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B-Trigger: Homebrew Trigger Board for Spyder Paintball Markers

I've wanted to tinker with this idea for a long time, but never got around to it. Well, recently I managed to get some time to play around with some simulators and some ASM, and it's starting to shape up. I will post code when I get something that actually works.

Using the B-Trigger Board

This system is designed to use a PIC16F87 Microprocessor, but I'm not sure if it couldn't be adapted to work with whatever unit you happen to have laying around.

It should be noted that at this stage, the B-Board hasn't been tested in anything but PC-based simulators. The code works on those simulators, but my lack of Microprocessor programming experience could possibly mean that it won't work on a PIC. You have been warned.

Having said that, configuring and using the B-Board should be trivial for any homebrew electronics enthusiast who's used PICs before. Once you've set your configuration settings:

; user configuration DELAY_S EQU 0x05 ; how long to keep the solenoid hot DELAY_B EQU 0x05 ; delay between shots

... simply assemble the asm, and program what's left over to a PIC, and cross your fingers. Next, drop it into a B-Board circuit, which consists of a transistor, capacitor, and the solenoid, and some other stuff (I'll be stealing mine from my original E-frame.

Figure #1

Figure #1

Caveats

If you're not using eyes, just tie pin RA3 high so it'll always fire when commanded.

Note well: The delays are probably completely unreasonable, and you should experiment some before you try using this board out away from your programmer. I'm willing to bet that 5 cycles of delay isn't even enough to trip the solenoid and release the sear. I'll fix these values when I have a board to experiment with.

OMFG IT WORKED

If it worked, or if it didn't, please let me know in the talkback section so I can improve things. Pretty soon I'll be getting a PIC programmer so I can upgrade my own Spyder Flash with a B-Board, but in case someone jumps the gun and does it themselves I'd really like to know how it went.

Coming Soon

I'll show you how to calculate your desired ROF and configure the B-Board accordingly, as well as I'll be developing B-Board code to drive LCDs, and many other things:

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