+- Forums - Open Redstone Engineers (https://forum.openredstone.org)
+-- Forum: Off-Topic (https://forum.openredstone.org/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: Off-Topic Discussion (https://forum.openredstone.org/forum-5.html)
+--- Thread: My (hopefully) epic school project! (/thread-4642.html)
RE: My (hopefully) epic school project! - Tjakka5 - 09-04-2014
I have some experience with building a mechanical computer, so if you need any help you can ask me anytime.
Some things to think about though:
1. What are you going to use to build it? Lego? Knex? Metal? Wood?(!)
2. What are you going to use to do the logic? Gears? Balls? Pins being pushed/pulled?
3. Keep in mind that you'll probably need tons of motors because of friction.
4. How much will it cost? Will you be able to pay for it?
RE: My (hopefully) epic school project! - MelvinS4_ - 09-04-2014
(09-04-2014, 05:20 PM)Tjakka5 Wrote: I have some experience with building a mechanical computer, so if you need any help you can ask me anytime.
Some things to think about though:
1. What are you going to use to build it? Lego? Knex? Metal? Wood?(!)
2. What are you going to use to do the logic? Gears? Balls? Pins being pushed/pulled?
3. Keep in mind that you'll probably need tons of motors because of friction.
4. How much will it cost? Will you be able to pay for it?
Thanks for wanting to help out! I'll be using gears for logic. As for building material, I really only have two choices: wood or plastic. If I could I'd rather make it out of Lego or Meccano, but that stuff's crazy expensive! When it comes to cost, my school has got me covered atleast with a thousand SEK (~140 USD). It's not a lot, but I think I'll manage if I put some money in myself.
RE: My (hopefully) epic school project! - Tjakka5 - 09-04-2014
Sounds pretty good, altough as I said, you're going to need lots of motors for that.
You see, there's going to be tons of stuff moving (atleast 3 gears for a xor gate) so there's going to be huge amounts of friction too!
Building it out of wood sounds like a great plan! That is, if you know how to work with it :p
I was wondering.. Can I add you on skype? We could brainstorm together a little bit on how you (and I) would create such a thing. Maybe even collaborate a little bit.
RE: My (hopefully) epic school project! - MelvinS4_ - 09-04-2014
(09-04-2014, 06:55 PM)Tjakka5 Wrote: Sounds pretty good, altough as I said, you're going to need lots of motors for that.
You see, there's going to be tons of stuff moving (atleast 3 gears for a xor gate) so there's going to be huge amounts of friction too!
Building it out of wood sounds like a great plan! That is, if you know how to work with it :p
I was wondering.. Can I add you on skype? We could brainstorm together a little bit on how you (and I) would create such a thing. Maybe even collaborate a little bit.
Though I won't make anything that even slightly resembles a xor
The machine will not contain a single logic component the way I've planned it. Ofc there will be lots of moving parts but I'll try to combat that by only having one piece of it operate at a time (if the whole thing was to operate simultaeniously it would also require pipelining, something I've never gotten the hang of ).The biggest problem I'm having right now is how to "mass produce" the gears. I will need a large amount of them and don't feel like making them all by hand
ideas?As for Skype, I'm not quite comfortable talking over the interwebs but I have no problem with discussing here on the forum (via pm) or by mail.
RE: My (hopefully) epic school project! - Legofreak - 09-05-2014
find somebody with a CNC router. you can cut as many gears as you want out of cheap material.
If you are able to use 3d modelling simulation software, that would probably help... lol
RE: My (hopefully) epic school project! - Tjakka5 - 09-05-2014
How are you going to represent data then?
My idea was the following:
Turning = 1, not Turning = 0.
Direction doesn't matter, thus you are able to use some mechanical tricks to make logic gates (or, not, xor, and)
The way I can see you do it is with turn speed (torque), which could definatly work, but would be very interesting to see happen. Especially the registers would be a challenge.
RE: My (hopefully) epic school project! - MelvinS4_ - 09-05-2014
Data will be represented as the angle of the cog. This way a cog could theoretically store any number since the choice of base becomes arbitrary. Power is not needed for memory, since the cogs (unless written or read from) are always stationary; the amount of moving parts at a time therefore is not that great.
RE: My (hopefully) epic school project! - Tjakka5 - 09-05-2014
Sounds pretty good, although, with that you wont be able to use bitwise logic, which may or may not be useful. Dividing and multiplying will also be a bit tricky.
RE: My (hopefully) epic school project! - Legofreak - 09-17-2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loI1Kwed8Pk
awesome explaination video of a handheld mechanical calculator
RE: My (hopefully) epic school project! - MelvinS4_ - 09-17-2014
(09-17-2014, 08:45 AM)RekcirBrickeR Wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loI1Kwed8Pk
awesome explaination video of a handheld mechanical calculator
That's actually the mechanism that I'm planning to use for the "ALU". No need to reinvent the wheel, right?