Lane Posted February 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 Getting close now. I've loaded the program data into memory and parsed it into the shot timer. It's still a bit messy but much of the information is actually written to the display chaotically for the time being. There are a number of font changes to do in the process, and some other drawing operations. I'm still trying to figure out how to write all those updates in a clean way (less memory writes to the display buffer). The pencil drawing is my first sketch of how the timing screen should be displaying the relevant information. The one last thing to do is tie those timing variables in, and enumerate through the stations automatically in "Continuous" mode. The menu now shows a bit more information as well. Beside Go! is the filename of the selected program. Beside data is the shot file size. Next to Program is the currently selected program number. I think I can tie that to a push and twist of the rotary encoder so you don't have to leave the main menu to change it; but I'm still thinking through how to show and set the selected station number as well. There can be breaks inside a course; and one might want to select an individual station out of the complete course without running the whole thing. Maybe moving the program number to the Go! selection, and setting the station through the other menu option with some visual cues added in could work... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 The skills you have with this are just crazy man. This boggles my mind, I'm not kidding you. This is beyond impressive... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 The shot timer screen is looking a little better; but those display memory writes sure do take some time. Looks like there is going to be some kind of unintentional pre-delay in the buzzer if I can't figure out how to weave it better. The first time display write takes forever; and I dare not try to run this is slow timing mode (animating the display in real time)... I bet it would be banging off of 5ms or so in terms of resolution. It's all good though; I'm dedicated to this one time display write, and only updating the screen when something changes. The big T in the upper left is the real feature of this device in my opinion. It lets you count shots or time. Of course the hybrid H mode allows you to get really granular if you wish. Looks like shot peak display works; but it's not calibrated to the system threshold yet. I still need to write markers as the shots go down so you can see them all on the graph. The other thing to do yet is calculate the position of the Shots/Time/Hybrid display graph. One hundred divided by the setting will return a multiplier for the graph; I think I have to split it lenghwise for the and/or hybrid mode. Still a bit of debug code on screen, and adjusting positions of elements; but I can see the end in my mind. I need to revisit the peak detection code and see if it actually works. A .308 should easily trigger the device and climb to peak in a few more time slices, though I doubt something quiet would. At the moment that requires a laptop outside hardwired to the device; and it was snowing yesterday. 3 hours ago, 98Z5V said: The skills you have with this are just crazy man. Intel assembly was a physics elective where I went to college. I had an absolute blast writing a 32 bit calculator in 16 bit assembly. I haven't even begun to optimize this at the bit shift level. Hell, I ignore all sorts of optimizations when writing a huge body of code like this. The 2.0 version of this will really blow your mind... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 Cleaned up the screen and loaded a few raw values to finish out the timer display for now. I fixed some menu issues early last night too; I thought some things looked funny with the "-" before numeric values. Since they weren't negative numbers; I've begun looking at other options. In hindsight I should have picked any one of the other half dozen graphics libraries that works with this display. They all have similar commands, so replacing that in the future won't be much effort. The 7.62x39 build is pretty well sealed up; I ordered a sight for it the other day which should arrive soon (that dot thing on it is totally broken after using on an over-gassed .223). I'm a bit scared to take the bolt apart again after the first time; but I need to check on that when I clean it. It doesn't get very dirty without a gas system, which is good for the polymer lower in my opinion. I do also need to take out that rear takedown pin one more time to take off a hair more on the rear face. I'll be sure to measure it when I do and test it with a few more uppers. I ordered projectiles the other day (along with front takedown pins); and I'm still not 100% sure they are what I wanted. I got Speer .311" in 150 grain; some people use .310" for reloading though? My plan is to compare against some 150 grain .308 Winchester loads down the road. I've been pouring over this next timer hardware build and realized a few things. A simpler buck only DC/DC converter is more efficient. A single AA battery might be able to get decent runtime with that change (but two AA will break 12 hours non-stop easily). I need to start testing multiple audio sensors soon; and do some shot profiling at the same time. It's not usually a problem; but there are times I can trigger a shot when I don't mean to by tossing the unit around, or playing with it. That should be easy to filter out if I try to detect the profile (over width) of the shot audio peaks. Fumbling the unit should produce much wider spreads than a real gunshot (and have a vastly different drop-off rate). I realized that the buzzer delay is actually due to program file read and not the display writes. That is unnecessary, in that it was already loaded to display in the menu screen. If I undo that second file read things should be back to normal in terms of run time accuracy. I do need to animate the file loading when switching between files though, since it takes up to four full seconds to open/read/close the file before parsing the data back into the menu update. I'm thinking about scrolling "- - - - " vs " - - - -" across the filename should do alright to inform the user that it's working on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robocop1051 Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 I got so lost in the electronics that I forgot... how did the rifle turn out??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 3 minutes ago, Robocop1051 said: how did the rifle turn out??? Runs great; and the brass looks wonderful. I just want to make sure everything is working perfectly. I saw someones out of battery picture the other day and I'm not interested in that kind of testing/experience... My split times were 0.5 seconds longer than with my .308 build; even when charging manually. The .308 moves so much more on the shoulder that I have to take time to fire again. The 7.62x39 only takes that much time to charge a new round. There were some audio file images posted a while back that show them side by side. You can see a slight tick between shots when I charged the next one on this straight pull build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted February 15, 2019 Report Share Posted February 15, 2019 20 hours ago, Lane said: I ordered projectiles the other day (along with front takedown pins); and I'm still not 100% sure they are what I wanted. I got Speer .311" in 150 grain; some people use .310" for reloading though? My plan is to compare against some 150 grain .308 Winchester loads down the road. Be cautious right here... That speer .311" is the same as .310" from other people, you're okay with that, IF... does this thing shoot bulk Russian ammo? Regular old 7.62x39 you can get anywhere? If so, don't fire .308" diameter projectile through it, down the road... Stick with the .310s. You need to... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2019 Fired off two rounds to inspect brass, and the extractor was still gouging a bit. I stripped the bolt carrier group which was immaculately clean to find out that the extractor hadn't worn in at all. I couldn't move it with any amount of pressure, and it still looked wrong. I wasn't even able to clip a cartridge in to the bolt with my hand. I'm honestly not sure why it was working as well as it was given the situation. I searched around for other people having problems with this; and sure enough two reviews of the bolt only part mentioned exactly the same problem I was having. Apparently the o-ring inside occupies too much volume and keeps the extractor from moving appreciably (at all in my case). Simply removing the o-ring was enough to resolve that problem, and now the extractor pin can be removed/replaced with finger pressure. Two more test rounds showed nicer brass; but there is still burs on both ends of the extractor. I'll strip it again and polish those... One of the reviews mentioned grinding it like a shark tooth, I think I'll be fine with 1000 grit sandpaper. I'll try the other o-rings I have laying around and see if any of them fit better while I'm at it. 4 hours ago, 98Z5V said: Be cautious right here... That speer .311" is the same as .310" from other people, you're okay with that, IF... does this thing shoot bulk Russian ammo? Regular old 7.62x39 you can get anywhere? If so, don't fire .308" diameter projectile through it, down the road... Stick with the .310s. You need to... I think you're saying I'll be ok here with those Speer .311" projectiles. I shoot regular off the shelf 7.62x39, but I plan to keep this gun as a brass queen. No cheap steel case ammo in this particular build. The Lee loading data says .311" projectiles. The specs I can find on 7.62x39 says 7.92mm projectile, which is .3118"; some call this .312". I'm just not sure why so many vendors sell .310" for the 7.62x39... I measured the projectile in the Winchester rounds I have, and they appear to be .311". I gather that shooting .308" projectiles would be a little like a hotdog in a hallway; launching bullets with less pressure and decreased accuracy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2019 Here is my brass from extractor testing. I stripped the bolt carrier again and tested a new o-ring. It has the same issue, and cannot be assembled by hand with it inside. The o-ring that came with the bolt originally has crush marks on it. I think reducing the volume of the o-ring by about 25% would allow it to assemble and function as intended. I'll photograph how it actually goes together with a standard o-ring when I try a reduced o-ring. I didn't fell like cleaning up to take pictures of that yesterday. I did polish out the extractor edges quite a bit so the next rounds shouldn't have anything more than magazine and bolt marks; these already look pretty good in that regard. About to dive in to the shot timer code and I made a final to-do list last night. Still need to dig out some more AA battery holders for the new hardware build, and make something happen. My goal is to get two or three sensors in that design. New parts are still a few days out; but those don't really have much bearing on this build. I put some temporary BUIS on the 7.62x39 because of the broken dot sight. The rear takedown pin feels a lot better, but I'll pull it out later to measure and fill the dummy detent with JB weld when I get some new ones. I need to make one more special pin for another polymer lower that is on the way. Turns out the scales I ordered a while back aren't going to show up. eBay seller has about a 36% satisfaction rating all the sudden. I'm sure I'll get my money back; but I won't have scales to modify coming this week either. Don't really care about that data short term, as I still need to build a stupid long optical chrono to do any actual testing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2019 This is a quick peek at the shipping menu code. Also a look at the faulty and incorrect DC/DC converter. Finally a tiny window of the code I'm working on; and memory usage. Bare metal is going to be so much more fun (and accurate). Live free or die. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted February 16, 2019 Report Share Posted February 16, 2019 12 hours ago, Lane said: Here is my brass from extractor testing. CHeck this video out on Grendel extrator testing (and the fix!). I think something like this is going on with yours. Looks like the extractor diameter was never changed, when the bolt face diameter had to go up for the larger x39 brass. Looks like the edges of that extractor (in the groove) need smoothed out. Scary though - too much, and it'll weaken the extractor. Check this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2019 49 minutes ago, 98Z5V said: CHeck this video out on Grendel extrator testing (and the fix!). I think something like this is going on with yours. This makes me laugh. That is precisely what I did to my extractor last night with 1000 grit. Today's brass looks almost flawless. Don't mind the unfired round; I'm taking measurements since the 150 grain projectiles showed up today. Unfortunately almost every once fired case I have is over length which is something I've not seen with .223 or .308 when reloading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 So the 150 grain projectiles look like they are just what I wanted for this. While researching powders that will work for both 300 blackout and 7.62x39, I found this on the Hodgdon site. The reloading data specifies .310" for light projectiles, .311" for medium weight, and .312" for heavies. I don't claim to understand why at the moment; but it does explain why I couldn't find any 150s in .310". CFE BLK is the only powder I can find load data for across the wide array of 300 blackout and 7.62x39 projectiles. Unfortunately it's out of stock at the usual suspects. I found it in stock at some other places; but one of them wanted $28 for hazmat and another $12 for the ground shipping. I might have to see if a local shop has it; or wait for a better deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 Picked out an additional scope for this build. It sort of came to me out of thin air; an epiphany of sorts. It even helps me name the gun, so I'll incorporate that into the shot timer as another easter egg... I haven't talked much about accuracy because I didn't care about it early on in the build. The second shot I ever tried to fire on target blew the whole cardboard off the frozen log. I was pretty sure it was a tack driver from day one. The two shots I took today with the pop up sights were dead on where I aimed. I will of course work up a range report soon, but it may well be the best one I own in terms of shoulder firing accuracy. I priced out a mostly Armalite brand .260 Remington build. Wilson Combat barrel, and an 80% lower. That will be my next experiment when I get bored. I presume it will take me some weeks to buy all those parts. I won't be bored until after spring shoot for sure... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted February 17, 2019 Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 4 hours ago, Lane said: I priced out a mostly Armalite brand .260 Remington build. Wilson Combat barrel, and an 80% lower. Now we're talkin'... I'm all over this .260 Rem gas gun shiit, brother. ALL over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2019 Found a pound of CFE BLK locally for less than I would pay to order one online with the more standard $10 hazmat fee. I picked that up; and some other odds and ends. While that shop has loads of projectiles; I didn't see a single box of .310, .311, or 312. I'll be fine for a little while longer in that regard; but it would be nice to test at least one other diameter side by side. I spent quite a few hours on about ten lines of shot timer code last night. That's how you know you're almost done by the way. One of my fixes broke something else which turned out to be a hack from a week or two ago. Everything is back to stable running condition; and only one more real project left on this 1.0 version of the code. I poured over it for a while last night but didn't fine a solution quite yet. It looks like there is a whole separate UI library built in; but I didn't implement it early on. My only problem here is selecting or highlighting characters in the settings menu; this would inform the user what is selected, allowing changes from the display instead of the web interface. I am unable to invert the display of individual characters, and adding a manual highlight is a huge pain without a fixed width font. I'll see if I can get that worked out tonight one way or another. I tried to get a range report yesterday but it just wasn't happening. Looks like I'll be saving the last box of factory ammo I have on hand for sighting in the scope; then on to reloading after that. Been trying to decide on a lower for the upcoming .260 build. There are precious few options that don't have a DPMS style radius. I am not sure if Ceratac will sell me a bare 80% lower; and I'm not positive it would work (though I think it would with a different FCG position). The other "true" Armalite style 80% lowers are all more than twice as expensive, and I only recall finding two options for that when I was researching that original Ceratac .308 build. I assume I'll want that Armalite upper in my hand for comparison very early in that build process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted February 19, 2019 Report Share Posted February 19, 2019 I'm using Accurate 1680 for my 300BLK loads, but I've used alot of H110 in the past - and I only load 150gr Hornady FMJ-BT projectiles. Both powders perform excellently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2019 I looked at Accurate 1680; but didn't have load data for that across the board. I've also been eyeballing IMR 4198 as a good choice for both cartridges through much of the projectile weight spectrum. I did compare the powder weights and projected speeds between the load data I found for 311/312 with CFE BLK in 7.62x39; and don't see any reason to be concerned (they were exactly the same). The shop I went to today had a chrono on the shelf; which I might use to start with, then cut in half to build on a 10' span later. That's a project for the future though, as I still need to get sighted in with a scope. I tried to buy more of these shot timer boards with the larger screen; and can't find them anywhere for less than about $20. Seems like I found someone that had mis-priced the unit. Should have ordered 10 to begin with. The new ones I've found all have relocated the buttons such that my current design doesn't work at all. There is a different module available for about $15 that has three buttons below the screen, and is mounted 90º clockwise on the board. These may be the only two "blueberry" control prototypes ever if I can't find more of this particular part. Pretty close to being able to mail out a fully functional unit one way or another... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted February 19, 2019 Report Share Posted February 19, 2019 18 minutes ago, Lane said: These may be the only two "blueberry" control prototypes ever if I can't find more of this particular part. The rarest of the rare... Once you hear the real story on this, you will cringe, man... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2019 18 minutes ago, 98Z5V said: Once you hear the real story on this, you will cringe, man... I doubt it. I think I have a good idea already. And so far as I can tell that only happens in the southwest... I'll let you know for sure after fall shoot. I'm kind of pissed about the hardware situation, but that's what I get for crossing chinese new year. Every single one of them had time to rock out new designs when everything else shuts down for weeks. Here I am having to redesign the timer for all that new hardware... Might as well make it a ns timer in the new design; FTW. Saw a 1.6GHz SoM for about $70 the other day. Pretty sure that could actually see ns resolution with a bit of work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2019 Not much of an update here; been busy with other things. Picked up a scope today, but of course the rings I have on hand aren't quite tall enough. There is some software that works with it; but I would rather work something up on a spreadsheet at this point. I wish to understand the math completely... I think I could use some other rings the short term; but I already ordered new ones that will work. Not sure how much of a rush I will be in to sight it in; though there are a few days coming up that will be above freezing at least. I read that I can shoot at the local rod and gun club without a membership. I may take a trip over there soon and see what is available. Sure would be nice to get out to 200 yards once in a while for testing. Since I had to place an order anyway; I added a quick trim die for the 7.62x39 since they all seem to come out long after first fire. Looked for the more expensive brass ammo today; but that one place was out of stock. Could have asked at the gun store to get something ordered; but they were of very busy as usual. Haven't gotten much further on the shot timer, but I did have a thought about how to resolve this last issue. It's not elegant or efficient, but it will certainly work. I should be able to implement the selection markers in about an hour; and then finish up the code to drive them after that. I've searched a few more times for this particular microcontroller module (used in the shot timer), and it is certainly last year's product. It has been superseded in every online marketplace I can fine. Those searches did turn up the designer of that original product though; I can't imagine they shred and recover old designs like that. I'll try to send out a few e-mails and see if I can find some old stock somewhere in China. I would be happy to get 10 or 20 to keep around for various reasons. I have everything here to make up a few 150 grain loads to test after sighting in. Whenever I feel the need to take a break from code, I'll make some. I don't spend too much time in the Reloading thread; but what do you all use to clean cases? I'm not personally ok with vibratory or tumbling. I wash; but still don't know where to dump my waste, or how to store it. Lead is my only concern; and while I do lead the land with projectiles, I figure shitt flows down hill. This gun might be a good choice for 108 grain solid copper projectiles though. Turning some of those is on my to-do list from this thread. Update: Just ordered three diameters of solid copper rod (.250, .375, .625); I'm sure you can figure out which calibers those are each for. I almost ordered a stainless rod too; but it was pretty expensive. I'll do that later after I recover all the C101 shavings. The Unimat is waiting... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2019 Drove by the local rod and gun club today, and it looked pretty small. After I got back home I looked it up on google earth; sure enough their longest range is 100 yards. I can do that here in the winter without much trouble. So I dropped another ruler on the map, and just need to find some kind of backing material to place a new target. I really can't get much further than 100 yards though because of the density of trees. Shopped around for those elusive Armalite style 80% lowers for the .260 rem build and found at least two; maybe even three or four. I am not positive the Genesis CNC would work but I'm sure a quick email or phone call would work that out. The photo of the first option looks exactly like the Ceratac lower I have here already. I'm beginning to believe that is an option still, but I won't know for certain until I have an upper in hand. SMF Tactical offers both Armalite A and B style 80% lowers for a premium price. $99-$120 (black hard coat) http://www.lowerreceivers.com/contents/en-us/p121_308lowerreceiver.html $215 https://www.smftactical.com/308-80-lower-receiver/ Sale $104 https://genesiscnc.com/product/gen-2-80-lower-receiver-308-lower-flash-sale/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2019 So; I found some temporary scope rings after all, and this is what it looks like assembled. I still haven't taken it outside for a good once over, much less sighting in. I have some issues seeing/focusing on the reticle; but that might just be the uselessly short distances I was looking at. It was dark by the time I got it mounted on the rifle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2019 Spent another long night on the timer and got the settings selection/edits working. That required a fixed width font and there weren't many choices loaded in the font generator utility. I think it's kind of ugly, but fonts don't take up much space. If I find any better monospaced fonts, I will load other options. One thing I need to work out is password obscurification. For some reason it's not counting the .length() properly, which appears to be a bug. I also need to terminate entry so you could for instance change the WiFi SSID to something shorter without having to clear extra characters one by one. A few more things to tie back and forth to reduce unnecessary file reads/writes; but some of that was finished up last night too. Course loading happens in the menu and it pulled into the shot timer from a global for speed; even with a few 2k byte variables, I still have more than 50% of free RAM for operating. Copper showed up, but I haven't had a chance to clean and lube the lathe yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Posted February 23, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2019 A few updates I keep forgetting to report. The lithium battery situation was resolved by accident. I was annoyed that it died again for "no reason", when it dawned on me; the computer USB port isn't hot enough. Plugged it in to a specific type of high current USB power adapter and it charged up in about an hour. The WiFi password is now obscurificated on screen (but can still be edited); and I added "push/twist to adjust", in addition to the existing "click then twist to set individual digits" for the numerical values. Most of them don't adjust very far, so it's better to have both options. The "<" on the display next to a number indicates one that can adjust with a push/twist of the "purple" knob. Weighed this with optics, and the Ceratac .308 on the bathroom scale. The 7.62x39 comes in at 9.0 pounds, where the Ceratac is 10.4. I took it outside today to sight out a good 100 yard target, but I don't see many clear spots. May need to clear some brush to get something usable. This gun definitely tired out my left arm in a few minutes of screwing around; but it was always designed to be shot from a rest... I can get a few good shots off before I get tired when shooting from the shoulder though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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