Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. It makes a comfy brace!

Almost inevitably ... AliExpress. Lots of junk on there but some good stuff too. I'd provide a link but I bought them years ago. To be honest, I thought all fids were threaded!

With mine the securing points for the springs that formed part of the walking action had broken away from the chassis of the toy. There was no reasonable way to fix them. Glue wasn't going to cut it. I was lucky in that I had two items with different issues, so I was cannibalise one to fix the other. It isn't hard to get the legs off to have a look If it is unrepairable you are probably only going to put it in the WEE waste anyway. Worth having a look - should only take 10-15 mins. If it isn't fixable - at least you know! Thanks for watching the video.

Thanks!

De nada

You can either use another Matthew Walker (as these tend to 'walk' toward the loose ends it is useful to make the braid a little 'tighter' just before it finishes so you can then take up any slack that the knot introduces) OR you can 'whip it'. See my earlier videos ET#28 and ET#34. These introduce whipping the transitions and stripping out the inner strands from the paracord. Thanks for watching.

@@ECEtek thank you!

I haven't done one myself because there are loads already - and I didn't think anyone would be interested. My first sling video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6CpY3mDr5x0jassi=Ju0pwFnnti7--qxW gives some hints and tips for those who were considering having a go at making one. I used this video by Road Dawg to get the basics: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aH3LgISapc-gqassi=rCLcG4RFv1J5rQyQ They aren't as difficult as you might imagine. Watch my hints and tips video first though as that might save you some time an effort. Post it up if you do make one. I'd be happy to look and comment.

I have now - see video ET#37. Not a full sling making video but covers most of the basics. With this and video ET#27 that should see you pretty much all the way to making your own. Good luck - post it when you are done!

Thank you, I appreciate both the review and you taking the time to comment.

Thanks both for watching the video and taking the time to comment. Watch out for my video review of this and several of my other slings - coming soon.

@@ECEtek can i message you about one of your slings

Sure. I'll leave this up for 24 hrs. Email address deleted!

Ouch, an expensive mistake there mate! Easy to do though. Might be worth stripping the batteries to see what the issues were. Make a video and let me know when you post it - I'll watch it to see what went on. You might be able to make a good one from the two - or at least salvage the LiPos. Unfortunately I didn't know the history of the battery I had - so I don't really know what caused the resistor to blow in the first place. We can assume it was a pretty big current surge that would cause that amount of damage. Unless it was possible to identify what went wrong it would be hit and miss on whether replacing the damaged component would fix it. If the underlying root cause was unknown, it could just blow again in exactly the same way - or it might work fine. I could have opened up the good battery and hoped that the same BMS had been used and so identify the correct component for replacement purposes. We don't know what other issues may have been caused. The blown component may have acted like a fuse and saved everything further downstream - or not. My need for a spare wasn't urgent, so, for me, not worth the effort or time to replace it (and the tracks etc that had also gone). Thanks for your interest and time taken to comment!

Was yours a similar problem? Mine are working fine now and I haven't had an issue since. I run a number of Sonoff products and they seem to be largely OK. Fair enough, this particular issue should never have occurred (with a bit of decent Quality Management I think they would be great). That said, I flash all mine with Tasmota as in my view it makes life easier - you might give that a try. Keep me posted!

Thanks 👍

They are mainly Matthew Walker knots, but there is a Turks Head there so you can make a slight adjustment to the cord length. Does it make a difference? I'm not good enough with them to really comment, but it seemed like an interesting thing to try. If your ammo is heavy enough I don't see why you might want a heavy pouch? Personal preference is everything and what others like/don't like is up to them - and if you don't try - you won't know! So keep experimenting! I did try a single loose loop on a single strand sling. It worked, but I wasn't a fan. I haven't tried all the options yet, so I guess the answer is to try it and see. If you make the loop big enough and don't like it loose, put a Turks Head on and tighten it up. If you don't like that, slide the Turks Head of the end and convert it back to a double finger loop! (Or leave the Turks head to aid in tightening the finger loops)! Matthew Walker knots - I did comment that I found they tended to 'walk' so you really need to be careful with these. Have you watched my other video about 'whipped' slings? Worth a look - let me know how you get on if you try it! I think you are right - more strands = greater stiffness, so less whip effect. Those crackers may not work! I built a 4" pouch for golf balls. Not too good for tennis balls - stick with 6". I also had a fair size stone 'stick' in the smaller pouch (gripped by the cord during the swing, presumably the cords stretched and contracted on release) another reason to go bigger and stay with 6". Round braid - looks pretty! Cracker - I suggest you consider making it at least 6" long. Mine 'crack' but not very loudly, so longer may be better! I have another sling video out soon, so keep an eye out for that one. Thank you for your interest and taking the time to comment.

@@ECEtek Man I wrote a LONG comment to say thank you and to show you my latest JUST completed sling, that looks and feels like a thing of beauty, but KZbin being KZbin comment is gone (maybe because I added a link to an image of it dk). Anyway thank you very much for all of your advice. I feel like a round braid would eliminate the weird feeling I get when swinging past the shoulder, that's where the sling turns, and a single loop around the middle finger would possibly work better for me so I will try something close to your design next time. The adjustable loop for sure because singing up>keeping the loop lose from what I've tried so far. Have not watched your other video; will do so immediately and will watch your next. 👍

@@ECEtek Ah wrote a decently lengthy reply but KZbin being KZbin I guess they removed it for some reason. Anyway then will just write (again) thank you for the reply. I've just finished up my two best slings so far, I have VERY little experience, but am now thinking about doing a single loop one so will try your design (round braid, haven't done it before but may be better mobility, and single braid with the ability to singe it up with a slipknot moving loosely around it).

@@SicketMog Glad it helped. I'd like to see your sling, so if you can showcase it somehow that would be great.

@@ECEtek Yeah thank you for all tips; getting them from all over rn. Idk how to link it now; Google/KZbin is terrible (miss the inbox). Maybe possible to film it (if KZbin even allows links to their own website who knows). Almost finished a round one (bit too short as I ran out of materials and haven't wrapped the pouch yet) and it DOES feel better to swing; more flexible in all directions and heavier in the air (so far haven't thrown anything hard with it). Also quicker to braid and seemingly uses less string (?). Rather than using the Turk's head on this one, still going to try it (hope you're fine with me asking for advice if I don't get it right), used the double loop I've used on the others, from blind squirrel, but just doubled it up to a single and singde it up the same way; it seems easier to throw for me personally having more of the fingers free. More centered string as well.

With you on that one. Space on the board perhaps? Possibly because the battery holder is a few pence cheaper? Pennies on a large scale add up and all manufacturers will squeeze what margin they can. It isn't that big a problem though and it isn't as if you have to change it that often. Thanks for commenting.

This is the first in a 3 video series on RoboRaptor. Watch the others to see how I modify it to use Lithium batteries!

I just bought a BMS I thought might be suitable from AliExpress and have made some inroads into getting it fitted. I just need time - life gets in the way. It will probably work at charging the batteries. It may not work when on the vacuum because two of the inner connectors on the battery pack are marked rx and tx. This implies some comms from the battery to whatever it might be plugged into. There are a couple of LEDs on the charger unit that indicate battery state (i.e. good bad etc.). It would be great to think that the charger did some form of battery analysis - but that would be economically stupid. I suspect the original BMS is sending some form of signal out that something cheap and cheerful in the charger interprets and operates the LEDs accordingly. If I was Vax, I'd use that same system to signal to the device the battery is plugged into, what the state of the battery is. I strongly suspect that because this substitute BMS won't do that, the device I'm trying to power (a hand held vacuum cleaner in my case) is going to just refuse to work - because it isn't getting the required signal. This is just a guess from a world weary and cynical engineer though! I'll try and get something done this weekend!

be interested to hear how you get on please there are alot of people out there with BMS problems on these batteries you would most likely get a lot of views if you remake a video on how you do it@@ECEtek

Check out video ET#32!

You might want to replace the battery too! Take it easy in the gym!

I have a new BMS - just not fitted it yet. Watch out for upcoming video. Haven't tried it yet, so whether it will work or not ... your guess is as good as mine!

Check out video ET#32!

You could do it with this project if you wanted, but it wouldn't be particularly efficient. You'd need to boost the voltage from the USB from 5V to about 9 or 10V, then you'd need to feed that to a 1P2S BMS board. I considered it, but binned the idea. You could fit the circuitry in the 'spare' space in the belly plate. If you used a USB C with a 'spoof' circuit to fool the charger into supplying a higher voltage, that would probably be more effective. As I said in the video - it probably isn't a good idea to charge a LiPo in situ in the toy - especially if you weren't also going to do any temperature monitoring. I have seen a Roboraptor with an arduino mod to improve the walking algorithm. Making one that could jump, with realistic skin and autonomous action.....might be a few years before we see one of those! Thanks for commenting.

@@ECEtek I have heard tail the LiPo batteries have habits of Spontaneous Combustion. specially when it comes to overcharging and of course temperature. however i have a Alpha Training Blue(robot Velociraptor) which does use a LiPo battery 6.6v only difference there is that it uses a 3 pin connector/specialized charger which has a light when its charged only takes about 30mins per charge sometimes less with about a 2 to 4 hour life span give or take. though i have no experience in robotics or electrical. however its been a massive interest. i would say that the Jumping and Autonomous action would be possible looking at Atlas from Boston Dynamics. the skin has been done before the problem would be touch sensors and making it last as Latex does not last long. they exist but yes putting them together with technology that would have to be invented for the project would take decades. the biggest problem is making them ultra realistic. Synthetic Pneumatic muscle, Liquid joints. and using hard plastic, Silicon, and perhaps. faux leather something. Liquid Cooling. etc. to make the thing feel less robotic and more organic. a Synthetic Organism. leaning more into science fiction at this point. kind of push the boundaries of what would count as a toy. more companion than toy. think robot as intelligent as a dog. than input output like roboraptor. Sorry for ranting off science is my thing robotics, Space and machines.

No worries. Glad you enjoyed the video enough to comment. Thanks.

No problem 👍

Thank you, it is appreciated. The webbing in the pouch isn't an original idea, it was inspired by a video from @practicalparacord who has what he calls a 'smiling sling'. His video is here if you are interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qqDThYN9Z5epmqMsi=H8fFJyKs18g0xnHy Credit where it is due! The round braid was something I copied from one of the whip making videos. It looks nice, but as I say in the video - don't stop halfway if you are using one colour - it is difficult to get restarted! You might enjoy my "harlequin sling" video too!

Do you sale slings

I haven't done so yet, but have thought about it. Unfortunately KZbin no longer allows direct messaging and I would never put my contact details on here, purely for privacy reasons. If you would like me to make one for you and you can set up a suitable message channel that will allow me to contact you, then we can certainly discuss your requirements.

I can contact you on messenger or give you my email here

The one I ordered has been reported by Temu as: Discontinued I can't find exactly the same one elsewhere on site, in my experience Temu stock shifts about all the time. A lot of the catapults are based around pretty much the same design and several similar ones are on the site. If you use the search term: "Outdoor Slingshot Catapult Toy With Rubber Band For Play And Practice" this seems to bring up a very similar one (Just wrapped up in a lot of handle tape. It looks quite comfortable!). Slightly more expensive through @ £6.36 at the time of writing! Lots of similar ones on AliExpress . I hope you find one you like. ;0)

@@ECEtek thank you very much.

Thank you. I was just looking for an alternative method and this seemed feasible. It takes slightly longer than knots, but not by much. In future I'd probably whip with floss and then heat shrink it. Keeps it neat in my opinion. Thanks for commenting.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm happy it helped.

Useful info. Nice interim solution there while you are waiting for the replacement band. Thank you for commenting!!

Useful to know, thanks for sharing.

What do you want to use it for? The regulators on this board are low voltage dropout regulators, so this means that they need the supply voltage to be slightly higher than the voltage you want out from them. The extra voltage is used to make the regulators work and any surplus is dissipated as heat. If you want to supply the whole board with 5V this probably isn't going to work because: 1. The 5V regulator supply voltage will not be high enough. 2. The 3V3 regulator is supplied by the 5V regulator - and if this isn't working because the supply voltage is too low, then the 3V3 regulator won't have a supply voltage and won't work either. BUT You can still run this board from 5V if you are prepared to do a bit of fiddling. You can either wire your 5V power supply onto the output of the 5V regulator - This will put 5V on the output pins and so you'll have the 5V from the supply to power your 5V applications and the 3V3 regulator will also receive a supply and so will out put 3V3 for your 3.3Volt applications. The easiest way to do this is either by powering in via the USB OR wiring the 5V supply on to the board via the 5V and Ground pins. It is a bit Heath Robinson and I probably wouldn't advise this for longer term use! It would be a lot easier to use a 7V, 9V or 12V supply - although the higher the voltage of the input the hotter the regulators will run (as @robc8468 correctly points out above). Hot regulators will degrade faster. Just be aware that if you follow the 5V route I mention above that some PSUs have a very rough and ready output with a fair bit of tolerance for output voltage with load and they can also be pretty noisy. This may mess up whatever you are powering. The input and output capacitors on the regulators usually deal with anything coming via the regulators. I hope that helps.

@@ECEtek thank you so much you are the only one that answered.

No problem. I hope it helped.

Glad it helped!

Glad it helped! The extension is really useful but ... it might also be worth adding a dab of hot glue to the socket on the board as it flexes up really easily.

A fair comment. I normally use a 7V supply on these to limit those losses and the heat stresses (although when I blew this one I was using an adjustable supply - clearly not the best idea!). This arrangement does limit the current you can draw from both regulators though, as the output of the 5V regulator is going into the 3.3V, so whatever the 3.3V regulator is supplying, plus losses through the 1.7V voltage drop need to be subtracted from the 5V potential output of 1A. I agree with you though and for anything remotely power hungry it would be far better to use a Buck regulator circuit (or two!). I really appreciate your input and interest, so thanks for commenting.

You're welcome!

Agreed, but it was only my second KZbin video and done entirely on my mobile phone. Not an excuse for poor production values I agree, but you have to work with what you have. From the comments it would seem the info I was trying to get across was clear enough, so the video served its purpose! Thanks for commenting.

Glad it helped!

Thanks for the question but I think you should really be asking: "Do those sights work for you at all?" For me - No, not really but ... I don't think it is the sights that are at fault in my case! Everyone will all have a preference. I didn't use them, have started (and stopped again). They work for some people, not for others. So many variables with a slingshot/catapult that a set of sights isn't going to make much difference until you have eliminated all the other variables as much as possible e.g. consistent bands, draw length, range, ammunition, grip, anchor position etc. Thanks for commenting!

I have a Black Widow and a Diablo but find they work better with marble size ammo. I have to agree though, not as accurate. Chris @ #CatapultCarnage did a couple of videos on the Black Widow including a conversion to flat bands if you are interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fWbbh6Kuo9uIqNU - Review kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJyvlqOvmqt5oas - Mod. Thanks for commenting!

Have seen the videos and will be doing a flat band conversion soon

I can't honestly remember but my best guess would be Banggood. I have bought lots of gear (including the Tx) from them and the very few times I have had a problem it has been very quickly resolved. Use the search term "lipo battery extension". You need a three wire 2s male to female. You can also find them on AliExpress. See the caveat below though! I advise using a single use payment method, or a loadable card for AliExpress purchases as I have had my card scammed once. I was lucky and the credit card company caught it, but please be careful! I'm sure 99.9% of sellers are honest, but it only takes 1!

That is a tad odd as I'm reasonably sure the pins on the outer ends (that would go into your breadboard) are just fed straight off the regulators via their respective jumper. Have you got the jumpers correctly placed? If your jumpers are in the correct place then I'd try disconnecting power from the MB102 and tracing the tracks for continuity. Rather than trying to contact a track just check at the pins. Have you got continuity between all the 0v pins? Have you got continuity between the 5V pins (including the USB output). You can also input on the USB port if you were of a mind to. All pins of a specific voltage should be common to each other.

Glad you liked it!

Glad you liked it!

আমি AliExpress থেকে আমার পেয়েছি. আপনি সেখান থেকে একটি পেতে সক্ষম হওয়া উচিত. আমি এই সঠিকভাবে অনুবাদ আশা করি! Question: Where to get one from? Answer: AliExpress

I use a wide grip on the forks (Thumb and index finger) and only use my middle, ring and pinkie fingers on the handle and it works OK for me. You do risk hitting your thumb or forefinger with the ammo if you aren't paying attention to that draw hand alignment though! Agreed on the band size 0.7mm works for me too.

Thanks for watching the video and commenting. I usually flash all my Sonoffs with Tasmota and never had a problem with them thereafter. I have an S26 plug/socket, factory fresh with native Sonoff software that will NOT connect to any wifi. I'll flash it with Tasmota and let you know how it gets on. I've put Tasmota on many ESP 8266 devices, including ESP01, ESP07 etc and it works great. There are other firmware versions available that probably work well too. Might be worth giving it a go. With Tasmota I've not had much luck initially flashing OTA and always use a hard ware connection method for the initial flash.

Just a quick follow up on this one (I know it has been a while). The Sonoff S26 mentioned above I flashed with Tasmota, but it still wouldn't connect up to my network. I tried all sorts but couldn't get anywhere. It was visible and connectable using it's own WiFi but not visible on my network. I changed my router as a result of a new broadband package and up it popped no problems and worked as it should. Must have been a limitation in the older router.

You can replace the 5V regulator with the one you have identified. I replaced both the 3.3V and 5V on my board and that worked OK - but I also had a problem with the conductive track from the diode to the input pin of the regulator. Do some continuity checks and make sure the tracks are good. What caused your problem? Make sure you eliminate that first or you will burn out the new regulator. I would remove all the jumpers from the board until I knew that it was working - check the voltage at the regulators. It would be easy to short out the regulator with carelessly placed jumpers if you were not careful. :0) Google translate worked ok! ;0)

I have tried using a few of these. Had 2 of them burn out at the 5v regulator, it will output the same voltage as the input voltage. The recommended input voltage is writen as 7-12v. I am trying on the old repurposed power supply (between 7-12v), I am not sure if this is the cause of burning it out. Can you give me some advices to avoid damaged this regulators

It may be that you have a problem 'downstream' of the 5V regulator i.e. on the output of the regulator. These chips are rated at 1Amp max. If you have a short on your regulator output then that might cause a massive current demand that then burns out the regulator. Take the regulator chip off and then see if you have any shorts on the output circuit. If you do i.e. if the 3.3V regulator has an issue, then fix that before replacing the 5V regulator chip. Your power supply may also be an issue. 'Re-purposed' suggests a home made or home modified unit. It depends on what you've done/used. Old PC power supplies can be great if modified correctly (lots of KZbin videos on how to do that).Try powering the board from something with a known voltage e.g. a 12v car battery or even a 9v battery like a PP3 or something. At least then you know your supply voltage is relatively stable. Then check your output voltage and make sure it is being regulated as you expect. Hope that helps.

Glad you like it

Is it the same model of relay board? Some pins have to be in a particular state for the ESP01 to start up correctly and you may have an relay pin connected to one of those. There is a useful instructable here that may be of value to you. www.instructables.com/Definitive-Guide-to-Setting-Up-Your-New-ESP01-Modu/

Yes this the same board relay trigger when esp 01 on

@@ECEtek help me

@@ECEtek i connected and try pin 0,pin 2 and pin 1 but relay trigger for 1 second when esp01 on

I haven't experienced this issue with any of my relay units that I can remember. It seems to be linked to the need to set particular pins in particular ways at certain times i.e. at boot up. I suspect you are having the same issue as is being discussed on the ESP8266 community forum. They have a solution there that may be of value to you. Have a look at this and hopefully it will help you. It will need a bit of a 'fudge' with your circuit though. The community forum is filled with lots of people with a wide range of knowledge and perhaps someone else may be able to help you further. I do hope this is of value: www.esp8266.com/viewtopic.php?p=75082 I also found this thread which confirms the initial spike is related to start up mode of the ESP01. www.edaboard.com/threads/why-on-startup-led1-connceted-at-gpio-0-once-g

There is no native app for this device. It is designed so that it hosts an esp8266 chip on an ESP01 board (the little black board in the picture). You can flash that with Tasmota which will respond to your Echo devices in an emulated mode, or you could use TasmoAdmin, or you can enable MQTT and use applications such as Node Red etc. to control it. There are other programs like ESPHome that you can use too. Thanks for your interest.

Thanks. A good point about the daughter board. I always used to use a desoldering pump, but it wasn't always the best at removing all the solder. I picked up a nice tip off Big Clive's channel and dip my soldering braid in flux before attempting to remove solder it works like a charm! Never liked braid before, now I use it all the time. It makes good contacts for Scalextric cars too!

I don't use the sights as I tried them but don't like them. I prefer guesstimation! If you are consistent with your setup (brands/taper/ammo/range) then they are probably really useful but I'm still playing with mine to see what I like. If I had to choose I'd go for the circular ones as they hide less of the target. Thanks for your interest.

@@ECEtek i like the square one because its a bit bigger/clearer to see target.. yes i also find out that with different rubber setup the accuracy become different, so i need to get used with it everytime i changed to other rubber setup, the aiming point will never be the same, sometime with my certain type of rubber, i can't even hit a target.. i like precise red 0.70 to shoot a 8mm bullet.

@@harisyoung4110 I seem to get the most consistent results with 0.7 bands and 8mm ball bearings too.

templates.blakadder.com/ESP-01S-Relay-v4.html

If it is any consolation: it wasn't just you mate. Lots of negative observations on the earlier versions on various forums. Some fixes too. No issues with this one. Just be aware of the poor HV isolation as others have pointed out.