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Thread Number: 3704
The Ultimate Nerd Project |
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Post# 90110 10/22/2005 at 15:16 (6,766 days old) by unimatic1140  (Minneapolis) |
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Here is my finished project, anyone care to guess what this little box will do (and NO it's not a bomb)? I got the circuit board components as a kit that I assembled and soldered. The rest of the unit I made from stuff around the workshop. I'm powering the circuit board components with 12volts dc power... 
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Post# 90111 , Reply# 1 10/22/2005 at 15:16 (6,766 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Post# 90112 , Reply# 2 10/22/2005 at 15:21 (6,766 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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| Post# 90113 , Reply# 3 10/22/2005 at 15:50 (6,766 days old) by jasonl (Cookeville, TN) | ||
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some kind of control system Judging by those big wires on those terminal, looks like you're trying to interface a washing machine via Serial port to a computer. | ||
| Post# 90116 , Reply# 4 10/22/2005 at 16:17 (6,766 days old) by frontaloadotmy (the cool gay realm) | ||
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It's the new Automatic Electronic P O D (s) preloadable post-a-tron device mechanism! | ||
| Post# 90119 , Reply# 5 10/22/2005 at 16:41 (6,766 days old) by compwhiz128 () | ||
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Looks like something out of a burglur alarm. | ||
| Post# 90121 , Reply# 6 10/22/2005 at 16:42 (6,766 days old) by compwhiz128 () | ||
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OMG that is a burglar alarm thingy! | ||
| Post# 90122 , Reply# 7 10/22/2005 at 17:09 (6,766 days old) by frontaloadotmy (the cool gay realm) | ||
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No No Wait It's to make the new YTD cycle extend beyond 9 minutes! | ||
| Post# 90125 , Reply# 8 10/22/2005 at 17:24 (6,766 days old) by peterh770 (Marietta, GA) | ||
I'll go with a computer interface to washer/dryer/dishwasher controls. You have a program running on the computer that allows you to customize any wash/dry program you want and the machine runs it accordingly. Need your Unimatic to spray rinse? No problem! Want your Whirlpool to spin-drain? Piece of cake! Want your Youngstown to prewash-rinse-wash-rinse-rinse? You got it! Robert, you are getting dangerous... | ||
| Post# 90127 , Reply# 9 10/22/2005 at 17:44 (6,766 days old) by bostonwash () | ||
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some kind of relay. I agree. for not only controlling the cycles an appliance goes through but also to monitor the electricity used? Either that or it's just a damn run-of-the-mill bomb. blah, blah, blah. | ||
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Post# 90129 , Reply# 10 10/22/2005 at 18:04 (6,766 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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You guys who said its a computer run washing machine timer are right on the money! Using Visual Basic to program the Parallel port, I will be able to program any type of cycle I want, the timer increments can be in as little as a quarter of a second if I wish. I tested it this afternoon with a cheap $25 computer that I got at an estate sale for today for this project and it works perfectly! Now my project for the winter will be to make a "Super Unimatic". How about a recirculation system and on-board heater, maybe a 240 volt Unimatic. I have enough spare parts to build a machine from scratch. Just something to keep me off the streets I guess. | ||
| Post# 90130 , Reply# 11 10/22/2005 at 18:04 (6,766 days old) by westytoploader () | ||
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Hmmm...perhaps it could be a timer controller for the Youngstown to increase the wash time? Inquiring minds quieren saber... | ||
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Post# 90133 , Reply# 12 10/22/2005 at 18:10 (6,766 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Oh and I forgot to put a link in my post above to the maker of the relay board if anyone is interested...
CLICK HERE TO GO TO unimatic1140's LINK | ||
| Post# 90148 , Reply# 15 10/22/2005 at 20:10 (6,766 days old) by westytoploader () | ||
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Wow...how cool...a BASIC timer program!! Is the computer you're operating it with a DOS-based system? I like the "Super-Uni" idea too...it's PROTOTYPE TIME! :) | ||
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Post# 90161 , Reply# 17 10/22/2005 at 21:03 (6,766 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Wow Chris, that sounds quite interesting. I don't quite understand what you parts and devices you used to accomplish all that, but it sounds very interesting. As for my “SUPER-Unimatic”, I’m trying to think out of the box a bit, here are my first thoughts, I have all of the necessary parts listed below from other machines: Picture a Unimatic with the Unimatic mechanism pump disabled and then I add: - Two electric pumps, one drain, one heavy duty 30gpm re-circulation pump. - An in-line Dacor dishwasher water heater - Flow through Detergent and Fabric Softener Dispensers. - Two fill flumes, one fills the outer tub, one fills the inner tub. How about this for the SUPER White-whites cycle or SUPER Clean-Shop Towels Cycle: Fill OUTER drain tub with 4 gallons of hot water, when 2 gallons have filled start dry clothes spinning. "Four Minutes of Magic": After four gallons of water are in the outer tub, turn off motor but leave spin solenoid energized so tub coasts from 1140rpm down. Start 30 gallon a minute spray from the re-circulation pump and angle the nozzle so the water hits the side of the clothes in the tub towards the direction of spin as to help keep the tub coasting. Start in-line heater pump heater. Water sprays through clothes and back out into the outer tub and re-circulates over and over again. When the wash tub gets down to about 500rpm cycle the motor on to speed the tub back up to 1140rpm as coasting will slow the tub down. A Unimatic with heavy wet clothes will coast for almost four minutes if the brake is kept from engaging! Wash: Fill the outer tub with six more gallons of water and pump it up through the re-circulation pump. When tub is full agitate for 60% of the wash time (20 minutes or so) and pause for 40% of the time while keeping the water heating through the re-circulation system for the entire 20 minutes. Maybe put a filter pan below the incoming stream of water. First Spin: Spin off wash water for a minute and a half. Turn drain pump on only to drain a few gallons of water from the outer tub so the water level is below stays the bottom of the wash tub to prevent any drag during spin, but keep most of the water in the outer tub to add plenty of extra weight to help keep the machine as stable as possible during 1140rpm spin. Of course introduce four 7 second cold spray rinses into the spinning tub and cycle the drain pump on just enough to drain the extra water. Pause and Drain: Stop the tub and drain the water using the drain pump. Fill for rinse: Fill in outer tub with cool water and pump water back into inner tub with re-circulation pump, start agitation. Immediately add two minutes of overflow rinse turning by turning off re-circulation pump and turning on drain pump. Stop pump and dispense softener and have a minute of agitation with softener and no overflow. Dry Spin: Spin out rinse water, if the towel cycle is selected spin for eight minutes otherwise five. Ohhh the dreams we can come up with. | ||
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Post# 90167 , Reply# 18 10/22/2005 at 21:29 (6,766 days old) by nurdlinger (Tucson AZ) |
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Finally something I can relate to...
I used to do this kind of stuff for a living. Although I can't tell for sure without a schematic of the relay board, I bet you won't be able to sense the relay positions programatically. So I can suggest that rather than writing the relays once each time any one needs to change, that you periodically rewrite them all. Sometimes those wascally welays get glitched by sinister forces (like gizmo's 555 timer was) and rewriting them can potentially save embarrassing erroneous states. I like the hose clamp used to strain-relieve the 25-conductor cable. | ||
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Post# 90189 , Reply# 20 10/22/2005 at 23:32 (6,766 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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You are correct Jason, what I should have said was: Fill in outer tub with cool water and pump water back into inner tub with re-circulation pump, start agitation. Immediately add two minutes of overflow rinse turning by turning off re-circulation pump and turning on drain pump, and diverting incoming cold water directly into inner wash tub. Stop pump and dispense softener and have a minute of agitation with softener and no overflow. | ||
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Post# 90229 , Reply# 22 10/23/2005 at 08:12 (6,766 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands) |
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| Post# 90232 , Reply# 23 10/23/2005 at 08:18 (6,766 days old) by gizmo (Victoria, Australia) | ||
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Now here's an idea, Louis... Take a Miele Lie it on its back Fit a 3 ring agitator and mechanism to make it jump up and down You are well on the way to turn a mere Miele into a proper washing machine... Duck and run 2 Chris | ||
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Post# 90242 , Reply# 24 10/23/2005 at 08:57 (6,766 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Post# 90246 , Reply# 25 10/23/2005 at 09:04 (6,766 days old) by toggleswitch (New York City, NY) |
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| Post# 90257 , Reply# 26 10/23/2005 at 09:46 (6,766 days old) by mayken4now (Panama City, Florida) | ||
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Post# 90258 , Reply# 27 10/23/2005 at 09:57 (6,766 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands) |
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My Miele is shaking for laughter because of all this ignorance. LOL I have well rinsed towels with four high water level rinses and spins between all the rinses. You can actually choose between three water levels for the rinses. Two water levels are available for the prewash and the main wash. I bet my Miele can use more water than a Unimatic if necessary! LOL
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Post# 90303 , Reply# 29 10/23/2005 at 16:45 (6,765 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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I bet my Miele can use more water than a Unimatic if necessary! I have no doubt about that Mister. Are you going to have it computer-controlled, with programmable cycles? And what would be the appropriate Unimatic cabinet to use? Absolutely Austin, that's the nice thing about programming a computer, it can do almost anything you want, maybe whenever the washer is pulsating I can show an icon like this on the monitor.  I'm probably going to use that spare WO-65 cabinet that I have a make my own top for the machine. | ||
| Post# 90329 , Reply# 31 10/23/2005 at 20:23 (6,765 days old) by shanonabc () | ||
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next step is connecting it to the net LOL | ||
| Post# 90330 , Reply# 32 10/23/2005 at 20:30 (6,765 days old) by gizmo (Victoria, Australia) | ||
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yes, with a webcam inside the lid | ||
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Post# 90331 , Reply# 33 10/23/2005 at 20:41 (6,765 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Will the timer be a standard Frigidaire "snappy" timer for that particular machine or are you going to have an on-board display connected to the control board? No Austin, the whole point of the project is to run the machine from the computer sitting on a shelf above the washer with the computer monitor displaying graphics and words to select and describe the cycle that is running. If I want to hear an increment click, I can simply program in a digitized version of a 1950’s washer timer increment click… | ||
| Post# 90339 , Reply# 34 10/23/2005 at 22:13 (6,765 days old) by compactc9 () | ||
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It would be very strangly fun to controll someone else's washing machine. But I don't think I would want people controlling mine. I think this sounds like a funproject, I can't wait to see how it turns out. | ||
| Post# 90342 , Reply# 35 10/23/2005 at 22:22 (6,765 days old) by lightedcontrols () | ||
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....just wondering.... ....with all of that action in the wash tub, how are you going to control all of the suds?.......Mark (I NEVER did find a detergent that didn't oversuds in the TL Maytag Neptune) | ||
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Post# 90417 , Reply# 36 10/24/2005 at 08:54 (6,765 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Mark, that's the beauty of using a Unimatic for this, in the seven years I have used Unimatics I have not once ever been able to oversuds the machine to the point that the wash tub slows down and suds locks during spin and I've had some major suds cakes before that would choke any other washer. Although with that said, I'm going to have to experiment with the rinse cycle. I'm not sure if it would be wise to use the recirculation system during the rinse as it might end up bringing the wash suds back into the wash tub which would be counter productive. But it seems to work find in solid basket GE Filter-Flo machines, so I'm not sure. | ||
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Post# 90418 , Reply# 37 10/24/2005 at 09:08 (6,765 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands) |
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All kidding aside | ||
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Post# 90532 , Reply# 39 10/24/2005 at 21:49 (6,764 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Louis for the heater I'm going to use a Dacor dishwasher in line heater so no drilling for the heater will be necessary. But the spare cabinet I have for this project is pretty beat up so I will have no problem drilling into the porcelain cabinet to mount lots of fun new hardware. Here is what the in-line heater looks like, I think it will work perfectly for this application... 
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Post# 90591 , Reply# 40 10/25/2005 at 06:18 (6,764 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands) |
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Post# 90603 , Reply# 41 10/25/2005 at 08:02 (6,764 days old) by frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie) |
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Robert, Robert, Robert... Did we learn NOTHING from the mistakes of Dr. Frankenstein (you do pronounce it Frahnk-en-shteen, don't you)? While you and your merry band of supporters in this diabolical scheme look forward to witnessing the operation of your maniacal creation, I foresee nothing but calamitous ruin for everyone involved. This steroidal monster you seem hellbent on creating is just another sign that the more knuckle-dragging contingent of the Christian right is correct: THE END DAYS ARE UPON US!!! | ||
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Post# 90632 , Reply# 43 10/25/2005 at 11:47 (6,763 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Louis, the WO-65 cabinet I have doesn't use an outer tub, it simply throws and stores the water in the outer cabinet, so I think I'm probably going to have to make a second hole for the recirculation system. I can use standard sink drain hardware for thtat. The heater is 1200 watt, which certainly won't heat 10-12 gallons of water to boiling, but will keep the water hot and possibly boost it a bit. Yes I was inspired by vintage Australian top loaders with heaters for this and just by the fact that I like the heaters in my Whirlpool Combo and Asko washer. THE END DAYS ARE UPON US YAY Finally I could use a nice rest. Good Idea Chris, the Super Unimatic could be called code named "Platypus" during the building process. After I write the software program to run Platypus, I could put it on the web for anyone who is interested to play with it but that wont be done for a while yet. | ||
| Post# 90635 , Reply# 44 10/25/2005 at 12:01 (6,763 days old) by jmirawm (Barling Arkansas) | ||
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Interesting...... I heard on NPR....maybe a month ago.....College boys and girls could monitor their laundry from their computers. They could check and see if any machines were available,, how much longer etc...Saving valuable study time before lugging their laundry all the way to the laundry room. | ||
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Post# 90640 , Reply# 45 10/25/2005 at 12:12 (6,763 days old) by frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie) |
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Post# 90652 , Reply# 47 10/25/2005 at 14:20 (6,763 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands) |
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Ah yes
I forgot the WO-65 didn't have an outer tub. Next question, I suppose that heating element is a 110V one? Would it be possible to use two of those heating elements and connect them to 220V? With 2400 Watts you would have a real booster. I was looking for the Australian consumer test in which those washers were tested. I guess it's still on my old computer. It was really interesting to read about those toploaders with heaters. | ||
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Post# 90664 , Reply# 48 10/25/2005 at 15:28 (6,763 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Well that's an interesting thought Louis. I got the flow-thru heater from John Lefever, he said he thinks I could simply connect that 1200 watt heater to 220 volts as it would the become a 4800 watt heater. That sounds a bit scary to me so I'm going to try it at 120 volts first and just see how it performs. I can also buy a cheap 220 volt calrod heater and install in into the bottom sump of the outer cabinet.
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Post# 90666 , Reply# 49 10/25/2005 at 15:40 (6,763 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands) |
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Robert, If you're going to use a bigger heating element you also need a thermostat to control the heating element. And also if you are using such a big heater and you would be able to reach near boiling temperatures, you must add a cool down, otherwise the drain pipes might melt. Would all the materials used in a WO-65 be able to handle such high temperatures? | ||
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Post# 90720 , Reply# 50 10/25/2005 at 20:32 (6,763 days old) by jetcone (Schenectady-Home of Calrods,Monitor Tops,Toroid Transformers) |
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Love the megna | ||
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Post# 90802 , Reply# 51 10/26/2005 at 10:36 (6,762 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Hi Louis, yes I realize that. The nice thing about the Dacor In-Line heater is it has two thermostats built right into it, an operating and high limit. I belive the operating is is 174F which is plenty hot. But in 12 gallons of water, it would take a very long time to raise the temperature that high. Jon yes I know that it sounds like a slap and its just for you, for the rest of us its a recording of an 1955 increment click! | ||
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