Omnimaga
Calculator Community => Other Calc-Related Projects and Ideas => Topic started by: floris497 on February 06, 2013, 11:01:59 am
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hi,
I was recently making a dock for the TI-nSpire calc
what do you think of it, should i change it or leave it this way.
I think i'm going to print it in the near future :) .
the middle pice is for a connector I still have to make it, not sure if i should print that pice or make it by hand.
if you want a 3d look at it: http://p3d.in/63bAQ (http://p3d.in/63bAQ)
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I'd like to see the nSpire projector :D
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will see :p
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Looks nice, and like Wayne said the projector would be awesome :P What program did you use to make this?
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I used Modo its from Luxology, it's really good software verry easy to use and also very powerful.
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Which function does the Dock have?
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for now it is only a stand but i'm going to implement some functions to get easy access to the bottom connector.
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Looks good, if I were you, I would make some holes from the connector to the back of the dock for some wires, so you can keep it neatly organised.
and maybe make the bottom corners round, like the Nspire's, that'll make it look more beautiful :)
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was thinking of both but i have to measure the exact radius of the corners, the holes for wires isn't so hard to make
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Which function does the Dock have?
A dock for nClock, obviously
(http://i.imgur.com/Z6jY1m.jpg) (http://i.imgur.com/Z6jY1.jpg)(http://i.imgur.com/dmConm.jpg) (http://i.imgur.com/dmCon.jpg)
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thats indeed a very nice function of nClock, but if is not very stable.
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I would totally buy this! :o This is awesome :D
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That's what 3D printers are for :P
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Does the dock have USB and charging contacts?
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Does the dock have USB and charging contacts?
These are not printed, and as he said in a previous post, the dock circuit board (at least the correct dimensions) still remain to do.
According to the TI-Nspire Charging bays, it is possible to charge it via the dock.
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Looks interesting. I guess you know this, but make sure it won't tip over once you put an Nspire in it. ;)
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i'm not sure how to charge it jet or have usb in it but first i have to design the 26 pin connector piece.
I thought it is not directly usb but RS-232 , perhaps a little IC can help us there.
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Looks interesting. I guess you know this, but make sure it won't tip over once you put an Nspire in it. ;)
the bottom of the stand is longer then the nSpire gets to the end so it won't tumble
(http://f.cl.ly/items/3s3H1C1b0a21143I4725/Screen%20Shot%202013-02-08%20at%2011.36.39%20PM.png)
(not sure if you understand what i mean hard for me to explain it in english)
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Does the dock have USB and charging contacts?
These are not printed, and as he said in a previous post, the dock circuit board (at least the correct dimensions) still remain to do.
According to the TI-Nspire Charging bays, it is possible to charge it via the dock.
Let me rephrase that. Does the dock connector on the calculator have contacts for USB and power?
Also, did you design that in Blender?
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you can power it for sure but the question is which pins you have to use, it has RS-232 thought that is convertible to usb I can be wrong at this point.
no not Blender, I used Modo it's from Luxology
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Hey this is really cool. Maybe I can make one later on.
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Looks interesting. I guess you know this, but make sure it won't tip over once you put an Nspire in it. ;)
the bottom of the stand is longer then the nSpire gets to the end so it won't tumble
(http://f.cl.ly/items/3s3H1C1b0a21143I4725/Screen%20Shot%202013-02-08%20at%2011.36.39%20PM.png)
(not sure if you understand what i mean hard for me to explain it in english)
I understand. You basically mean that the x coordinate of the right side of the basis is further than the x coordinate of the top of the nspire when in the dock.(I guess) :P
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Looks interesting. I guess you know this, but make sure it won't tip over once you put an Nspire in it. ;)
the bottom of the stand is longer then the nSpire gets to the end so it won't tumble
(http://f.cl.ly/items/3s3H1C1b0a21143I4725/Screen%20Shot%202013-02-08%20at%2011.36.39%20PM.png)
(not sure if you understand what i mean hard for me to explain it in english)
I understand. You basically mean that the x coordinate of the right side of the basis is further than the x coordinate of the top of the nspire when in the dock.(I guess) :P
jup exactly.
i'm not the best at electronics, does someone know whits pins of the dock connector are for charging?
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is there someone with an "Docking Station" who can check where the voltage is coming from?
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is there someone with an "Docking Station" who can check where the voltage is coming from?
http://hackspire.unsads.com/wiki/index.php/Hardware ?
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it does not show where the voltage of the "Docking Station" is going into the nSpire for making a charger inside my dock.
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Well charging happens via the USB port on top of the nspire, so I guess you should make some sort of movable part on top of your dock or place your nspire upside down :P But perhaps there are other ways to charge we have yet to discover.
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ti makes a "Docking Station" witch can charge over the dock connector, but nobody seems to know witch pins are used for it.
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Hey, I have access to a 3d printer and a CNC. Could I get a copy of the model file?
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Hey, I have access to a 3d printer and a CNC. Could I get a copy of the model file?
sure but it needs to be fine tuned it is not fitting properly right now.
now i have to go to school, tell me the format you want the file in.
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Hey, I have access to a 3d printer and a CNC. Could I get a copy of the model file?
I totally did not expect someone to run in here and say "hey I can print that on my 3D printer for you" :P That's awesome.
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Hey, I have access to a 3d printer and a CNC. Could I get a copy of the model file?
I totally did not expect someone to run in here and say "hey I can print that on my 3D printer for you" :P That's awesome.
I think he ment printing it for himself.
I can print my own version at school, they have a 3d printer.
(Ik zie dat je ook uit nederland komt wat leuk zeg :p )
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The school I go to has 2 3d printers, three CNC machines, a plasma cutter and a laser cutter/engraver. It's pretty rad. Any file format would be fine, but an STL or IPT would be best.
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wut, a school with 3D printers, that's so awesome!/me is jealous of your school
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my school has a very cheap one, but my school is not a technical school. i will send you an .obj file if you want different this is what you can choose:
(http://f.cl.ly/items/3U3g3q012E2C041D0c2h/formats.png)
the file is here, i added a file so you can get it to fit in the test pice before you wait for hours and get not fitting dock.
I asume you know how to handle 3d software?
Don't forget it won't fit properly as it is right now.
oh a little thing.. you can't sell it :).
http://cl.ly/0j1t1O021x3J (http://cl.ly/0j1t1O021x3J)
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I'm going to finish this thing, now we know a little more about the dock and where the usb is, i'm going to design some electronics to get support for: USB, UART, Charging and header pins for all the pins from the dock. is there anything else that should be implemented? a specific kind of chip? or if you have other suggestions. tell me
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Over here there are now 3D printing services it seems. However, although for an iPod case it doesn't seem to be too pricey from what I heard, I think it would be pretty expensive for larger stuff such as a 3D dock case.
As for your project, I can't help, sadly, since I know nothing about hardware, but I want to warn you that TI-Nspire CX calcs that has J or K as last serial number character (manufactured in 2013) do not work with the RS232/TTL adapter, so it's possible that the hardware has changed or that something in the calc will prevent normal use of the dock port..
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something i found on kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/formlabs/form-1-an-affordable-professional-3d-printer?ref=card
also, their website says $3299 which is actually affordable for private households O.O (http://formlabs.com/collections/all)
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As for your project, I can't help, sadly, since I know nothing about hardware, but I want to warn you that TI-Nspire CX calcs that has J or K as last serial number character (manufactured in 2013) do not work with the RS232/TTL adapter, so it's possible that the hardware has changed or that something in the calc will prevent normal use of the dock port..
The dock works as expected but due to major changes to the motherboard, boot2 3.1 will not boot afaik.
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something i found on kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/formlabs/form-1-an-affordable-professional-3d-printer?ref=card
also, their website says $3299 which is actually affordable for private households O.O (http://formlabs.com/collections/all)
The quality is really high and the price/quality is really low on this one, but still more money than i have laying around.
Is it true that the bottom part of the cx and non cx are the same? than this might work for both.
think it's fun to use only TI chips in this one :p
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Actually no, the CX is thinner.
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They both do have the slide case track thing going down the side in the same place, so the bottom connectors are compatible.
Also you can get a Makerbot (http://www.makerbot.com/) for a little over $2000, which is more affordable. Or, of course, you can have a local place like your school print it for you on one of their printers.
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They both do have the slide case track thing going down the side in the same place, so the bottom connectors are compatible.
Also you can get a Makerbot (http://www.makerbot.com/) for a little over $2000, which is more affordable. Or, of course, you can have a local place like your school print it for you on one of their printers.
not sure if i can use those facilities on my new school but now i can also make pcb's at school.
And i can tell you i have no spare $2000 on my bank :p
but if the connectors are compatible in the same slide i'm sure to make them both fit, of i'll make a little switchable part for it.
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I bet that if those printers becomes more and more popular, they'll start selling smaller ones for home use and then prices will go down like with TVs (although I think government will impose limitations, to prevent people from using them with bad intentions, such as making the item slightly smaller or larger to prevent key copies from working, for example)
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Why do people always have to use things for bad resons >.<
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Well thats a really hard question, I think the have no idea what they start.
if people are able to make good guns with 3D printers that can mean the end of 3D printing in a lot of countries :(
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Well, the thing is that 3D printers use plastic for objects IIRC. I doubt that a gun would survive very long if it was made of plastic only. Also I wonder how does printers copy the inside of objects anyway?
I think the main issue would have been people using them to make key duplicates illegally or stuff like that. Hence why I was suggesting that copied stuff is made slightly smaller or larger. That said, if government was to ban everything that can be used for criminal activities then they would have to ban knives, calculators, cars, doors, sheet of papers or anything else that can be used as a weapon, or green houses, gardens, etc, which can be used for criminal activities such as growing weed.
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Well, the thing is that 3D printers use plastic for objects IIRC. I doubt that a gun would survive very long if it was made of plastic only. Also I wonder how does printers copy the inside of objects anyway?
Well, you more or less print 'em from a 3d-file which also shows the internal structure, how to obtain that one? The only way i know - make one on your own! I also recall reading a article about 3D-printer dev for printing metal objectsI think the main issue would have been people using them to make key duplicates illegally or stuff like that. Hence why I was suggesting that copied stuff is made slightly smaller or larger. That said, if government was to ban everything that can be used for criminal activities then they would have to ban knives, calculators, cars, doors, sheet of papers or anything else that can be used as a weapon, or green houses, gardens, etc, which can be used for criminal activities such as growing weed.
nuuu, not the calculators D:
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Yes, some 3D printers can print metal. They roll out a very thin layer of finely powdered metal, and then a high-powered laser sinters (basically fuses) particles together. you cannot print metal and plastic together because the metal gets a bit warm :P. Our school also has a plastic one that works like this, except that it rolls out a layer of plastic particles, then uses epoxy to glue them together.
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3D printed guns are just a fad, part of the whole "We can print anything" mentality. They are far less practical than far cheaper homemade guns using a lathe. 3D printed plastic is fairly expensive.
Sintered printing is actually incredibly weak. It would be worse than the plastic for making a gun. Sintering is not quite as strong as soldering, and neither are anywhere near as strong as a proper forged piece of metal.
tl;dr you can't make GOOD guns with 3D printers, even the fancy metal ones.
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Maybe in the future you'll be able to :P
EDIT: maybe we should split the topic......
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I am wondering what you are going to use for the dock connector? I can't seem to find anything that has the right pitch.
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It's an uncommon pitch, indeed.
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I am wondering what you are going to use for the dock connector? I can't seem to find anything that has the right pitch.
how do you mean like how to connect it? what kind of connector?
i also cant find any connection of usb over the dock @ 19,20,21. someone told me the rx tx are 100mV so not 5 and if i don't connect the power it might work. but the nspire software didn't recognise the calc :( (maybe i already broke it..)
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I could finally identify the 2nd USB port pins on the TI-Nspire J01/Dock connector:
pin 21: USB Data+
pin 20: USB Data-
But it seems that we'll need to put some more electronic on those pins before it works:
(http://tiplanet.org/forum/gallery/image.php?mode=medium&image_id=3025) (http://tiplanet.org/forum/gallery/image_page.php?image_id=3025)
Source with more information:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=149793 (in french for now)
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That would be most likely a voltage regulator (5v to 3.3v TTL). Well that's what I assume at least.
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I could finally identify the 2nd USB port pins on the TI-Nspire J01/Dock connector:
pin 21: USB Data+
pin 20: USB Data-
But it seems that we'll need to put some more electronic on those pins before it works:
{Image}
Source with more information:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=149793 (in french for now)
that means i can go and work on the circuts for the dock.
That would be most likely a voltage regulator (5v to 3.3v TTL). Well that's what I assume at least.
usb should be 100mV for the data cables, so not sure? (hope i'm correct at this one)
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If the USB is running at 100 mV, there's no way you'll get a computer to see it without getting some serious amplification, and it seems extremely odd.
Are you sure you're not all meaning to say 100 mA? That would make far more sense.
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Yes, it would be odd to have 100 mV USB. From what I can tell from looking at the insides, there is no difference from the USB on the dock and the USB on the top of the calculator, other than the dock is missing some of the protection circuit. They are separate on the inside of the calculator, so it's not the same port as the normal one.
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I'm surprised there is 100 mV anything since the lowest I've ever heard ttl "high" voltages being is still above 1V. A 100mV signal would be considered "low" by most logic circuits. This would mean they are intentionally decreasing the signal voltage out of the CPU with amplifiers, which doesn't seem to be the case.
100 mV is INSANELY low for transistor logic.
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Yes, it would be odd to have 100 mV USB. From what I can tell from looking at the insides, there is no difference from the USB on the dock and the USB on the top of the calculator, other than the dock is missing some of the protection circuit. They are separate on the inside of the calculator, so it's not the same port as the normal one.
I'm surprised there is 100 mV anything since the lowest I've ever heard ttl "high" voltages being is still above 1V. A 100mV signal would be considered "low" by most logic circuits. This would mean they are intentionally decreasing the signal voltage out of the CPU with amplifiers, which doesn't seem to be the case.
100 mV is INSANELY low for transistor logic.
maybe i heard that wrong somewhere, can it bet the difference between high and low? 5V change in voltage takes a lot of time, where time is speed/energy?
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In transistor logic, no, it wouldn't be. The low is determined by how low the transistors can pull (usually 0.5v to 0.7v) and is not affected by much else as far as circuits go. This limit is determined by the method by which the transistors function, and their materials. (Germanium diodes can pull down to 0.2v, for example, but they're very slow). This value is actually equivalent to the voltage drop across the diode. This means a 100 mv difference would put the "high" value at about 0.8v for standard circuits.
The high side is more arbitrary, but if you go too low (read: <1.7-ish volts for high-end consumer electronics) the circuits become unstable, reporting 0 where it should be 1, and vice versa. They push it as low as they can for speed and power reasons, as you said, but 100 mV difference is less than the thermal fluctuation, even ignoring problems like crosstalk.
My biggest reason doubt this, though, is that the CPU operates at 3.3v. 3.3v USB, while not spec, would make sense, as they would have voltage-adjusting circuitry off-board. (see the RS232 port for an example of exactly this design choice in use) Choosing to lower the voltage any more than the CPU is running, simply for I/O purposes, and taking the protocol even more out of spec? Why? It won't be faster or more efficient, thanks to conversion inefficiencies.
The nspire is not a fancy, cutting-edge piece of electronics. As far as mobile ARM devices go, it's quite ordinary, and an old ordinary device at that. I just don't see TI using such futuristic technology in a device like this.
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In transistor logic, no, it wouldn't be. The low is determined by how low the transistors can pull (usually 0.5v to 0.7v) and is not affected by much else as far as circuits go. This limit is determined by the method by which the transistors function, and their materials. (Germanium diodes can pull down to 0.2v, for example, but they're very slow). This value is actually equivalent to the voltage drop across the diode. This means a 100 mv difference would put the "high" value at about 0.8v for standard circuits.
The high side is more arbitrary, but if you go too low (read: <1.7-ish volts for high-end consumer electronics) the circuits become unstable, reporting 0 where it should be 1, and vice versa. They push it as low as they can for speed and power reasons, as you said, but 100 mV difference is less than the thermal fluctuation, even ignoring problems like crosstalk.
My biggest reason doubt this, though, is that the CPU operates at 3.3v. 3.3v USB, while not spec, would make sense, as they would have voltage-adjusting circuitry off-board. (see the RS232 port for an example of exactly this design choice in use) Choosing to lower the voltage any more than the CPU is running, simply for I/O purposes, and taking the protocol even more out of spec? Why? It won't be faster or more efficient, thanks to conversion inefficiencies.
The nspire is not a fancy, cutting-edge piece of electronics. As far as mobile ARM devices go, it's quite ordinary, and an old ordinary device at that. I just don't see TI using such futuristic technology in a device like this.
oke, thanks for explaining, i'm going to built a little regulator like that soon, not sure why they have coils? L01B L02B what are those for? is that for cleaning the signal? can i leave them out of the circuit?
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Judging by the fact that the main usb port doesn't need to have any external hardware to interface with it, I think the dock USB port will be the same way. They have similar circuits inside the calculator, which implies that the voltages are the same. I wouldn't be surprised if the calculator has a Vout pin on the dock like the one in the USB port. Judging from the CX dock having standard USB hubs inside of it, with no apparent voltage-lowering systems, I think that the USB on the dock is the same as the top USB port.
My biggest reason doubt this, though, is that the CPU operates at 3.3v. 3.3v USB, while not spec, would make sense, as they would have voltage-adjusting circuitry off-board. (see the RS232 port for an example of exactly this design choice in use) Choosing to lower the voltage any more than the CPU is running, simply for I/O purposes, and taking the protocol even more out of spec? Why? It won't be faster or more efficient, thanks to conversion inefficiencies.
3.3volt USB is in spec, depending on what you mean. on the D+ pin, it goes from 0.3v to 3.3v, and the D- pin goes from -0.3 to -3.3v.
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I mean it's not USB standard specification, since USB is 5v. It would be in spec for the device.
0.3v to 3.3v makes much more sense.