road trip to the East, we visited the National Building Museum. At this time they have an exhibition called Brick City.  Here are some of what is on display.

Early LEGO sets.

I really liked this one.  I have been wanting to place a cafeteria/mess hall in the Space Outpost.  While this is a market, I think it will serve as a great inspiration for this detail.  More pictures follow.

The detail in this display is incredible.  

 This is a cut away of the National Building Museum.  The remaining pictures are of that model.

What I find appealing of this model is the office space.  This is another feature I need to improve in the Space Outpost and this will serve as inspiration.

Road Trip

 

Long road trip for the last month.  Drove from Nevada to Virginia, traveled around Virginia and Maryland and then back to Nevada.  A long the way I found multiple Brick Stores (Bricks and Minifigs and similar).  I was able to spend time in three of them and collected quite a few bricks, plus getting some for the grand kids.  Above you can see a portion of the Tan version I found.  It took me almost a week to wash, sort and put away the haul.  

Next on the schedule is Brickpalooza in Roseville CA on Dec 9.  My goal is to fill in one of the angled holes with the rock wall and the start of Blacktron quarters, cafeteria and recreation room.  Additionally I need to update the Space Gun controller such that it is contained in the platform.  Once the area behind it is filled in with the rock wall, there will be no room for the controller.  For this I have been working on upgrading the firmware in the Brick Buddy ONE to be compatible with all the other controllers.  More on this later.

Finally some of the beautiful  places to see in this country.

Southern Utah on State road 25.

Crossing the Colorado River over the far north end of Lake Powell.

These two pictures are of Utah State Route 261 as we descend off Cedar Mesa to Mexican Hat, Utah. Mostly single lane gravel/dirt road.  These two show the best part of the road.

Monument Valley.

Sunrise on the Oklahoma Panhandle.

Somewhere in eastern Tennessee.

Along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

And the same mill, but from August of 1976.

Somewhere in Western Kansas or Eastern Colorado on US 50.