Despite the multiple Family errands today, I managed to get something done, more or less. Right now, we have more or less completed with the moving, especially the heavier stuff. As for me, I have to organise my Man-cave as soon as possible since most of my tools were in boxes and well, it’s hard to locate them since they’re not labeled. Anyway, with most of the components found with the exception of the blue 5mm LED, I was ready to upload the programs into the chips and populate the PCB, which arrived from JLCPCB a week ago.
Re-flow soldering
I populated the board using re-flow soldering and despite not having a solder mask made, the result was OK more or less. Messy but OK. Luckily, my new solder paste dispenser controlled the right amount despite the paste having more liquid than the previous brand. I took a video of it but it’s boring to a lot of people so I won’t put it up. YouTube has much exciting ones.
The Normal PKD2019 version
This was the original version where a FB friend asked to have the LEDs do a glow up when it was switched on. I got the program done after a few days but changed it today. So, when the it is switched on, there would be a 250ms delay before the leds start to glow a little. Pause for 200ms, then glow up to completion. It is like the circuits when started, does a little initialisation check, then when everything is OK, goes to full brightness. OK, I cannot say full brightness as I designed them to light up at 10mA and then use PWM to further reduce the brightness.
I think this brightness is OK but I do not have the clip light-blocked and fully painted. The problem with PWM is, apart from theoretically saving power, any movement of the LEDs would make them look as if they’re doing rapid flashing. There is a MODE switch to switch between a non-flashing mode and the glow up mode. But each time you switch them, you would need to power cycle the circuit ie switch it off then on for the mode to come into effect.
The Ghost Mode
I thought about this while I was searching for images of the Blaster’s bottom 5mm LED. I recall from memory about seeing them on TheRPF Forums decades ago that it was flush and not jutting out. But I had to make sure and then, there were talks about the Ghost Blaster. Searching through the Internet. it was revealed to be some sort of an unofficial PKD Blaster but in white and silver.
Anyway, for this version, just for fun, I had the PCB made in white and put in a ‘GHOST EDITION‘ wording using the Blade Runner font eventhough this is still a prototype. It will be using those Ice Blue LEDs and so far, most of them uses clear lens so it will definitely need a good once over with some sandpaper to diffuse clear epoxy. Again, like the PKD2019 version, it has both Normal and Ghost mode. Rather than program the LEDs to ramp up and fade down, I gave it a heartbeat effect. I had to change the Circuit board slightly since these LEDs are using anything from 3.2v to 3.5 to light up. Luckily, the CR2032 was still able to power them or else I would have to change to using the 3.7v Li-Ion which is such a bother since I would also need a charging circuit.
The Flaws
I was not sure what I was thinking (or ate) during the PCB design stage. The board had the right dimensions but once I solder all the 4 red LEDs in, it was impossible to insert the board into the clip. So, for the next version, I would make it less wider but this would mean the LEDs would be sunken into the holes.
The Video
Where to get what:
AndersFP (Anders Fogde Pedersen) PKD-2019 Blaster Download File
Duplex Designs Lighting Kit for AndersFP PKD-2019
