Robot Dialogs

I've made quite a bit of progress on the Selectric II project . Since the last post I managed to get a fair amount of the mechanisms necessary to actuate the keys figured out (at least for a first attempt). I made the mechanical additions using a bunch of Erector Set pieces. For the time being I've used fishing line to tie the Erector Set levers to the solenoids. Initially I had it set up with fishing line going up over a bar above all the key press mechanisms (essentially pulling up on them) but this didn't work and wouldn't have survived the test of time (rubbing against a bar all the time...). This past week I made my first go at the toner-transfer & ferric chloride etching process to make a Solenoid Driver board. I also did quite a few things in Eagle for the first time. The circuit for the driver board is below, it's a simple power FET (IRL2703) circuit with some blinkin' lights thrown in for good measure. Eagle files below, I used default

Started working on a Selectric II typewriter project. I used this typewriter last year to make business cards for the KC Maker Faire. This year I'm going to hook a bunch of solenoids up to it and throw in a micro-controller to allow me to control it's output with a PC via serial... So far I've just got the mechanisms for key presses figured out and the solenoids mounted. Next I've got to get the control circuit board worked out and assembled, along with switches to read the keys when they're pressed. Then it's programming the micro-controller and figuring out what to do with the end result...Zork's been done...maybe epic ASCII art on tractor-feed paper...in any case it'll be KC Maker Faire and it'll be awesome. I did get one solenoid hooked up in a bread-boarded circuit to make sure I had parts that would work...