Building the WarSting

I began building the WarSting, as seen in Popular Science, and featured in many other magazines and DIY sites. However, once I had the sword apart, it quickly became obvious that the Spark does not fit inside the handle, as it insinuates in the article. Also, the wiring diagram is so basic, that I’m not sure if the original On/Off switch is part of the finished product, or where the other On switch is put into the mix.

Here is the blog with the building instructions:
http://blog.spark.io/2014/12/17/warsting-a-wifi-scanning-sword-for-hobbits/
And here are some photos:

It definitely was in the handle… I know we removed the plastic from the header pins, then desoldered the pins one-by-one while tapping the core down on the edge of the table. Pins were flyin’ This was to make it as low profile as possible. Maybe @nexxy has a picture of the insides she could share?

I would guess the switch should have been shown in the wiring diagram in series with the positive lead near the batteries.

Aha! I was thinking about cutting the long legs down to stubs…
So the positive and negative wires from the battery will stay connected to the small circuit card like it comes initially. Then I desolder the rest of the wires, except the speaker wires (they need the sound from the circuit board). Put the Spark Core in-between the small circuit board and the rest of the components (LEDs, Vibration sensor, and ON Button) as seen in the diagram. That should be it, physically, right?

P.S. I like that shield and Cross icon you have next to your Alias.

@nexxy Can you please post a picture of the insides of the WarSting? I’m trying to see where you fit the core in the handle. Thanks!

hey @pullon7! Unfortunately I didn’t get any good closeups (I should have), but @BDub has you taken care of.

Thanks @BDub!

@pullon7 check out the pics that I just added to the warsting repo. I assure you as seen it all fits in the hilt of the warsting sword. Some of the wiring is slightly different than the wiring diagram shows. Sorry I don’t have the time right now to pin it all out, but you should probably be able to piece it together from the pictures. Please do bug me or update me if you get this working or need more info :smile:

Those pictures are AWESOME. Exactly what I needed. Thanks!

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