Archive for the ‘Mechanics’ Category.

How to repair Broken Trail Remote on Specialized Turbo Levo 2018 and the pinout for bonus

Specialized e-bikes utilize control cables with a braided wire construction that exhibit a lower tolerance for mechanical stress and extended vibration compared to more industrial durable options. These cables, specifically those associated with the handlebar-mounted remote buttons, are susceptible to fatigue-induced failure due to their fine gauge and hard braided design. This can manifest as button malfunction after a period of sustained use, as experienced in my case after two to three years of riding.

And now the sad part of the story… Replacement part price. For 130 euros, those buttons better come pre-attached to a small gold-plated unicorn. Four buttons? Absolutely criminal!

Disassembly:

  1. Housing Access: The remote enclosure utilizes a sonic welding technique, essentially creating a permanent closure between the two halves. Destructive disassembly is required. A thin, flat-head screwdriver can be used to carefully pry open the housing seam, but caution is necessary to avoid damaging the internal flexible printed circuit board (FPCB).
  2. Cable Removal: Once the housing is breached, the control cable can be severed near the entry point. This allows for the complete removal of the remote unit.
  3. Sealant Removal: The remaining challenge lies in the removal of the silicone sealant. This process requires meticulous cleaning with a sharp tool to scrape away the adhesive from the wires and FPCB. Special attention should be paid to the vicinity of the soldering pads on the circuit board, as these delicate components are susceptible to damage from excessive force.

The pinout:

1 = “S”, 2 = “+”, 3 = “-“, 4 = Foot, 5 = Common

The pinout (see above)
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KWeld spot welder

I recently bought Kweld spot welder kit for all battery welding purposes. The old, transformer welder was not good and welds were not consistent and reliable. Worst issue with transformer welder was inability to weld thicker metal strips (0,3mm Ni).

The Kweld came with everything needed to start welding except power supply source. They offer supercap bank with charger or recommend some RC batteries. I had niether. The most suitable battery pack I have was 3S1P LiFePo pack with internal resistance of 5mΩ. Unfortuantely such source is not OK for kWeld.

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Voluhar project – 3 axis camera stabilization

The Voluhar project will be / might be open hardware and open software project for any DIY and videographer enthusiast that would like to get those enviably steady smooth shots. Well, for now this statement is a bit of a long shot since I don’t really know what I don’t know about brushless gimbal systems.

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Multicolor signal light with beeper

When debugging algorithms in an autonomous vehicle a light that can show algorithm state in real time was proven to be effective for easier debugging and additional insight to what is going on in the code.

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Smart nesting box

Smart nesting box is small wooden box for nesting birds. It is equipped with the live camera feed and some sensors. Four smart nesting boxes were made and three of them were placed in the wild. One was inhabited with the great tit in te early march 2017. After that, the bird laid 11 eggs. The bird then incubated eggs for 12 days. On the Easter Monday, the first shells cracked and newborns started poping out of the eggs.

 

I prepared the whole project for local school. The nesting boxes were made by 8 children aged from 11 to 14 during afternoon classes. It was great fun and the young scientists learned many new skills from electronics, materials, hand tools, crafting, programming, components, circuit design, biology, photography, physics, etc… The nesting box is described in detail here with all necessary production steps. Contact for further info is m@v4.si. The three nesting boxes placed in the wild have…

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Quadruple BDC motor driver for robotics

Once finished (deadline is end of January) this project will become open-source software and hardware.

My quadruple BDC driver for supports up to 4 brushed motors with encoders. Each motor is controlled by its individual closed loop and individual PID gain settings. Additionally, motor speed can also be individually addressed. Analog part of the driver is based on DRV8701P predriver and is controlled by STM32F4 microcontroller.

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Electric penny board

Penny skateboards are available on every corner for something under 20€. They are a lot of fun to ride on and are very useful when someone has to travel a great distance in pedestrian only area. But what happens when a 2.5 kW electric motor is attached on it? Scroll down to find out.

 

 

Finished electric penny board

Finished electric penny board

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Metal dance pad with load cell sensors

Dace pad art

Finished pad

 

What happens one a man has too much time and a workshop with fancy toys in his garage? With school being too easy and girlfriend nowhere to be found I often find myself exploring areas that interest me. It started with drones, electric powered bikes and longboards but for the last month I often found myself dancing. Firstly, I borrowed my friend’s softmat which was okay for the beginning but soon I progressed with my dancing skills and started to hate everything about it. I’m sure all DDR dancers know what I’m talking about. That’s when I decided to build one.

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3 axis gimbal for Garmin Virb

I have finished my gimbal project for Garmin Virb Elite action camera and I’ll try to explain how it works and what parts I used.

http://e.pavlin.si/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_9010-300x260.jpg

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Eggbot – Metric

Original eggbot is made around construction components, which are hard to find in metric world, like Europe. I found some DXF files for cuting the side walls, but after first prototype I realised no brackets could fit in the holes. First I adjusted the holes a bit, but the result was not successfull. Then I prepared 3D design in solidworks using standard elements from local hardware store. Here is the complete 3D design (click on the rendered model):

Link to grabcad

 

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