Friday 27 June 2008

Wiper motors

I finally found a place that sells wiper motors in Hobart that have a long shaft! Yeah! :-) Sadly though I couldn't find a left and right motor and will have to flip one over and reverse the polarity to make one run.
I found the motors at a wreckers - Moonah Auto Salvage, and they are a pair of KF Ford Laser wiper motors, all rather greasy and muddy. If you had to pay for plastic bags, you would with these motors!! I need to clean them up at least a little before even testing them. In the photo I have already wiped them down a bit. Still, they were only $44 for the pair, so I shan't complain!

Wednesday 25 June 2008

Push buttons

I looked near and far, but I seemed to have run out of luck with finding the push buttons. Either they were really expensive (about $20 each) or that they had run out of the lens colours that I needed. So I have decided to go for cutting the "buttons" out myself out of acrylic sheet using a laser cutter that I have access to.
As I have translucent red for the eyes, I did not need that, I just needed a translucent yellow, blue, and green. I also wanted a translucent white, which in the plastics industry they cal "Pearl" and is commonly used in shower screens. Yesterday I went to Eagle Plastics and gave a lovely gentleman my order, and today I have four sheets of acrylic of various colours 15x15 cm for only $5!

Yesterday I also went to the neighbouring store, which is a specialise electronics store called Active Electronics. They are a dealer for Altronics based in Perth. I bought 6m of rainbow 16 strand cable for $8.10 for the 6m and also ordered two "Knight Rider" LED kits to illuminate the buttons on the back of K-9's panel and also a false panel I am planning on making.This is what they say about it:

(SC May ’02) This little LED chaser kit is super easy to build and provides a bright addition to any shop display or vehicle. It features 32 bright LED’s which glow red. Built into it’s PIC micro controller are 12 patterns which can be selected at the press of a button. Speed is adjustable via an on board trimpot.

Requires 12VDC supply

Features
• 12 switch selectable light patterns
• Adjustable pattern speed
• Adjustable LED brightness
• 2 pattern medleys

Thursday 5 June 2008

The K-9 Poll

By popular demand, the K-9 poll is back! :-) So for all those people who wanted to vote, now you can.

Oh, and by the way, the John Leeson photo has arrived in all it's glory! The gold pen of the signature looks great, I have to get it framed now! The postage was shocking, but I am very happy to have it :-)