FreeTrack Forum

I have recently looked into purchasing trackir and found FreeTrack! I love DIY stuff (esp. electronics) and I quickly decided this is going to be my next project  

So I found some steel brake line lying around and have bent and cut one to suit the model, then decided to make another that is not curved, so I cut and brazed it and just filed both in the appropriate places for the LED's and wire outlet (rear).
I used a silver solder rod ground down and bent over to catch and pull the wires.




Thx Stormrider

I plan on mounting this (not sure what I will use to mount - glue, silicon...?) LED frame onto a twin AA battery box with switch built in ($1.17 ebay), this will be attached to my headset by pedal board tape ($15/m ebay) because it's supposed kick velcro's butt :P and is adhesive on one side.

I will be using 3 x IR LED's ($1.70 per 20)- specs below -  and 3 x 30 ohm resistors (2.99 per 100)*

I have a logitech webcam I will be using for the tracking device. I will try using floppy disc initially without modding the webcam, but can easily remove the IR filter if required.

Will update as I go. Cheers.

LED spec -
Diameter: 5mm / 0.2"
Material: GaAsP
Emitted color: Infrared ray
Forward voltage: 1.4--1.65V
Backward voltage: 5V
Forward current: 100mA
Wavelength: 850nm
Angle: 45 degree
Luminous power: 150mw
Frequency characteristic: Low frequency
Total weight: 3g / 0.1oz

*Resistor spec - (does the "R" mean it's actually 0.30 ohms??? Couldn't find 30ohms without the R after it... Will just test it when it shows up I guess
0.25W 30 R ohm Metal Film R Resistor

omg how do I post a pic?? Maybe you should make "how to post pic" a sticky for us noobs eh?? Thx

Hi,
posting a picture is not so dificult.You use photobucket, copy the adress link,
press the img button in your reply.I used a picture of you to show.Making a topic about"everything"is not needed I think.If you have a question about something just ask.



About that resistor, if it is 0.3 ohm your leds will be dead before you see anything light up.You can find out what resistance  by reading the colored rings.

greetz Stormrider

Ah ok, nearly had it.. Sorry, was clicking the "http" button... Fail. Will edit OP again. True about posting topics on "everything". Its just me that's a noob.
I know the resistors will fail if they're .3 ohms (won't even try them), it's just that the description on ebay was 30 R ohms... not R30, and the pics aren't too close coz it's a roll of 100. Will just pick up some 30 ohm ones locally if my order was wrong.
Aside from all that, how do you like the initial design? Any changes you think would be better. I'm open to all suggestions! I will either paint or heatshrink the tubes. Will see when the parts come in.

Hi,
your design looks nice.How good it will work thats something you will find out when you are finished.
I started also with batteries and a ir-clip.I made a few mistakes with the place where the clip was at my headphone(wrong measurements).Tracking was terrible and in the heat of battle the batteries run empty.
Since a few month I use a cap and back-up battery with usb for my smartphone.For me, I like that setup more.
My neighbours can also enjoy the sound of my cannons in a dogfight, because I don't need to use a headphone, no problem with empty batteries and I had less troubles with filling in the dimensions.
I don't think a cap is better then a clip, but for me it just works better.
I also enjoyed  experimenting with settings an models.

greetz Stormrider

Just an update for some closure to this thread
After some more research I lookied into 3D printing and found another thread on this forum with a 3D printed clip .stl file supplied (Thanks Jewcookie!) I also found these metal brackets rusted inside and were painfully difficult to insert the wires without damaging them. Not to menction it was impossible to get the resistors inside the tube, meaning they would have to be in view which would make it ugly
So I ended up closing the metal bracket project and going ahead with the 3D printed clip. I had a mate at work print one for me and I assembled the wires, LEDs, resistors and some pedal board tape with a battery case (all off ebay around $15 aud). I updated the 3D printed file thread with the results
http://forum.free-track.net/index.php?showtopic=3626

Cheers

Dan