Tron: Legacy Identity Disc Mod

Recent Changes:

• 2/4/2011 – Added some safety equipment to the tools list.

So, I posted a while ago that I have been working on a modification of the TRON: Legacy Deluxe Identity Disc. The original disc is a typical toy release following a major motion picture. It has weak lighting and sound effects. There were a total of 8 LEDs in the disc before I got started (6 on the outer ring and 2 on the inner ring). I originally found the guide for this mod done by the Harford Hackerspace guys HERE.

Now let me say, I would never have been able to get to this point without their contributions. They did the majority of the work on this modification, I’m just looking to improve upon it and document it a bit better. Their guide originally used a regular Netduino, so a lot of the circuitry was left exposed on a center piece of acrylic. I went straight to using the Netduino Mini, which can be fit inside of the disc for a nearly perfect look from the outside of the disc. I spent a lot more money on this mod then I thought I would. I think I’ve spent close to $200 on all the parts and tools to get it done. That does include some tools I didn’t already have, as well as one upgrade to a tool I already had.

Here are some links on my work and my results:

My Picasa Album for the Mod

My First YouTube Video of the Mod

I will be posting any relevant updates that are not actually part of the guide to my main blog.

That said, what does it take to get this done?

Parts: (and a description of their use)

• 1x TRON: Legacy Deluxe Identity Disc - $20 (Toys ‘R Us) - I originally bought two because I went to eBay first to try to get one cheap, and ended up buying one from Toys R’ Us anyway. They ended up costing me about the same at the time (got it on sale for $14.95 from Toys ‘R Us). In the end it was a good investment because I recreated the charging pins in one of my iterations, so I needed a new Battery Cover. You should only need one though for this mod if you do it right.
• 1x Netduino Mini - $29.95 (Sparkfun Electronics) – A great little device. Makes it easy to debug your code. It was a natural thing for me since I’ve been developing in .Net for a while.
• 1x MAX7219 -$12.61 (Digi-Key) – The LED Driver. Can individually address up to 64 LEDs. This mod uses 30 of those. My plans include using up to 46 of those.
• 2x Polymer Lithium Ion Batteries 900mAh - $8.95 ea (Sparkfun Electronics) – The eventual power source for the disc. These fit nicely within the disc.
• 1x SPST On-Off Switch - $5.41 (Digi-Key) – The main power switch for the disc.
• 1x SPST Momentary Switch - $0.25 (Digi-Key) – The switch to change animations.
• 1x SPDT On-On Toggle Switch (additional)- $7.99 (Fry’s Electronics) – The switch to change modes of operation. This was not part of the original design. I added this switch in order to change between modes of operation. I wanted to have one mode be the original animation mode, while the other mode I wanted to be a “movie replica” mode, a mode that made the disc operate with animations as close to the movie Discs as possible.  I bought this from Fry’s because I didn’t want to wait to order one, I’m sure you can find them cheaper from Digi-Key, I just haven’t looked.
• 31x Blue LEDs – 5mm – 7000MCD - $0.263 ea. (Newark) – 30 LEDs to go around the outer ring, and 1 to serve as the charging light (this is separate from the animation done by the outer ring 30, it is a dedicated LED for charging). I initially chose not to implement the Inner Ring LEDs that the Harford guys imlemented because I have plans to increase the number of LEDS in that inner ring to a full 16 LEDs. I have not done this yet, so it will be added as an additional guide after I complete that part of the mod.
• 1x LM317T Adjustable Voltage Regulator - $0.65 (Digi-Key) – The voltage regulator that runs out Charging Circuit. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to get a steady 8.4V on the charging pins.
• 1x 2222 Transistor - $0.47 (Digi-Key) – This is the transistor that keeps our current in-line in the charging circuit. It is key to the proper charging of our batteries.
• 2x 0.1uF Capacitor - $0.11 (Digi-Key) – Part of the charging circuit. I believe these help regulate the current flowing through the transistor.
• 1x 1k Ohm Potentiometer - $0.50 (Digi-Key) – This allows you to precisely adjust the voltage level of the charging pins in the charging circuit.
• 1x 1N4001 Rectifier Diode - $0.32 (Digi-Key) – I believe this prevents voltage from flowing back from the batteries to the charging LED when the circuit is not charging.
• 10x 10k Ohm Resistor – 1/4 Watt  (7 required, – 2 optional) - $0.09 (Digi-Key) 2 are used to set the ISET voltage level on the MAX2719 LED Driver (placed in series). 1 is used to pull down the animation switch voltage. 1 is used to pull down the vDetect line. 1 is used to pull down each of the data lines leading to the LED driver from the Netduino (prevents a flash from the LEDs on startup, note: I haven’t actually implemented these yet). 2 are used to pull down the mode lines from the toggle switch (optional). 1 is used in the charging detection circuit to (I think) pull down the voltage when not charging.
• 1x 2.2k Ohm Resistor – 1/4 Watt - $0.09 (Digi-Key) – Used in the charging circuit for an unkown reason (voltage divider maybe?).
• 2x 470 Ohm Resistor – 1/4 Watt - $0.09 (Digi-Key) – Used in the charge detection circuit to set the voltage of the LED. Also used in the Charging Circuit for an unknown reason (voltage divider maybe?).
• 1x 1.5 Ohm Resistor – 1/2 Watt - $0.31 (Digi-Key) – Used in the charging circuit for an unknown reason.
• Connectors – $0.49 (Jameco) – Used to connect the two halves of the disc. I use connectors that are similar to jumpers, not sure what they are called exactly.Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3
• Connector Contact - $0.15 (Jameco) – The contacts that slip inside the connectors and hold the wire.
• Pins – suitable for soldering to a PCB. I used these for my programming interface connection (6 pins) and the connections between the connectors (8 pins total I think). Right angle pins are also good since you will need to bend them to make them fit. For photos of these see Photo 3 above under Connectors.

Miscellaneous Parts – Stuff You’ll need, but stuff that isn’t quite as important and can be gotten in a lot of places, so I won’t be linking you to a source.

• Wire 26 AWG 25-50 feet – Stranded or Solid, your choice, I chose to go with solid just because it’s easier to deal with with a wire this small. I started trying to use 22 gauge wire, but quickly found out that not only is it too thick to realistically do this modification, but it’s also much more difficult to solder than the thinner 26 gauge wire. You’ll probably need to pick up a better wire stripper as most don’t cover smaller than 22 gauge wire. Not sure exactly how much you’ll need. I’m guessing 25 feet will cover it, but it’d probably be safer to go for 50. The spools I got at Fry’s Electronics were 100 feet long, which is more than enough.
• Small Gauge Heatshrink Tubing – To prevent shorts and such for all those connections. Note: I didn’t used any heat shrink tubing on the LED connections, I simply covered those in Hot Glue.
• Cardboard – Fairly good size shipping box should be good. I used boxes from Amazon. It’s good to have a few of these, as I found creating the Cardboard ring for the LEDs to be difficult. Thin and sturdy cardboard is what you want. You don’t want it too thick, as that makes it more difficult to cut and deal with when mounting the LEDs on it.
• Small PC Boards – Something you can manipulate with a nipper to fit inside the disc. You can see from my pictures that my PC Boards were nipped quite a bit. These PC boards from Radio Shack are what I started with. The Radio Shack boards are fairly cheap and the copper connection points come off pretty easily when soldering a lot, for instance if you have to redo a connection several times.
• Small Pieces of easily Manipulated Aluminum – Used to form the charging pads. I used some aluminum that came with a breadboard I bought. You have to be able to bend it. Can also be used for the Charging Pins (on the charger side) but is not the most ideal solution.
• An old Cordless Phone (optional) – Used for it’s charging pins, preferrably pins that have a built in springiness, not a separate spring. The spring enables you to keep the pins tight against the charging pads when the disc is in the charger.

Tools: (and a description of their use)

• A GOOD Soldering Iron with a fine tip – Price Varies – I recommend spending at least $50 on a soldering iron that is at least 25W. I purchased a Hakko 936-12 to do my soldering (runs $90-100)
• Small Diameter Rosin Core Solder – Not sure what diameter I have been using, but I bought a smaller diameter solder to use for this project, and it has made it a lot easier to do the connections. Lead-Free or not is your choice, but I find it’s easier to work with Solder containing Lead. You just have to make sure to wash your hands thoroughly after use.
• FTDI Basic Breakout 5V - $14.95 – Used for converting the serial connection on the Netduino Mini into a Mini USB connection. It’s convenient having the TX/RX LEDs while programming the Netduino Mini. This can also be used as a method of powering the Netduino Mini as long as it’s putting out 5V (I’ll tell you about that later).
• USB Mini-B Cable - $3.95 (Sparkfun Electronics) – Goes with the FTDI Breakout Board, used for programming the Netduino Mini.
• Basic Breadboard (optional) - $11.95 (Sparkfun Electronics) – I say optional, because you don’t really need to prototype your circuit if you know all the details to begin with, but it helps get your thinking straight on this project and allows you to screw up without screwing over your project and dramatically increasing your costs. Unless you’re used to working with small circuits, I highly recommend picking one of these up.
• Jumper Wire Kit (optional) - $6.95 (Sparkfun Electronics) – Goes with the breadboard. While you can make these yourself with the wire you’ll need to get anyway, save yourself some time if you plan to go the breadboard route.
• 1-2 Sets of Helping Hands (also called “Third Hand”) - $9.95 (Sparkfun Electronics) - Indispensable for soldering. I say two because I used two sets that I have, and found it useful to have an extra set around.
• Wire Stripper 30AWG - $4.95 (Sparkfun Electronics) – You need a wire stripper that can at least handle 26AWG wire.
• Dremel Moto Tool or equivalent – Price Varies – I used the one I had. Needed to strip the extra bits of plastic out of the disc halves, cut holes for charging pins and pads, and rough up the pads for soldering.
• Cutoff Wheel for your Moto Tool – Used to strip the extra bits of plastic out of the disc halves and cutting holes. I personally use a Diamond Cut Off Wheel. They are more expensive, but they are worth the price as they last a hell of a lot longer. I haven’t yet replaced my first one of these.
• Grinding Stone for your Moto Tool (optional) – Used for roughing up the charging pads for soldering. If you have metal you can form into the charging pads that already takes solder well, then you don’t need this.
• Drill Press for Moto Tool (optional) – I used the Dremel Drill Press I already had to do some of the work on Cardboard Ring and some work on the Disc Halves.
• Drill Bit for your Moto Tool (optional) – Used for doing the above drilling.
• Hot Glue Gun with fairly strong glue – Used for securing wires and doing stuff like making the mound for the momentary switch. The glue, when set, needs to be pretty solid, you don’t want it to flex or move around.
• X-ACTO Knife – Used for various cutting, good for making sure your solder connections don’t cross between connections.
• Needlenose Pliers
• Phillips Screw Driver
• Compass (as in for drawing circles, not finding your way) and Protractor
• Safety Glasses (added 2/4/2011) – When using the Dremel, you need to protect your eyes. Whether they are goggles or a more stylish pair of safety glasses it doesn’t matter, so long as they protect you from flying debris. I got a pair for free from visiting a customer’s site at my regular day job. They protect against flying debris as well as the increased UV generated by Welding (though they are not made so you can do Welding, just being in the near vicinity of it).
• Facemask (added 2/4/2011) – Again, for protection while using the Dremel. You can pick these up cheap at a hardware store, as they are just a filter mask. I don’t know if they will protect against the fumes of soldering, but they are good to protect your face against flying debris while using the Dremel.
• A Fan or Fume extraction system (added 2/4/2011) – This is for the soldering. Those fumes coming from soldering aren’t healthy for you to inhale, so you need to get them out of your face. Either blow them away with a fan or using suction to draw them away. It doesn’t take much (I use a 12V case fan from one of my computer cases), but it’s worth it. It’s always smart to solder in a well ventilated area.

I hope that’s a complete list, if it isn’t I will continue to add to it.

Let me just say that I have  decent amount of electronics experience. I started college as a Electrical Engineering Major, but ended up switching to Computer Science. I grew up taking apart my R/C cars and building my own R/C cars. I used to do some computer modding back in college back before lighting was a major category at a computer hardware store. I built some circuits for LEDs and controlling some fans. I built my own backlit keyboard using EL Wire (yes published in 2001). So I have a fair amount of experience dealing with electronics. This project is advanced, and did challenge me. My soldering skills have gotten considerably better since starting the project. I would recommend touching up on your skills before tackling this project.

So what did I learn from it all? Well let’s start near the beginning, the creation of the cardboard ring for the LEDs. I had a lot of issues with this. It’s pretty easy to figure out how to measure out the size of it, both the inner and outer diameter, cutting it accurately is another matter. Patience is key, otherwise you will screw it up. I used my X-ACTO knife to cut it out by scoring along the lines. I wouldn’t recommend using a pair of scissors as they tend to crush the cardboard before cutting it, and we want out cardboard to be as sturdy as possible. Crushing the cardboard only damages the structural integrity (if you want to call it that) of it, and makes it easier for it to bend later on. Using a knife to carefully cut along the line dodges the issue of crushing it.

Work in Progress…