posted by Dustin
This is a small walk through of installing one of my ammo counters available in the store. I am need of pictures, please send me pictures of your install, thanks! :)
Tools Required
- Solder Iron (I bought mine for $5 at menards)
- Solder (I use 60/40, 0.032" diameter)
- Wire Cutter / Stripper
- Tape
Pregame:
For quick start and demonstration of the counter. Connect the battery to the circuit. Use the red and black wires labeled BATT or BATTERY. Connect black to black, red to red.
No need to solder at this point, just twist the wires together and maybe use some tape so the red bare wire doesn't touch the black bare wire.
The counter should now be on, take the wire pair labeled FIRE and connect these two wires together. Each time you connect them together, the counter will decrease. Do the same thing for RESET.
Kit Contents
- Assembled Counter Kit
- AAA Battery Holder
- Pushbutton Switch
- Slide Switch
- Lever Switch
Install
Note: Before getting started
- All wire connections must be soldered. Twisting the wires onto the switch connectors will create a poor and inconsistent connection.
- The included switches only have two connectors. They can be soldered in any order to their associated wires.
- You may need to cut the casing to install the switches through the plastic housing of your gun, so be very certain with where you want them.
- Please read and understand this entire page before cutting anything! thanks
Step 1 - Identify and place FIRE switch
The FIRE switch has a long lever on it. If you have an existing trigger, use the lever to connect to your existing trigger in such a way that when you pull the trigger, it will also push down on the lever switch.
If you do not have an existing trigger, you may use the lever switch as a trigger itself.
Step 2 - Identify RESET switch
The RESET switch is a square pushbutton. It has a matching round cap. The cap snaps into place on top of the square pushbutton.
Step 3 - Identify ON/OFF switch
The ON/OFF switch is a slide switch. It has mounting holes on either side so it may be fastened down.
Step 4 - Arrange
Carefully arrange the different switches and batteries around your gun. Figure out where you want them. If you cut the casing of your gun, leave an opening so you can run the wires through the hole.
The on/off switch must be placed between the battery location and the counter location.
Step 5 - Wires
Next, install the counter and thread the wires to the various locations.
If the wires are too long, cut them the proper length and re-strip them.
If the wires are too short, you will need to extend them with more wire. Tape any bare exposed wire ends.
Step 6 - Solder On/Off
If you have not already done so, please solder the counter battery wires to the battery. Match red to red and black to black. Cover the bare connections with tape.
Now you may solder in the on/off switch. The on/off switch is to be installed along the red wire between the counter and the battery. Choose a place along the battery wires to install the on/off switch. Cut the red wire and strip it so you can solder the on/off switch in place.
To the right is a drawing of installing the on/off switch.
Step 7 - Solder FIRE and RESET
Solder the FIRE and RESET switches. As noted previously, these switches only have two connectors. There is no wrong way to connect them to the wire pairs. The only thing you need to be certain of is that the bare wires ends do not touch each other, they should only be connected to the switch connectors.
Labels: guides, store
posted by Dustin
Sorry, I do not have full writeup for this project. Here is a photostream of the mod.
Rock Band Mod on Flickr
Pretty much what I did was take an off the shelf strobe light and swap it for the one built into the fog machine. Re-wired a ps/2 keyboard cable connecting it to the liberated rock band strobe light. Now I can use the strobe light with the game without dragging out the fog machine.
Also added override switches on the fog machine so I could activate both the strobe and fog machine outside the game.
Labels: photography, projects
posted by Dustin
I thought it would be interesting to figure out my hosting fees for the last few years. My awesome host is NFSN.
Hit More Info to see the cost table.
2007 was a seven month year.
| Year | Deposit Fee | Registration & Renewal | Bandwidth Charge | Storage Charge | MySQL Charge |
|---|
| 2007 | $1.00 | $7.50 | $1.18 | $1.02 | |
| 2008 | $1.30 | $15.98 | $2.73 | $4.68 | $1.47 |
| 2009 | $2.15 | | $5.26 | $15.17 | $3.65 |
Looking at the data, I notice that my storage fees have taken a sharp increase. In two years the physical size has more than tripled to 225MB.
Then if I plot my storage fees divided by my physical size, I find the prices have stayed the same. This is the cost of growing I suppose.
Labels: site
posted by Dustin
I had some ideas for the avatar sequel and wanted to write it down. Turns out, I guess it was a fully developed idea because it turned into 5 pages. Click 'More Info' to enjoy!
Movie #2
[Due to science reasons the 2nd movie must take place ten years after the first.] The camera opens on pandora and Jake giving us a montage recap of the past ten years. He took his place as the leader omaticaya and replanted hometree. With Eywa's help, hometree has now grown almost a hundred feet. It will still take many generations before they can live there. In the mean time they have created themselves a tree village, high above the ground. The omaticaya's skills with fabric have become more in demand making peace and trade relations with the neighboring tribes easy.
After the montage, Neytiri asks to accompany Jake on some lame mission that requires Jake to leave the village by himself at night. I won't go into the details of this mission but imagine this, it will be constantly pretty to look at and pointless to the plot at the same time. As Jake returns to the tribe, he sees a flash in the sky. He has dreaded this day for ten years, the sky people have returned. He hastens his pace back to the village to gather a search party and they all run together toward the fireball that is slowly descending from the sky.
[We are now seeing things from the perspective of one of the crew members.] Not the captain, but very much a leader of the people on board the ship. The ship they have resided in for three years is much smaller then previous ships that were sent to pandora, manned by only a handful of crew. They had no choice but to steal this ship. The only other ship available was under the close guard of the military. [clunk] They have landed. The leader asks to leave the ship immediately, they must not waste any time. As the doors of the ship open, the crew realizes their mistake. The ideal plain that they have landed in is a herding ground for hammerhead titanotheres. They are able to escape the scene, but watch from a distance as their ship and all their supplies are shredded by the jungle creatures. The remaining crew gathers what they can carry and venture out in search of some na'vi people.
They make so much noise that they are easy to track by Jake's party and he intercepts them. When he meets them, Jake does not know these people but is compelled to trust their words.
[The next HOUR!!! of the movie consists of a stupid and depressing flashback.] Back on earth, the return of the military and miners from the failed Pandora campaign is met with the greatest of sadness. The atmosphere of earth is in a process of rapid decay. A few years ago when Jake left, only a few people wore breathing masks outdoors for health concerns. Now everyone wears them. Much like Pandora, Earth's atmosphere is toxic. The current government had promised the people of Earth a solution. Using unobtanium [and some techno mumbo jumbo], scientists had a bold plan in place to completely restore Earth's atmosphere and give a kick start to agriculture. The ships return with an empty cargo hold all but nails the coffin shut on the human race. They do not have the time or the resources to mount another mining expedition. The leaders of the world would now consider the most desperate of plans. A plan so despicable they would have never even considered it before this event. The plan is to use the same technology that would restore the Earth's atmosphere on Pandora instead, effectively killing off the entire ecosystem of Pandora. Everything living on the blue world of Pandora would be killed to make way for the green of Earth. Implementing the plan would be simple enough. They wouldn't even have to land on the planet to activate the device. A missile containing the device would be launched from orbit at a high enough velocity to penetrate the crust and tap into a vein of unobtanium. The process would start a chain reaction releasing a reactant into the air that instantly converts the Pandorian atmosphere into an Earthian one.
The plan was so horrible that it was kept a state secret till now. The leaders brought the plan public, because they needed the full support of the world's industry to complete the plan within the allotted time table. The people of course demanded a vote, the vote was met with extreme protesting and violence. Yet the vote to proceed with the plan passed anyway. It is widely believed that the vote results were fixed. This leads to more protests and more violence. At the same time the plan proceeds. The project is made up of people who are desperate to save themselves, their families, and their people. As the launch date approaches, two missiles have been prepared. Across the world, the news telebroadcasts surprise as a premature space launch is detected. A cult of na'vi worshippers have stolen a small ship outfitted with a space drive. There is no doubt where the traitors are headed.
[Flashback has ended, oh thank you!] It is now revealed that the small ship did not have cryo sleep. The crew has been twiddling their thumbs for three years eating recycled food and drinking recycled water. [Yummy!] The lack of stimulation has made their minds soft and the speech they prepared during their journey is now revealed do be missing logic.
Jake, using his best skills is able to interpret the message. It was clear enough. The sky people are returning and they bring a terrible weapon. Jake invites the humans to come with him to hell's gate, this is the name for the original human settlement on Pandora. There we meet more humans that have been surviving on Pandora and continuing their research for the past ten years. We find out that the avatar program is back on and has been perfected. Avatar bodies can now be produced in weeks instead of years. They even have reverse breathing masks so na'vi people can hang out indoors. [yay!] Jake leaves them there and returns to his people to come up with a plan to defend against such an attack. After consulting with the rest of the humans, he is now certain that the attack will be space bound. The humans wouldn't dare step foot on Pandora again without such a tactic. Consulting with the rest of his tribe proves to be useless, what defense could they have against a sky enemy that never steps foot on the ground. Jake goes to the tree of souls to consult with Eywa. After making his plea he carefully listens as he was taught to. He can make out a whisper telling him to go on a journey to meet Eywa in person. Jake returns to the village and requests everyone join him at the tree of souls to perform the ceremony.
[Jake's journey of the mind starts off kind of boring. Sure it is pretty, but it is all so existential, which I don't care for] To summarize though, he does a lot of floating and the background is filled with other floating things and everything is very bright. After a bunch of floating he finds Eywa, but at the same time not Eywa. Not what he was expecting. It is Dr. Grace as her human self! She tells Jake of a great weapon that she is helping Eywa create. A tree cannon. Jake instantly has doubts [me too, lol], but Grace promises him that the weapon will be completely effective against an inbound ship. It turns out that Eywa was not just growing hometree for the omaticaya people but also to use as a weapon. The unobtanium just beneath hometree is being absorbed into the roots and converted into high energy plasma. Jake must sit midway up the tree where a purple interface vine has been hidden. Jake thanks Grace and is about to leave, but is now shown to be restrained. Grace moves in closer to Jake to give a stern warning. Due to the nature of the weapon slowly gathering resources from the ground, he will only have one shot to hit his target. It would take years to recharge for another shot. The shot will be wide so the ship is unable to maneuver out of his crosshairs. Jake is then allowed to leave and awakes lying on the ground. Two days have passed and his people nearly gave up hope for his return.
[oh tears it is!] The END
[Tree cannon? Seriously, this is the best they could come up with? lol, You want to see that tree cannon fire a volley at a space target, don't you!]
Movie #3
[Just to mix things up] The movie opens on the blue gas giant that Pandora orbits. Slowly rotating around to see Pandora as a small ball in the distance. Not wasting any time, they get right into continuing the story. Despite protests from his village, Jake is able to convince them that hometree has become a weapon to eliminate the sky people. [Montage and rehashing old music!] Jake orders his people far away to take refuge with over tribes. The date that the sky people arrive is fast approaching and he still has much to do. Like learn how to control such a weapon. The humans help him the best they can, coaching him in projectile physics for high velocity plasma. [lol this script is that side of awesome]
Word gets out about his plan to eliminate the in bound humans and is met with opposition from the other tribes. Pre-emptive attacks are not their way. The humans must make the first move. Jake passionately makes his case for destroying the human threat, but is met with death ears. Jake is no long the Toruk Makto and they have no reason to follow him. The other tribes place a permanent military presence at hometree and do not allow Jake anywhere close.
With his tribe disbanded for the moment, Jake is alone in his fight. [what about Neytiri, haven't heard from her for a while. Truth is she has kind of just been hanging out in the background of most the scenes, not really contributing to the plot, till now!] Neytiri comforts Jake and another half baked na'vi hair brained sex scene follows. Jake's mind is made up. He must find his long lost companion, the leonopteryx, and become Toruk Makto once more. He goes on a brief montage hike into the jungle to find the leonopteryx. He does and the leonopteryx remembers him. On his way back to push his way up to hometree, disaster strikes. Not only was he too late making it back to hometree before the sky people arrived, the humans had already fired one of their missiles.
The missile was aimed at the richest unobtanium deposit that they had charted, the one right beneath hometree. Jake can see the devastation even from such a great distance away. He turns and instead goes to hell's gate. While there he is able to make contact with the orbiting ship. The man in charge on the ship assures Jake that once the unobtainium vein was converted the pocket of concentrated earth air would remain isolated to that particular valley and not spread further. After terminating the communication, the scientists at hell's gate explain to Jake that assurance was a lie. The two atmospheres could not coexist. Right now the earth air was slowly being converted back into pandora air, but another missile could flip the balance. If earth air became widespread on pandora [didn't they already explain this in the last movie?] everything on pandora would die. Not just the plants and animals, but Eywa too along with all the generations that she has preserved. Jake must travel to ground zero of the missile attack and fire the hometree weapon. The earth air that is now present there is toxic to na'vi people, but using one of those fancy reverse re-breathers Jake sets out for hometree.
Back on the ship, we have some random character development, and the audience tries to feel sympathy for their own race. The propaganda from earth against pandora is in full swing. All that false information has led to extreme prejudice. The humans can not wait to eliminate the na'vi menace and have already begun to shuttle passengers down to the surface. They still need the second missile to ensure that earth air will be produced by the teraforming machines and remain in high concentrations for several hundred years. Enough time for them to create a new ecosystem. They just have not found a second vein of unobtainium with enough mass to convert yet. Additional shuttles are sent out as survey teams. On the third day a survey report comes back, another vein has been found on the other side of the planet. This one is the largest ever discovered. Big enough that it could convert the entire pandoran atmosphere in one go.
Jake is finally arrives at the hometree weapon. [why didn't he just ride the leonopteryx or take a gunship to speed his travel, idk] After the making "the bond" with the tree weapon, Jake suddenly sees the world with "Eywa Vision" being able to see everything, everywhere, and can clearly see the ship in orbit. But what is this?! the ship is moving away. Fast. He acts quickly, aims the weapon, and fires a shot that, he guesses, should intercept their trajectory.
Back on the ship, they have no sensors for this kind of attack. They only realized they were under attack when the plasma burst was within visual range [you know microseconds before impact, lol]. The attack WAS completely effective, but not in the way originally thought. The ship was not destroyed, but its engine was disabled. The ship was now in a decaying orbit and would burn up in the next 10 hours. An evacuation is ordered. Then a discovery is made, someone thought to run a simulation based on their current trajectory. They would reach their target a few minutes before the ship exterior would melt and be unable to fire. It is also explained that there was no contingency plan for this, the missile could only reach the unobtainium deep below pandora's crust if it was launched from orbit.
Long story short, their plan fails. The launch tube jams and the weapon detonates in space.
Interestingly enough, the evacuates are able to make it to the surface. The humans convince Jake and his people that the weapon was not their doing and they should be allowed to stay. They make camp around hometree, where the highest concentrations of earth air is. They still have to wear rebreathers, but the air here is far less toxic than elsewhere. [No more skin rashes, yay!] The scientists estimate it will be about a decade before the earth air dissipates to the point that the air their will become completely toxic again.
The movie ends on somewhat of a political note as Jake is in a constant debate with the other tribes who want retribution against the humans. [Oh well, maybe in sequels 5 and 6]
Thanks for reading!
Dustin Westaby
Labels: misc
Items Now Available in Store
posted by Dustin
After a long period of testing the store site is now open. The site can be accessed here: http://store.westaby.net
The main kit right now is an ammo counter. More to come, promise! :D
Labels: misc, store
If you have not already done so, please solder the counter battery wires to the battery. Match red to red and black to black. Cover the bare connections with tape.