Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

A while back I noticed one thing that i see *everywhere* around construction equipment, but i don't see it anywhere in 1/14 stuff online...

I need an arrow board!
http://www.wanco.com/products/detail...148&type_id=10

Little math and caliper time later, i broke out the solder station.
http://www.555-timer-circuits.com/flashing-led.html

http://i.imgur.com/us80Eael.jpg

15 yellow 3mm LEDs, a 555 timer chip, 2 resistors, a capacitor, an on/off switch, and 3 position switch. I can turn my board on and off, or set it to point either direction, or as a center line for slow moving hazard.

I have it set as mono flash instead of sequential since that's all i ever see around here, and the circuit is much easier to build. Right now i'm sitting around 4 sec on 4 off, i need to play around with component values to get the flash rate up to 1/2 - 1 hz.

Then i'll need to get brass stock and build the trailer!

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Edit
Their site now shows the 15 light boards having 7 modes.
Mine has 2 modes. It can be 3 mode if you use a 3 position center off switch, but it's not the full line.

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

Hi

That looks great cannot wait to see it completed.

Thanks for sharing

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

looks good !! following along so post lots of pics :)

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

I missed that theres some interest and you're following so let's go build one instead of just a couple random updates.

LET'S GO SCREW UP SOME TRAFFIC!!!

The arrow board is 4x8 foot, at 1/14 scale is 3.4" by 6.8". I used 0.040" styrene.

I like using a dial caliper to do this lay out, use what you like just try to be exacting.

The center row has 7 leds, so mark the horizontal-center line the full length, then find center of that line. That's first hole everything is based on, then go 1" out from there on the horiz line on each side for next 3 leds on each side. So center, +1" +1" +1" last light to edge should be around 0.400"
Grab a square, make a line square in line with 2nd led from each outer side.
Mark 1" from center up and down on that line.
Split the distance between the hole you just marked and the outer led.
Drill for leds, poke them in holes. I like to keep same orientation anode/cathode so that it form bus-bars easier

I don't want to do the sequential light boards with cascade circuits or microcontrolers, if you do please tag on and extend this thread.

If you want all the lights to go on/off together like the more common board:
Wire the 3 center horizontal and both far outside leds together.
Wire the 4 leds on 'arms' of the arrow, and the opposite side 2nd from outside leds together
Do it again.

Now you can build the timer circuit and hook up the switches.
Power and ground out of the 555 go to center line(throw a resistor on power leg).
Tie both grounds on the directions into center circuit.
Tie power off the center circuit to the center of a 3 pos switch, each outer side of switch goes to power side of a direction circuit.


I think the real one uses 2" box tubing, but thats 0.142". BUT 1/8 brass stock at 0.125" is scaled to 1.75" box tubing. Close enough for me. I just didn't buy enough to be a meaningful update yet

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

this is neat great idea

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

I'm using a 555 timer chip in mine. Due to the chip being used to teach electronic theory, there's not a lot of help in figuring timing other than "well here's the formula."

http://houseofjeff.com/555-timer-osc...cy-calculator/

Plug in how you want it to flash, and it suggest components that will get you there.

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

I have 5 of these on trailers made by fisher price go them for about a dollar each at the thrift store

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

Post up a pic!

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

Frizzen, do you have pics of the wiring on this thing. I'm fairly challenged with electronics when reading about them ONLY, but with reading, & some pics to show what's going on, I understand better what to do, &/or NOT to do.

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

I don't want to post this, the interconnect wiring in really ugly. It's temp install to prove it works, once a base is built it'll be redone.

https://i.imgur.com/lc48gwJh.jpg

It's wired up in 3 buses. A center bus, and each arrow.

The 555 is wired dead-bug, it powers the center bus. The top left switch is a takes the power side of the center bus, and outputs to power side of whichever arrow bus. Grounds between bus are all tied together.

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

As I suspected, It's a COMPLICATED circuit. Even with pics I'd be hard pressed to re-create that. I LOVE the idea you have, & the fact that it functions is cool too.

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

It's not that bad, just go 1 connection at a time. It would look less complicated if i'd spent a bit longer doing hookups. Or color coded things better.

Make the board, put all the leds of a bus in facing same way so you can connect anode to anode, cathode to cathode. This way you really only have to insulate where it has anything crossing a bus.

All the buses are made in parallel. The arrow arms probably don't need the line to 2nd led opposite if you want to get lazy and save a few connections, but the real ones drop out the 2nd column center row light on the arrow side, this was easiest way i could think of.

Power comes off a 9v battery into the 555, the chip can be a little confusing, then chip output hits the center bus with ground, and power has a drop resistor. If you prefer solid, don't even worry about blinky circuit.

If you have a broken toy or old packaging from something that had an LED blinky light, you can save even more work by reusing the circuit.

I liked the 15 light board, it's most of what's here, and it's electrically easy to get the 3 patterns i usually see.. Unless you're feeling like a badass don't do the 25 led board that can do 12 patterns

This project started because a friend of mine ordered a bunch of components off ebay, gave me some, and i was trying to figure out how to use them. Got stuck in construction traffic...

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

https://i.imgur.com/m1iTo7mh.jpg

I hate construction zones!

There isn't even anybody working on it! It's like they just put up a sign to screw with people.

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

LOL! They're either not working, OR they've got 2 miles of road necked down from 4 lanes to one, just so they can work on 1 lane, for a thousand feet of it.

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

Found this out in the real world, didn't have a tape measure but got some better reference pics.

https://i.imgur.com/tgDWT1Zh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/lkZFXj7h.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ytlLBO4h.jpg

Need to restock on brass square tube, and my local hobby shop has closed down.

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

Now you need to make like 6 or so figures. One shoveling and the other 5 standing around leaning on their shovels, smoking or drinking coffee :)

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

Hahaha good point! We need a PortaPot, a guy with a Slow sign, several guys with coffee or cigarettes, an off-duty cop hanging out, another bunch of guys in dump trucks with impact absorbing trailers, millions of cones and barrels...
But seriously, i'm just glad there are people that do it! I wouldn't want to be out there in traffic on a road crew. People drive bad.

My friend anthony was asking more about how the wiring in this thing is actually set up. My bare wire ugliness earlier was pretty hard to follow, so here's a mock-up of the light board. Some leds poked in, and a flashlight behind it. (I'm pretty high tech, it's basically a LiteBrite.)

https://i.imgur.com/anQUMSHh.jpg
I went color coded here as if it were marker lights, because it makes sence to me, and the fuction is easier to see as circuits

Yellow light is your "center" channel that is powered all times by the timer circuit, if the circuit is on it's flashing.
Red is your "left" channel
Green is your "right" channel
Move RIGHT gets yellow and green lights ON, red stays off
Move LEFT gets yellow and red ON, green stays off

Wire the positive side of the yellow channel to a 2 or 3 position switch. 2 pos gives you Left/Right only. 3 pos switch gives you Left/INOP line/Right.
Then each outer leg of the switch feeds power back to either Left or Right channel. I'd suggest installing the switch so toggle points how you want arrow pointing.

All led grounds just connect together, and back to the battery, along with ground for the timer.

I'm apparently still too lazy to grab my computer, fire up paint, and make a real wire diagram of this.

Do you want the flash timing fixed around 1hz like the real ones around me are usually set, something faster, or just however the timing ends up working out? Or you could throw a pot in as a variable resistor and change the rates during use.

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I should probably mention frizzen has no affiliation with or approval from the Wanco company. They are just *the* company you think of for arrow boards, i'm making no claim to their work or intelectual property. My project is inspired by their works because their products and others like them impress me, and their company has some kickass pdfs that really helped me get that far.

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

Thanks Frizzy!
Any timing is swell, as long as it blinks!

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

Here's operation.

https://youtu.be/zdlbW4NUUKw

Re: Wanco vertical mast arrow board
 

I LOVE it! Thanks for building the complicated part for me.

As soon as it arrives, I'll spend the following weekend(s) fabricating the trailer so I can tote this to various jobsites. This will be an AWESOME addition to the RC playground! I know the guys in the club will appreciate this........................once the Corona has left the area, & we are allowed to gather again.