20120806 build instructions

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Daft Punks Helmet

2012

Carlos Flores Exhul2

Daft Punks Helmet

Carlos Flores Exhul2 Page 2

First let me start by saying, this is not a novel project; this was

created modeling the real Daft Punks helmet. I am a 10th grade student

with passion for DJing and last Halloween I needed a custom to enter

the High School contest and the helmet came to mind. Also bear in

mind that both of my parents are electrical engineers, hence I was not

alone and I was hoping they would help me build the electronics and so

they did. AND Our effort paid off, due that we got some quality family

build time and we WON the contest. This was just a fun little side-

project; nothing that I thought would become popular. There might be

some flaws, but hey, thats inevitable. If you want an actual helmet, be

sure you want to shell out $250,000 from Daft Punk themselves

Daft Punks Helmet


I will split the build in two main sections:

1. Building the Helmet

2. Building the Electronics for the Helmet

SECTION 1: BUILDING THE HELMET

Tools

Materials

Daft Punks Helmet


This is what we are going after.

Dont worry, its much easier than it seems

It is best if you work on this in your garage or someplace where you

dont mind getting a little messy.

Helmet Build

1. Gather/buy all necessary materials.

2. Start with the card board making the structure to define the new

shape for the helmets visor (we used a dish that happened to have

the desired size) then we cut two pieces of the same shape for the

top and bottom of the visor.

3. Then we measured the chin and cut it from the card board.

Daft Punks Helmet


4. Once you have all cardboard for the support structure, assemble

them as they appear in this picture. Secure the pieces together and

onto the helmet using a glue gun. Notice that the three transversal

pieces are temporal support; they will be cut off after applying the

fiber glass.

5. Let the glue dry then apply some amount of foam onto the upper

and lower visor. After the foam dries, shape it using the edge of the

cardboard with aknife. (We used foam as filler, using only fiberglass

will make the helmet very heavy).

6. Next, take your scissors and cut off about one-fourth off the bottom

of a soda can.

7. Then glue the bottom of the soda cans onto the sides of the helmet.

8. Cut the fabric that comes with the fiber glass to cover all the card board, this can be in one piece or many, then mix the fiber glass glue

with the catalytic following the instructions from the manufacturer,

then apply the fiberglass to the helmet, especially to the upper and

Daft Punks Helmet


lower visors (however, avoid the ears). Once the fiberglass dries, you

will need to sand it to add smoothness and evenness. Repeat this

step until you get the desired angle of the visor, using varying grades

of sandpaper.

9. Continue applying fiber glass, let it dry then sand it to achieve the

desired profile.

10. Apply automotive bondo mix according to the manufacturers

specs, this is used to fill up any unevenness or flaws left by the fiber

glass process, and start wet/un-wet sanding depending on the sand

paper you be using, you will need to apply bondo sandrepeat

until you get really close to the desired smoothness, this takes a lot

of elbow grease but its fun,you can ask for help...

Daft Punks Helmet


11. Next, apply the chrome paint to the entire helmet, making sure it

has an even coat. Follow up with gloss, for extra shine. (Be sure

however, that your helmet is as smooth as possible)

12. Next, you must then measure the approximate dimensions of

your helmets visor hole. Then use these measurements to cut out a

visor out of the clear Plexiglas.

13. Before proceeding, make sure you have completed the electronics

portion, as it is easier to fit the LEDs in the helmet beforehand.

14. Lastly, (Carefully) Use the heat gun to shape the visor in such a

way so that it fits snugly into the visor hole of your helmet.

15. Remove the glass then we will apply the polarizing film.

16. Install back the visor now polarized and you can choose to secure

the visor with the glue gun to the helmet if necessary.

And thats it!

Daft Punks Helmet


SECTION 2: BUILDING THE HELMETs ELECTRONICS:

This is what we are going after.

Tools

Ctty Description Part No Cost Supplier

1 MSP430 Launchpad $4.35 Allied Electronics

1 MSP430G2553 $2.00 Allied Electronics

1 UDN2982 $2.50 Allied Electronics

1 STP16DP05 $2.00 Allied Electronics

1 500 Ohms Resistor $0.01 Allied Electronics

1 USB battery pack $20 Allied Electronics

256 RED 3mm LEDs Allied Electronics

1 Fusion Core Board $11 Ohmselectronics

1 Misc Wire

Materials

Daft Punks Helmet


Helmet Electronics Build

First some Theory: The helmet features a LCD banner consisting

of 32 columns of 8 leds that is 32x8=256 LEDs, this banner is driven by

the MSP430 Launchpad, this last has 14 generic I/Os available,

therefore in order to drive as many LEDs and to save power we will use

multiplexing and the Persistence of vision peinciples.

PERSISTENCE OF VISION: is the phenomenon of the eye by which

an afterimage is thought to persist for approximately one twenty-fifth

of a second on the retina.

The myth of persistence of vision is the belief that

human perception of motion (brain centered) is the result of

persistence of vision (eye centred). The myth was debunked in 1912 by

Wertheimer but persists in many citations in many classic and modern

film-theory texts. A more plausible theory to explain motion perception

(at least on a descriptive level) are two distinct perceptual illusions: phi

phenomenon and beta movement.

A visual form of memory known as iconic memory has been

described as the cause of this

phenomenon. Although psychologists and physiologists have rejected

the relevance of this theory to film viewership, film academics and

theorists generally have not. Some scientists nowadays consider the

entire theory a myth.

In contrasting persistence of vision theory with phi phenomena, a

critical part of understanding that emerges with these visual

perception phenomena is that the eye is not a camera. In other words

Daft Punks Helmet


vision is not as simple as light registering on a medium, since the brain

has to make sense of the visual data the eye provides and construct a

coherent picture of reality. Joseph Anderson and Barbara Fisher argue

that the phi phenomena privileges a more constructionist approach to

the cinema (David Bordwell, Nol Carroll, Kirsten Thompson), whereas

the persistence of vision privileges a realist approach (Andr

Bazin, Christian Metz, Jean-Louis Baudry).

The discovery of persistence of vision is attributed to the Roman

poet Lucretius, although he only mentions it in connection with images

seen in a dream. In the modern era, some stroboscopic experiments

performed by Peter Mark Roget in 1824 were also cited as the basis for

the theory

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_of_vision

MULTIPLEXING:

Multiplexing is sending multiple signals or streams of information

on a carrier at the same time in the form of a single, complex signal and

then recovering the separate signals at the receiving end. In analog

transmission, signals are commonly multiplexed using frequency-

division multiplexing (FDM), in which the carrier bandwidth is divided

into subchannels of different frequency widths, each carrying a signal at

the same time in parallel. In digital transmission, signals are commonly

multiplexed using time-division multiplexing (TDM), in which the

multiple signals are carried over the same channel in alternating time

slots. In some optical fiber networks, multiple signals are carried

Daft Punks Helmet


together as separate wavelengths of light in a multiplexed signal using

dense wavelength division multiplexing(DWDM).

Source: http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/multiplexing

In Plain English: the LED banner/display is comprised of eight

rows of thirty two LEDs, each row (32 bits) is refreshed 32

times per second, it would appear that all the rows (ie all

LEDs) are on at the same time, but that is a trick our eyes

plays to us, only one row is lit at the time but to our eyes it

looks like all them are on, this is due to the Persistive Of

Vision principle, Televisions use the same principle.

What is an LED?

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source.[1]

LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly

used for other lighting. Introduced as a practical electronic component

in 1962, [2] early LEDs emitted low-intensity red light, but modern

versions are available across the visible, ultraviolet and infrared

wavelengths, with very high brightness.

When a light-emitting diode is forward biased (switched on),

electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device,

releasing energy in the form of photons. This effect is called

electroluminescence and the color of the light (corresponding to the

energy of the photon) is determined by the energy gap of the

Daft Punks Helmet


semiconductor. LEDs are often small in area (less than 1 mm2), and

integrated optical components may be used to shape its radiation

pattern.[3] LEDs present many advantages over incandescent light

sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved

robustness, smaller size, faster switching, and greater durability and

reliability. LEDs powerful enough for room lighting are relatively

expensive and require more precise current and heat management

than compact fluorescent lamp sources of comparable output.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-emitting_diode

Something to remember, this system is configured as Common Anode,

hence Rows have all anodes from that row connected together and

columns have all Cathodes connected together for each column.

Daft Punks Helmet


Building the LED ARRAY:

To build the LED array we will need to build a jig, to align the LEDs, the

LED array will be a matrix of LEDs where all cathodes of the LEDs from

each column are connected together and all the anodes from the LEDs

from each row are connected together, that will produce an LED matrix

with 8 row and 32 column connections.

By measuring the window in the helmet we have approximately 8

inches to place the DISPLAY, we will divide that length by 32 and spread

the LEDs. Using the Drill and the 3mm drill bit, we create the jig.

Daft Punks Helmet


This is a close up to the rows and columns connections

We first connect the rows then create a special bend to connect the

columns.

Now to drive the system we will use serial to parallel shift registers,

these have a serial input, a clock and a latch, and take serial data from

the MSP430 and put it out on the 32 columns, remember we will be

flashing a row of 32 bits at the time, the rows are enabled with an

UDN2982 which is a source driver handled directly by the MCU, this

Daft Punks Helmet


driver has 500mA source capabilities, the STP16DP05 are serial to

parallel LED sink drivers. You could picture the system as below

We used the Launchpad from Texas Instruments

Daft Punks Helmet


And three fifths of the Core Fusion Board by Ohmselectronics

[email protected]

We cut the board on strategic places to keep the Lauchpad foorprint

along with the UDN2982 in a single piece, then we cut the four

STP16DP08 as single pieces, we will use only two of them, as shown.

Daft Punks Helmet


The surface mount SOIC packaged ICs are easy to put on with standard

soldering station.

The MSP430G2553 is a DIP so can be just swapped on the Launchpad

This is the final circuit.

Daft Punks Helmet


The firmware for the MSP430 was developed by my dad using

CodeComposerStudio (from TI) and C.

Daft Punks Helmet


You should end up looking like this , The WINNER!!

20120806 build instructions

Documents

helmet section

actual helmet

real daft punks helmet

fiber glass glue

card board

dont mind

glue dry

glue gun