Chan's Kingdom

MBF-P02 Gundam Astray Red Frame from Daban Model

Hi guys. This is a Gunpla I finished like months ago. I did not have the time to properly take photos for this awesome figure! ( Its build is actually more playable than Akatsuki… My Akatsuki has a very weak leg peg that keeps falling off…)
Anyway, this is my first time taking photos for gunpla ( okay, not the first time, but this is the first trial of me trying really hard to pose the figure!), used one whole day with some intermittent breaks haha.

The standing pose. I tried hard to make it as cool as possible…

Side view

I was trying a sword drawing pose. It turned out harder than I thought. Now I can appreciate the flexibility of human joints.

First try of a dynamic pose for a Gunpla. But it’s a must for Red Frame. It’s built for this!

This would have looked nice if I am taking photos outdoor. The reflection would be amazing.

Here comes the big sword!

But apart from looking cool behind, sword form… is really just a prop… LOL.

Now I can fly!

This is how I am posing Red Frame on my shelf now. By the way, I bought a new shelf, that’s why I pulled this model out of its box. It’s a shame not to showcase this guy. It’s stunning!
That’s all from me. Feel free to comment on my lousy skills, be it building or photoshooting. I made a lot of mistakes everywhere. Cheers!

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Labels: Daban Model, Gundam Astray Red Frame, Gunpla

A Buck Converter Power Supply

This project has been in my mind for a long time. I have always wanted an easy to use power supply, without resorting to Arduino for a 5V supply. With the addition of a cheap DIY oscilloscope which requires a 9V supply, this project became more and more important.
With the start of my sem break, this long overdue project finally got the chance to be completed.


Another shot at the completed project exterior.


The interior.


Okay, time for some explaination. This “power supply” is basically just a buck converter, I am using a cheap one from China, using MP1584EN as the switching IC.
My plan was to change the SMD potentiometer, to a bigger one which can be turned by hand. (I was frustrated by the need of a screwdriver just to change the voltage level.

The input is taken from a laptop adapter, which I have one laying around.  So, it is a 19-21V to maybe 0.8V-18V supply with a maximum of 3A load ( that’s what the datasheet and seller claims, I would not use it for more than 2A personally. )


The potentiometer solder pads were quite small and were ruined when I desoldered the pot. Heck I even spoil the pot! Then I put a 10K potentiometer initailly, found out that my input would not rise over 2V. I figured my resistance was too low for the feedback path. I then change the pot to a 100K pot. Better, but the voltage stopped at 10V. Can be used, but I wasn’t satisfied. I found that the resistor value is different for 2 batches of boards. Refer to the following photos.


This is from the old batch, green colour board. Now If we zoom in to the resistor,


It’s 322, as in 3.2K ohm.


The new one, (as in the one I used), blue board, has a 822 SMD resistor, 8.2K ohm. The potentiometer forms a potential divider with the resistor to produce a feedback to the IC. The IC requires 0.8V at the feedback. 100K is simply too small for me to generate up to 18V.

Thus, I hacked the board, again. I have some 10K SMD resistors around. I simply soldered them on top of each other, to reduce the resistance. SO in the end, it’s 8.2K//10K//10K = <5K ohm!
And that worked! Circuit theory rocks! Sorry I just have to bask in my glory for a little while.
Now, I can move on the next project, which is still undecided.

 See you next time!

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Labels: Arduino, Electronics