(Topic ID: 257071)

Doctor Who Dalek mod. Servo, RGB and super bright LEDs

By jwill370

4 years ago


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  • 25 posts
  • 8 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 4 years ago by jwill370
  • Topic is favorited by 4 Pinsiders

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14
#1 4 years ago

I used a servo, WS2812B RGBs as well as super bright LEDs to animate my Dalek. I control it with an Arduino. Initially I had it just doing the "breathing" eyes like the PinballToys kit but then decided to add the RGBs which definitely makes it more lively. RGB animation programming took the most time and is still a work in progress.

Edit 4/10/20: Updated video with some different animations.

Original video

#5 4 years ago
Quoted from thewool:

I've never seen a disco Dalek - but it's cool!!

Especially the rainbow loop. It looked interesting on a strip but reminded me of a disco ball once I saw it on the Dalek. Not sure it will stay in the mix. Maybe make it's random chance of running very low.

Quoted from Rdoyle1978:

That is outstanding! There's an old video on youtube with a similar idea - this guy had cut holes for individual LEDs - I think it was before the strips were available. It looks really good, but this actually looks great too, with the strips surface mounted ! Great idea. Which Arduino is it? And how do you interface with the game (or does it just work on its own?)
Definitely look up Eric Lyons' ("Professor Pinball") Pinduino if you have any interest in interfacing the Dalek with the game. Really looks great! And I can tell you I don't think I'd have the patience to do this, so even more impressive!!

I did see the video you mention. I was looking for video of the head moving because I wanted to do that mod. I was already playing with servos and LED strips for other projects. I think his may have just been red LEDs on the body and he was using a pre-programmed controller that had a chase sequence. Looked like laborious work to connect and mount each individual LED. I'm glad for the LED advances that have come along since. I have it running on an Uno. It triggers off the connection for the flasher that is normally inside the Dalek. When the flasher is not flashing I have the Dalek in "rest" mode cycling through various animations. Once the flasher triggers, the servo begins moving and the LED animation for that starts. In the video I dropped a ball in the open Time Expander to start multiball and get the Dalek moving. I made some of the RGBs behind the body flash bright white in sync with flasher (the game syncs the flasher to the Dalek voice). There is a reflective star field sticker they have in the back of the Dalek box which really reacts to the flashing. I had never really noticed it before. I have considered having the Dalek react to other input from the game like Pinduino enables. Next step.

It is tedious to program. The servo and the LEDs don't get along to well even with the TiCoServo library. If I make the RGB pattern to complicated while the servo is moving it gets jittery. I tested with an Arduino Mega but still somewhat jittery when I tried to do to much with the RGBs. Animating the RGBs without using any delays and only minimal loops is a pain.

#7 4 years ago
Quoted from Rdoyle1978:

Really interesting - once I get our DW back in the house I would love to tackle something like this. The Uno is a lot more stable than the Mega, so it makes sense you had better luck there.
I’ve got an original Dalek mech so I can just focus on the LEDs if I do get a chance to do this. Really impressive

The Mega did make the servo less jumpy compared to the Uno but since it did not eliminate it I kept the Uno in place and made a simpler LED pattern.

4 months later
#13 4 years ago

Added a new video with some changes to the animation on the RGBs to my original post.

#18 4 years ago
Quoted from Xantari:

jwill370 Will you be providing instructions for upgrading the pinball toys version with your mods?

I took what I had learned from other Arduino projects that used servos and LEDs and created my own version of a modded Dalek. I have not seen the PinballToys kit in person. It looks like a custom board with an Arduino pro mini incorporated into the build. Maybe with some modifications and reprogramming it might be possible to upgrade it but I don't have one so only guessing.

#25 4 years ago

I mounted a servo but not like the PinballToys instructions. I used a SG90 with the plastic gears since I had some left over from a prior project. I have not had any problems with it. I have a M-1502 that I may swap in the next time I take it apart. It seems quieter though the game drowns out any noise from the SG90.

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