Yesterday I did a hasty CAD for the connecting part between an air pressure spray can and the functional part of an Airwick Freshmatic and set up the print before heading out for indie game afterwork. Today I picked it up after lecturing a morning class and did a bit manual polish to get it to work. It’s not quite good enough, it needs some help to work. But the print took only 4 hours, so there should be no problems making some adjustments and printing a new version.

Had the gun handle printed this week with a Zortraz M200 and it worked out pretty well. Some common issues with printing, the trigger had the exact dimensions to fit into its slot, so it was too tight and a screw hole was to brittle so it broke off. However, these flaws came in handy because I had two full day workshops on the basics of 3D printing this week. Me and my friend also had the time to sit down with the new Enbarr and RAGE projects together for some after work hacking, and got the handle working.
Going to try and put parts of an actual game together for the gun this weekend.

There are a few parts of the gun that I consider to be core; the recoil system, the tracking system and the handle with the trigger. My goal for Automat is to have a gun that have at least these parts. So I figure it’s better to get a first version of these components done as soon as possible. We have the first working version of the new recoil, and the tracking will be HTC Vive, but the handle still isn’t there. So today I decided to pick one of my favorite candidates from Thingiverse and start a print of it. It should be done by tomorrow morning. Now, if I don’t like the result, there is always the possibility to change just a part of it, also I’m planning to get a NURF gun and salvage it for good looking parts. But it’s good to at least get a first solution out. : )

Me and Faggan spent the evening last thursday putting together some solenoids and an aluminum profile to try out the recoil effect. We might want to try a higher amp power source and some stronger coils, but it was very satisfying nonetheless. The idea with the profile is that other modules such as the trigger handle and a htc control holder can be attached firmly to the same profile. We won’t have time to work together until next week, but I hope to have gotten hold of some new parts for the gun by then. : )

So me and a friend have been doing some small tests, experiments and builds for the next version of the RAGE arcade gun. I’d like to present the general idea of the new gun and what features I would like for it.

The general idea is to stick a bunch of stuff to a rigid stick whereof the most important things are a holder for a Vive controller and a electrical recoil system. To add a bit of functional spice to it I also want to add a cooling system. The recoil system will heat up, and from what I learnt during the tests of the last version, spray cooling is cool in many ways. 2.0 will feature a built in spray cooling system.

My initial approach to this was to look for existing 3d-print models of automatic spray can pushers. That’s how discovered the automatic air freshener, a machine that pushes a spray can with a perfume to advert odor in a room. I bought one yesterday and managed to hack it somewhat.

Will present the recoil system next.

So the exhibition is on! The gun is suffering from severe overheating, severe because it’s mostly made out of styrofoam and duct tape, so it starts burning now and then. Every evening I take it back to the workshop to make fixes to the electrical cicuit, updates to the firmware and additions to the build (such as a themometer and fans).
It’s clear that it’s a prototype, but nevertheless I feel we should be proud. I at least think it’s super cool. 8 )

After thinking of some alternatives, we have decided to continue with our rough but functional foam prototype. It is probably representative of what the final thing (during this course) will look like, as things are taking time and the exhibition is getting closer.

In order to make it slightly more robust and to give it a bit of metal look (maybe) we are covering the gun in duct tape (material of choice for the hacker). Simultaneously we are running tests with the wiimote, actual digital test game, recoil system and micro controller firmware.

Not slowing down, we have gone from sketch to physical prototype in the same day. We have chosen to work with styrofoam as it is fairly easy to shape and reshape in a rapid and agile manner. The result is rough, but represents what we are going for, and it´s really neat being able to touch something physical rather than just imagine what it will be like from visuals.

Made some visual concept sketches of what the gun might look like. Oh, btw, RAGE stands for Recoil Augmented Gun Experience. : )