BPS Signal R2 Manuel utilisateur
Signal R2 User Manual
Use with Signal R2, running SignalSoft
1.5.6, with R2 hardware.
This document will explain what’s in the kit, step-by-step instructions for assembly, and some
tips and tricks to improve Signal R2’s performance! For more details and resources, you can
visit http://bps.space/build-signal-r2
1. Signal R2 Parts
1. 29mm motor mount
2. TVC servos
3. TVC extension
cables
4. BPS stickers!
5. Signal R2 flight
computer
6. 9v battery
connector
7. Flight computer
mounting brackets
8. TVC inner gimbal
9. TVC outer gimbal
10. M3.5 long screws
11. M3.5 short screws
12. M2 screws
13. Linkage stoppers
14. 1.5mm hex wrench
15. TVC pushrods
Copyright © 2019 Barnard Propulsion Systems, LLC Version 1.8, Jan 1, 2019
www.bps.space
2. Pre-assembly notes
When building your rocket, pick one direction or orientation to define as the ‘front’ or ‘forward
facing side’. Most of the 3d printed parts have at least one star on them. The stars should
ALWAYS face forward; if your rocket were see-through, you would be able to see all the stars
from the front. For Signal to keep your rocket on course, the stars must literally align :)
3. Flight computer assembly
1. The two included brackets go
on the top and bottom of the
flight computer. Paying
attention to the stars and
orientation of the text, place
these on the top and bottom of
the flight computer. The stars,
black terminal blocks, and
“Signal” text should all face the
same direction. The fit should
be very snug.
2. Use 4 of the M3.5 long screws
to secure the flight computer in
place, they should go all the
way through the center beam
of the mounting bracket.
Copyright © 2019 Barnard Propulsion Systems, LLC Version 1.8, Jan 1, 2019
www.bps.space
4. Flight computer power
To power Signal R2, you’ll need a power source of at least 7v connected to the “Bat” power
terminals; 9v batteries or 11.1v Lithium Polymer batteries are ideal.
1. Attach the correct + and - leads of the battery connector to the Bat terminal block. Be
careful to not reverse the polarity of the computer’s power.
2. Connect the leads of the battery to the battery connector, and flip the power switch on
Signal R2 to the On position. The computer should boot up after a second and start
making noise. You can turn it off now, we’ll set that up next.
a. If the computer doesn’t start up, make sure the battery is wired correctly and try
again. If it still doesn’t turn on, head to the troubleshooting section at the bottom
of this document.
3. Secure the battery to the flight computer or mounting brackets. Several rubber bands
wrapped around the whole computer and battery work well. They can also be used to
keep the SD card from falling out.
a. Be sure to cover up any exposed metal or leads on the battery or cables;
masking tape works well for this. Unexpected metal contact with parts of Signal
R2 may damage the computer.
Copyright © 2019 Barnard Propulsion Systems, LLC Version 1.8, Jan 1, 2019
www.bps.space
5. Flight computer setup
The flight computer needs is a Micro SD card to function properly.
1. Place a Micro SD card into the slot
on the back of the computer, and
turn it on again. The computer
should boot through it’s startup
sequence for a few seconds and
into the pad-idle mode.
2. Once the green light is on and the
computer is beeps once per
second, your computer is ready for
flight! Well, not quite yet, but green
lights and constant beeps indicate
the computer has passed all
startup checks and is ready to go.
3. Using your iPhone or Android
device, go to the app store and
download the “Signal - BPS.space”
app. This application will talk with
the Signal computer over Bluetooth!
4. With the flight computer turned on and beeping, open the Signal app and tap on “Signal
R2” in the flight computer list. If you don’t see your flight computer there, hit refresh a few
times and try booting up Signal again.
5. You’re in! Now you can view live sensor data, change flight settings, etc. Feel free to get
familiar with the app, we’ll be using it a bit more before the first flight.
6. TVC mount assembly
6a. Motor mount
The motor mount comes in the bag with the servos
and TVC extension cables. You’ll also need the
tiny silver linkage stopper.
1. Screw the linkage stopper into the motor
mount. It should be quite snug, completely
screwed in, and somewhat hard to turn with
just your fingers.
a. You can insert the straighter
pushrod here too, don’t worry about
tightening the linkage stopper to
lock in the pushrod yet, we’ll take
care of that later.
Copyright © 2019 Barnard Propulsion Systems, LLC Version 1.8, Jan 1, 2019
www.bps.space
2. Cut a small (10cm or so) length of 29mm cardboard motor mount tube to use as a liner
for your motors. Wrap it several times in tape(masking tape works well) until it fits snug
inside the 3d printed motor mount.
3. If you have one, insert a spent 29mm motor into the mount. The 3d printed part flexes
quite a bit without it, but can hold its structure well once a motor is inserted
6b. Inner gimbal
Next, let’s attach the inner gimbal to the motor mount.
1. Remove the large pieces of 3d printed support material. This should be fairly easy with a
pair of pliers. Use a smaller drill bit or long rod to remove the support material inside the
screw holes of the part.
2. Slide the inner gimbal over the motor tube. Make sure the star on the inner gimbal faces
the same direction that the pushrod points.
3. Screw into place using two of the M3.5 short
screws. It should be a tight fit.
4. Grab one of the included servos. Count 3 holes
from the attachment point of the servo horn,
and insert the bent end of pushrod.
Copyright © 2019 Barnard Propulsion Systems, LLC Version 1.8, Jan 1, 2019
www.bps.space
5. Attach the servo to the inner gimbal using two of the M2 screws. The servo horn should
be pointing down, away from the center of the TVC mount, along with cable coming out
of the servo housing. It should be slightly hard to screw in, but the screws will hold the
servo very tightly in place during flight.
6. Finally, use the 1.5mm hex wrench to unscrew the linkage stopper a bit. Align the servo
horn to its center position (pointing straight down), move the motor mount to its center,
so that it’s parallel with the servo, and tighten the linkage stopper. The mount doesn’t
need to be exactly centered, we’ll take care of that later, but do your best. Make sure it’s
very tight, we don’t want this coming loose!
Copyright © 2019 Barnard Propulsion Systems, LLC Version 1.8, Jan 1, 2019
www.bps.space
6c. Outer gimbal
This is the last major piece of the TVC mount!
1. Just like the inner gimbal, remove the large pieces of support material, then the smaller
pieces inside the M3.5 screw holes.
2. Make sure the stars are aligned,
facing forward, and slide the outer
gimbal into place. The outer gimbal
should snap into place, since it’s
another slightly tight fit. Screw the
outer gimbal into the inner gimbal with
two M3.5 short screws.
3. Grab one of the the more bent
pushrods, and insert it into the very
top hole of the inner gimbal. This is
tricky to do, and may require some
force or pliers. Be careful not to
damage the inner gimbal stem in the
process.
4. Count 3 holes from the
attachment point of the servo
horn, and insert the other side
as shown here. The servo and
inner gimbal should now be
attached.
Copyright © 2019 Barnard Propulsion Systems, LLC Version 1.8, Jan 1, 2019
www.bps.space
5. Use the two M2 screws to
attach the servo to the outer
gimbal, this time with the
cable and servo horn
pointing up. Make sure the
servo cable is threaded in
toward the motor mount, not
away from it. If this isn’t done
correctly, the cable may
interfere with the rocket’s
airframe during integration.
This should be a tight fit - the
bottom screw (closest to the
center of the TVC mount)
may be a little hard to get
into place.
6d. TVC extension cabling
The TVC mount is almost finished! To complete the build, we’ll need to take care of some
wiring.
1. Thread the TVC Y servo (labeled on the mount) cable up in between the X servo
pushrod and the motor mount.
2. Use a marker directly on the black plastic headers of the servos, and label them
appropriately according to
their markers on the TVC
mount. With the mount
standing upright, Y should
be the bottom servo, X
should be the top.
3. Do the same for the TVC
extension cables - label
one X on both ends, and
the other Y. It’s worth being
thorough on this, accidental
reversal of the leads will
result in an in-flight abort.
Copyright © 2019 Barnard Propulsion Systems, LLC Version 1.8, Jan 1, 2019
www.bps.space
4. Connect the TVC extension cables to their respective servos, and make sure they are
connected tight! The two cable colors should correspond. Orange to white, red to red,
and black to black.
5. Fold the TVC X servo cable
around the extension cable/servo
cable joint, and wrap a good deal
of masking tape around the
assembly. With the tape wrapped
around the wire joint, both cables
should have little or no slack when
pulled by their extensions.
6. If you were to stretch out the TVC
extension cables, they should now
be equal length at the end, since
the slack in the X cable was
wrapped in tape. This is important,
slack in the X cable could result in
a TVC jam.
6e. Final TVC hardware steps
The TVC mount is built and wired up! Time to get it powered on and tested.
1. Plug the correct TVC extension cables into the flight computer. The white wire of the
TVC extension cable should be at the top, and the black wire on the bottom.
2. Turn on the Signal flight computer, let it boot up into the green pad-idle mode again
3. Open up the Signal app on your iPhone or Android device, and go to System
Preferences
Copyright © 2019 Barnard Propulsion Systems, LLC Version 1.8, Jan 1, 2019
www.bps.space
4. Let’s see how the mount works! Tap and hold the TVC Test button. The mount should
swivel back and forth on each axis slowly. If either axis seems stuck, this is a good time
to check for stuck wires or tight screws.
5. Next, let’s get things lined up. Exit System Preferences, tap on “Thrust Vectoring”, then
on “Advanced”
a. Use the + and - buttons under “TVC Servo Alignment” on each axis to get the
motor mount centered. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect. Each time you hit + or -, the
computer will change where the center point of the TVC mount is
6. If you’re eager to see the whole system in action, head down to section 9b to simulate a
full flight.
7. Once that’s done, your flight hardware is ready to go in a rocket! But first, we must build
the rocket...
7. Using the drill/cut guides
Signal R2 comes with drill and cut guides for the vectoring mount and flight computer. These
guides will be wrapped around the airframe of your rocket to ensure you place the holes and
cutouts in the correct place. If you’ve already used your provided cutout guide, they can be
downloaded and printed on a regular 8.5x11 inch US letter paper, just make sure they’re printed
at 100% scaling. Head to the Build Signal R2 web page for those files.
You’ll want to start out with a brand new body tube for this to work well, though a pre painted
one can work too.
1. Wrap the TVC cutout guide around the airframe, pulling it tight. Ensure that “Line 1” can
be seen through directly beneath the three tics by the number 4. This is to simply make
sure you’re using the correct guide on the correct airframe.
a. I recommend lining up the bottom edge of the paper labeled “dirt” with the bottom
of your airframe for most ~10 cm long motors. You can move it up or down
slightly depending on the length of the motor you use. For instance, the Aerotech
G8 motor is 15 cm long, and requires about 5cm more clearance if you don’t
want it to stick out from the bottom of the rocket. It’s helpful to hold the loaded
thrust vectoring mount up next to TVC guide on the airframe to get an idea of
where things will sit once you make the cuts.
2. Carefully hold the paper against the airframe and unwrap it enough to apply tape on the
edge indicated, “Tape to vehicle here”.
3. Once again, wrap the guide around the airframe, this time taping down the other edge of
the paper, so the rocket remains covered when you let go.
4. Apply small pieces of tape on the top and bottom of the TVC guide to help secure it a bit
more.
5. Follow the same application process with the flight computer drill/cut guide. The most
important part here is to line up the small blue numbers between the two guides. 1, 2, 3,
and 4 should match up as closely as possible between the papers. You can mount the
Copyright © 2019 Barnard Propulsion Systems, LLC Version 1.8, Jan 1, 2019
www.bps.space
Autres manuels pour Signal R2
1
Table des matières
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