Rather large Super Computer.... Blakes 7, Orac build

Afternoon all, catch up time.........

After making the Baby Orac the next project is to make a full size working version with lights and hopefully sound, all operating from the key...

This is how far I have got so far....

Acrylic ring and ball......

11223795_857685804266725_8902088537736549387_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Next job was to drill holes in the ball....

11651007_846736198695019_1287907652_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

And to stuff it with angel hair (more on that later )

11121031_845166765518629_1386977474_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Ebay is a great source of old scart leads........

11988448_876619915706647_1479387583292000089_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

As you never know what you will find once you strip them apart...

11420026_843480245687281_632392797_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Power saving Orac has been upgraded to 10mm LED's

11354749_843458722356100_804177503_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

And look good with the LED push in holders.

11011198_857753874259918_8659582253316060128_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

11667968_846750562026916_1437110285_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Using Picaxe chips for the electronics, as the original one had 3 circuits, one to flash the red lights, one 16 chaser and the pulsing brain lights....
I did all 3 on one board, but now ordered new strip boards as studying the original all 3 were on 3 different boards, one on the right, left and on the back, so to keep it sort of correct this is what I shall do, then feed darlington arrays to push blocks and then onto the lights (as per the original), each circuit can then be switched off independently using 4 toggle switches in the case which in turn are all operated by the master key (which I think is why there are 4 toggle switches on the original)...

11667108_847022845333021_985123214_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Lit up with the 'modern' angel hair.......

11653279_847051308663508_279410050_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

After finding some vintage 1970's spun glass angel hair in America, here is a comparison between 'Vintage' and 'New'

12025318_882639135104725_1181968156_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Now for something completely different, a dome....

11760134_859114014123904_2088139919083128829_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Masked up the larger tube with masking tape......

11060313_858638580838114_2232257889887752169_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Next drilled holes in it....

11202606_858638680838104_3802632163500399491_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Tape removed and taaaa daaaaa

11737994_858639350838037_6105442323808602654_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Next to put the leds in..

11709654_858642760837696_5563236921864213978_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Board again.....

11229553_878715582163747_3965108411631349103_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

And them together (Not sure about the brain ball size, so ordered the next size up....)

11752523_858643854170920_2616211811614869376_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Chips.....

11798022_860760480625924_1380347053_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Never get board of chips....

11825609_864308693604436_6355003509828201725_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Orac hits hard times.....

11218887_858652070836765_5654429528679882611_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Should have got a Brown Beer box.....

11759455_858657514169554_254018638_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Laser cut key box...

11696879_848355815199724_1163285155_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

And won a kit on ebay to get one dome out of it....

11143669_854469881254984_7472183279588589679_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

And with added reed switch

11800102_862651773770128_5093226037679939183_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

This surround actually took longer than you would imagine...

12226783_902663196435652_1114480733_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Coloured sheets..

11652018_847561808612458_732063964_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

One side done....

12200543_901460499889255_1590723172_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

12211995_901460483222590_1764822379_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

And with the laser cut box.....still in its blue protective wrapping..

12202438_901051929930112_16132990_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

to be continued...............

Clean work!
Here's the final goal for the uninitiated-

Oh the memories...:$

I can still hear that humming sound and that voice!

You're doing a masterful job.

Very nice work! Did you work out your own dimensions?

Brilliant work so far. Not only is it good to see a proper build going on around here, I admire your electronics skills.

Ted.

Afternoon all, was not happy with the brain ball size so made a bigger one....

The main box size is well known, so with my close-up photos of the original one it is just a matter of days of measuring and studying the photos.....
Circuit boards the right size have arrived so with the blue wire arriving I am now just waiting for the push clip connectors and can start to put it together....

Initial plan was to run it all from one board, but after working out how it actually worked and which circuit did what on the original one, may as well keep to that layout, so each circuit has its own board, and each of the 3 light systems are wired up and then connected to the main boards with the spring clips....

Great design but took some working out...

12227288_903407013027937_18883731_o by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

12235463_903442576357714_1969121359_o by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

12235259_903455223023116_442086641_o by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Afternoon all, got a bit further...
Collecting all the bits for one of the main boards.

12218881_903771596324812_194650988_o by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

The connectors were push in types which I can not find anywhere, so these are the nearest and do the same job, but they were grey, so a quick spray sorted that out.

12227302_903860212982617_455304232_o by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

The main sensor ring is supported on a clear acrylic bracket.

12236696_904115862957052_26338834_o by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

The chaser board was red with light blue wires, out with the red marker.
Also the red and blue cable arrived... Getting nearly ready to put this bit together, the only bit missing are the thumbscrew cable grips, they are on the way (or a modern version of them).

12236741_904863566215615_1943892305_o by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Now the heat sink for the other side board has arrived and also a better heat sink for an old style voltage regulator (which are on their way from the Netherlands, may as well make the components do what they did on the original one).

12272995_906014719433833_3173265_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

The right hand side board has 2 clear acrylic strips at the back which in turn are connected to 2 small clear tubes with a yellow centre piece (These seem to have fallen off and been lost as looking at Orac these days the board is stuck to the side with double sided tape...)

Afternoon all, today's update, got the second lighting board done, so here is a test.

https://youtu.be/hEnGiadGIx0

Evening all, done a bit more.
Wired up the main circuit board.

12274532_906856442682994_2752814688173698222_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Glued the box together, except the lid which is screwed down which is to get better access to the inside.

12286196_910126035689368_1627839040_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Got the front and rear cells completed and glued in the centre colour.

12309312_910544042314234_329648173_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

I've always loved Orac , so I'm really enjoying this build ! Well done

Bit more done this week, first was to solder the relays to a strip and attach wires to them.

12319495_911407692227869_587509333_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Then the 2 main supports for the replay shelf attached.

12336307_912534072115231_1286143965_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Next job was to fix the shelf in the box.

12358349_913700938665211_666105902_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

And the cells to the front.

12355348_914019065300065_1700260163_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Update, now got the rear cells fitted.

12358331_914881985213773_818038392_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Test fit with the sensor ring and brain.

12358519_915293565172615_2081142824_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

With the sensor ring bracket fitted in place.

12358039_915546191814019_496313925_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

And the sensor circuit board as fitted to the original by 2 tubes.

12355267_915608491807789_1694755595_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

View from above.

12380303_915609931807645_2110637367_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

This is one of my dream props, you're doing such an amazing job!!!

Hi, what glue did you use for the box and any tips on getting the joins bubble free.

The original was held together with chloroform, but not advisable these days, so now using plastic weld from ema. it is best to pour a bit in a shallow container and dip the parts in before assembling, but be quick as it dries in seconds.

- - - Updated - - -

Evening all, another quick update, got the working sound on a loop and all the lights finished.
So here is a quick test so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWLDrPx1bpg

So freaking cool...:thumbsup

Afternoon all, bit more done, the top screwed down and circuits in,still needs a few adjustments but just about done, the sensor works fine for the voice as you just put your hand on the case above the sensor and it activates the voice.


https://youtu.be/CX4xjUUkD50

SolarRick said:

Bit more done this week, first was to solder the relays to a strip and attach wires to them.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5768/23244087469_97b51b2232_o.jpg12319495_911407692227869_587509333_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Then the 2 main supports for the replay shelf attached.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/601/22984959873_a3dd53ee95_o.jpg12336307_912534072115231_1286143965_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Next job was to fix the shelf in the box.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/584/23611996675_4072f02239_o.jpg12358349_913700938665211_666105902_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

And the cells to the front.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5750/23503435362_3411680486_o.jpg12355348_914019065300065_1700260163_n by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

Click to expand...

Hello, first time here. What are the parts for the array called? Been trying to find out on Google for days without getting anyway. Tried to contact you on YouTube but you are probably too busy. Always wondered what that shelf in Orac was, I thought it was probably a bank of 9 volt batteries.

Are you going to post all the parts needed to make an Orac and circuit diagrams for the layman to understand. Already looked at the cost of just the outer box and am looking at about £33.

Thanks.
How did you bring it all together?

Hi, thanks for the comments, that is not a bad quote for the box, it is 6mm acrylic and I got mine laser cut which cost a lot more than £33...
The shelf has 12 relays on it soldered to a metal strip that is glued to the shelf.
Reprogrammed the chips so they sense the key and not have it as a on/off switch, this way it it can then work out when the key is removed and give the dying sound.

Ah, I was looking at 5mm thick acrylic from this place: https://www.sheetplastics.co.uk/5mm-clear-acrylic-sheet-cut-to-size.html

Had looked at laser cut but the quoted cost was at least £130.

What does the relay do?