Steampunk Portable Scanner

Every steampunk outfit can benefit from the addition of a mechanized scanner. Imagine an 1880s version of a try-corder. Artemis Gordon would be proud.

This project requires a fairly wide range of crafting skills: some mechanical, some woodwork, some painting, some electronics, and perhaps even some coding. The work is small and close, so good eyes or quality magnifying will be beneficial.

Electronics

1. Arduino (I used an old Mega 2560)
2. Wire - any size from 22ga down to 28ga is fine
3. LEDs - I used 9. Six small red, 1 med green, 1 med red, and 1 med blue
4. Toggle switches - 4, various sizes
5. Potentiometers - 2. Value can be anything from 25K to 500K
6. SSD1306 compatible OLED displays, 1 inch - 2
7. ribbon cable
8. Dupont or Berg connectors, both male and female, as needed
9. 3 AAA batteries and holder
10. Buck Boost converter - 4.5V up to 5.0v
11. 9g servo

Plastics

1. 1/16th inch ABS sheet 12x12 or larger
2. Assorted nylon gears
3. Package of "googly eyes"

Hardware

1. 2mm machine screws, washers, nuts
2. #10 machine screws, washers, nuts
3. #4 machine screws, washers, nuts
4. #4 wood screws, both flat head and oval head
5. Finish washers
6. If available, 2mm pins for gears. if not, 2mm screws work fine

Ooze and Goos

1. Super glue gel
2. Rubber cement or Elmers Spray Adhesive
3. Black tempera paint
4. White lithium grease

Miscellaneous

1. 1/4 inch birch board - approximately 12x12
2. Leather or leatherette vinyl (what I used) - 6x36
3. Textured Metallic Permanent Vinyl. I used Make Market from Michaels.

This is the most difficult step and took me 3 weeks and much tweaking.

Fool around with the nylon gears in your set to find a pleasing arrangement, then (the hard part) use an awl and finger drill to place holes in a piece of backing (I used a 4x2 inch piece of ABS) along with your axles or 2mm screws until you come up with a set of gears that turn without binding. A trick is to place a small piece of paper between the gear teeth when setting distance - it will properly space the teeth. Remove the paper later, of course. My 2mm screws tended to unscrew while the gears turned, so I ended up using super glue to make sure they stayed in place. The white lithium can help with lubrication.

Next is to support your 9g servo so that it doesn't rattle around; make sure it engages your gear train. I had to build up several layers of plastic to accommodate its shape under the gear panel. Commercial mounts are readily available, but they cost more than the servos. Also, add any structural support you need at this time - strips of extra ABS super glued in place will do the trick. Metal brackets work well too. If metal is your thing, of course, assemble your gear train on a piece of metal.

Plastic googly eyes are readily available at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and sometimes Walmart. They are about an eighth of an inch in size. Paint them with black tempera, then when dry, apply gold rub n' buff to make them appear metallic. If you can locate bronze colors, that's even better.

Using a fine tooth saw, new sharp Xacto blade, Dremel, or tool of your choice, make a bezel to hold the two OLED displays. For mine, I left more space on one side to hold the servo direction LEDs. Give yourself enough space to provide for attachment points. I used 2mm screws, washers, and nuts to attach the displays to the plastic bezel.

Use super glue to attach googly eyes appropriately to your bezel and gear train assembly to simulate rivets. Then antique both assemblies by applying gold rub n' buff to achieve a bronzed appearance. The plastic gears should be spray painted flat black. Apply gold rub n' buff after drying to make them look metallic. Do not put the rub n' buff on the gear teeth. Leave them flat black.

Use appropriate measurements to contain all the components you plan to utilize. Mine is 8x6, made from ABS plastic sheet. Drill all the holes for your switches and LEDs. Cut out any necessary areas to hold the display bezel and gear train assemblies.

Cut out a piece of permanent vinyl large enough to wrap your panel with at least an inch over lap on all sides. Peel off the backing, lay it flat, then center your panel and use a wallpaper roller or other tool to burnish the vinyl onto the panel without wrinkling or bubbles. Wrap the edges around one side at a time (with super glue in my case) by cutting a 45° angle through the overlap of both meeting pieces of vinyl on the corners, then unfold slightly to remove any triangles trapped beneath so the vinyl lays flat on the corners.

Using 1/4 inch board, make a box meeting the dimensions of your front panel. Carpenter glue held the corners of this small box easily, no nails or screws required since the box is only 1 1/2 inches deep. Once dry and sturdy, sand the box to ensure it is square and smooth.

Next, apply the long strip of leatherette to the exterior, leaving enough extra material to wrap around all the edges. I used spray adhesive to apply it to the wooden box.

Last, wrap the sides, and use your new sharp blade to cut 45°angles where the corners meet, then lift and remove any trapped triangles of material. Use adhesive or super glue to adhere them smoothly. Burnish all corners thoroughly and smooth out wrinkles and bubbles.

Solder and heat shrink flexible wires to the LEDs and switches. Mount them to the front panel using bezels and/or superglue as needed. Install male Dupont connectors to the positive sides of the wiring. Connect and solder all the negative ends together and provide a jumper with a Dupont connector to the junction.

Cut out a back panel from the sheet of ABS to cover the rear of the assembly. Drill attachment holes and use #4 wood screws to secure. Remove the panel and attach the battery holder and Arduino board in place using flat head #4 wood screws and 4mm nylon screws, nuts, and washers - add standoffs if required for the board. My battery holder screws were too long, so they had to be cut, then filed, so they would not poke too far out the rear of the panel. I used super glue as well to make sure the battery holder stayed secure.

Using #6 or #8 machine screws, washers, and nuts, slide on finish washers to provide attachment points for the strap. Leather stores and hobby stores, along with travel case companies, sell ready-made pieces which will save a lot of time and headache to use instead. I just didn't want to wait, so I made my own.

The leatherette strap I used came from an unused duffle strap I found in my closet. I cut it to size, then folded the cut end to match the finished end. It didn't seem necessary to purchase double-sided leather cap rivets, so I just drilled two holes in the folded end and used 5/16 pop rivets to attach the swivel clasp.

Drill, screw, or glue the gear train and the display bezel to the front panel.

Solder the buck boost Vin to the (+) and (-) battery wires, power switch, and power LED. Solder wire from the -Vout to the ground point established in step 8. Solder 2 wires to +Vout and install a male Dupont connectors to the ends. One will plug into the Arduino 5V, and the other will plug into the servo's +5 input.

Attach the buck boost by cutting a 1 1/2x1 inch nylon rectangle, then drilling a hole in the corner and using a #4 wood screw to secure it to the case as a cover. The nylon piece acts as a retainer to secure the buck boost and guide the wires.

Download and rename scanner.txt to scanner.ino and open it with your Arduino IDE. Compile and upload it to your Mega 2560 board. I had to use an external FTDI to upload to my board because it is so old it uses a USB-B port. Modern boards use a USBC so you can program them directly. Be sure to select your correct board name under Tools>Board>Board Manager so it uploads correctly. There are multiple libraries you must add as well. They are:

Servo, Adafruit SSD1306, and Adafruit BusIO. You must also include Adafruit_GFX.h, Wire.h, math.h, servo.h, and any optional fonts you wish. To get the large text on the displays, I added Fonts/FreeSansBold12pt7b.h.

Using these diagrams, it should be easy to attach your component wiring to the correct pins on your Arduino board. Of course, if you end up using different pins, whether by choice or board constraints, be sure to update your scanner sketch with the correct pin numbers, respecting PWM, Digital, and Analog.

Test all the switches before assembly. Then attach the front panel to the case with finish washers and screws along with the rear panel, and test again. If all is well, congratulations! Now is a good time to add finishing touches such as screws and extra "rivets." 2mm flexible silicone tubing painted gold can be added as conduit, or use 12 or 10 ga copper wire. Complete the look by rubbing black tempera over the surface to age the gold vinyl.

1. Lithium grease at Amazon
2. Rub n' Buff at Hobby Lobby
3. LED bezels at Amazon. These are plastic but metal are available as well
4. Buck Boost boards at Amazon
5. OLED displays at Amazon. Mine came with separate addresses. But if your boards both display the same thing, you may have to jumper one of them to the alternate address.
6. 2mm silicone tubing at Amazon
7. Nylon screws at Amazon
8. Metal m2 screws assortment at Amazon
9. Dupont connectors at Amazon
10. Plastic gear assortment at Amazon
11. Continuous motion servos at Amazon. Not the same as typical 180° servos
12. 1/16" ABS sheet 8x12 at Amazon
13. Gold textured metallic permanent vinyl at Michael's
14. 5mm googly eyes at Michael's
15. Arduino Mega 2560 with 256K Flash at Amazon
16. Swivel snap hooks and hardware at Wawak
17. Leather rivets and hardware at Tandy

Remaining items like wire, toggle switches, battery holders, and LEDs can be found at both Amazon and Amplified Parts.

Wood screws, finish washers, super glue, spray adhesive, and tempera paint are readily available at Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart, and Michael's or Hobby Lobby.