Fire Pong Meeting 2016-06-11

Happenings

Cheap sparkers arrived from China
- All work(ed)
- Broke one by running with too large a gap - these ones are quite sensitive to that
- In total we now have 9 working cheap sparkers and the original one, plus the crappy BBQ igniter
Lots of 1/4" BSPT tapping. Tried Josh's V block to grip pipe, but it is too large. Settles for combination of abrasive cloth and tyre rubber. Works OK, but still slipping. However, we discovered we don't need as long a tap as we first thought, so it doesn't really matter.
Assembled minimal BSPT section of 4 puffers
- Four is good because it uses one bank of 8 relays
- Perhaps we should have 3 banks of 4 puffers.... :-)
- Bank of 4 us quite rigid with just pipe, and not so heavy - won't need much/any frame... might just get away with guy lines
- Re-wrote Arduino test software to control all four
- Wired up to Ian Prototype standards with terminal blocks and such
Chatted to Greg, who can CNC us the large puffer tank adapters! He took away stock and tank valve for comparison.
Alignment of T's not so much of a problem with lots of PTFE tape
Should get more PTFE tape!
Test With Compressed Air: video
Mouse re-re-wrote software to allow overlapping sequences of puffs. See "segment_of_four" branch in [1]

Ian tested with propane when he got home: video

Small puffer refinement:
- Use copper sections for barrel part, as it results in better flame
Ian took the block of Aluminium to work on better sparker mounts
Mouse to look at large puffer outstanding issues
- Attaching low pressure regulator for pilot to lower barrel area
- Chase Greg re: tank adapters
- get someone who is inducted on the mill to mill out valve removal tool so it fits second tank
Parts to order:
- more PTFE tape
- enough solenoids, pipe fittings, sparkers to make a total of 12 small puffers. Should have enough spares to make one whole extra puffer, plus a couple of extra sparkers cos they seem less reliable than other components, and are cheap
- two units of 1/4" BSP pipe (6.5 meters) from Wallsley Plump Centre
System Integration:
- Decide overall system architecture
- Draft is here