Cowboy Fast Draw Timer ?

[Bartty]

Hi all I am new so would like to introduce myself. I have pretty much no knowledge at all about building these type of projects, I can wire a plug, have built a very simple receiver as part of a Radio Ham Novice project and have been Licensed for quite a few Years now. Can solder reasonably well, know that LED's only light up One way round (or used to, might have changed now?) can fiddle with 12v car electrics and know how a multi meter works. So pretty much a novice.
I would like to build the above timer, put out a message on my Radio Club board and there was a suggestion I looked here. There is a rather neat Arduino One on Youtube but the last activity from the presenter was 2 Years ago and there was a comment asking for the code but no reply to it so presume that is a dead end.
That One ran automatically, there were 4 flashes from a LED, then the Led came on and a timer started till a Pezio detected the hit, displayed the time then went in to the next 4 flash cycle etc. That would be great.
I was wondering if it could be done with a Pi more easily as it is cleverer than an Arduino? Ideally a switch to start, a delayed start, lets argue between 2 and 10 seconds (presume it would be programmable?) a microphone or switch to hear or sense the bang and a timer to display time?
Not sure how simple or complicated my request or description is, never tried anything like it so looking forward to some help :-) pretty sure all the bits are out there, firstly need to know if it can be done on a budget, I could pay around £500 for a commercial One. And if it is a sensible first project.
Grateful for any advice. Thank you, Chris.

[ogden]

I was wondering if it could be done with a Pi more easily as it is cleverer than an Arduino?

No. Pi is not for beginners, it's way more complex than Arduino, also huge overkill for particular project unless you want it to be more like TV-connected game. You shall look for Pi only when Arduino is not exciting for you anymore - if I can say so.

[Richard Crowley]

This is fundamentally the "game show" scenario where you sense which contestant hits the button first.  There are dozens/scores of these kinds of circuits/code out there.  It is pretty simple even for Arduino, and vast overkill for RasPi.

Not clear whether by "Fast Draw" you actually mean pulling a pistol out of a belt holster and pulling the trigger vs. simply hitting a pushbutton switch (etc.) first?

With the kinds of modular, board-level products available on Ebay, etc. it would be pretty easy to even make wireless "pistols" that an Arduino could sense "first-activated".  Actually, you wouldn't even need an Arduino as the "game-show" circuits were very frequently implemented with more primitive logic gates/flip-flops, etc for decades before Arduino ever came along.

[Bartty]

Thanks for very quick information.
To clarify, this is to time blank fire single action cowboy guns, not a button press or arcade type guns. Although i expect a button press could easily be replaced by a microphone or other sensor?
Essentially it is a competition between 2 shooters to see who is quickest.
This would be a simple (and cheap) way for me to practice at home, on my own.
I have no idea about coding or how to code, pretty much need to start from the bottom. Did do a bit of program stuff at College but that was 45 Years ago on a ticker tape type thing.
Thanks, Chris.

[rhb]

The Arduino really is the way to go.  It was initially created  precisely for people like you for exactly this sort of task.

The program amounts to a few lines of code.   Send a pulse to a piezo sounder and start a timer.  When the ADC detects a spike on the line connected to a microphone stop the counter and display the time.

You probably won't find an example that does exactly that, but you'll find examples of all the steps.

Very likely you can build a prototype over a long weekend or several evenings.  I suggest you get one of these:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Elegoo-EL-KIT-001-UNO-R3-Project-Complete-Starter-Kit-with-Tutorial-for-Arduino/183356902121

It has everything you need.

Button to start piezo timer
piezo sounder
FET microphone
4 digit 7 segment display

You can get the just the stuff you need cheaper, but the Chinese stuff is wildly variable, so stuff bought separately may not match the instruction pinouts, etc.  This has the advantage of it comes with a good set of tutorials (at least it looks good, I've not  tried working through it).

In the unlikely event that you run into trouble, a note posted on the bulletin board of a secondary school or some other location where kids hang out offering to swap the spare parts for a working unit should turn up a teenager who would be quite happy with the deal.  Especially if you let him practice his quick draw during testing.

[rstofer]

Or you can buy one:
https://www.cedhk.com/ced7000-shot-timer

[t1d]

Maybe you don't need a controller at all? Hack a cheap athletic digital stop watch... Use the push button to start the timing event. Use a "clapper" switch circuit, hacked in, to stop the event. See Google Images.
https://www.google.com/search?q=clapper+switch+circuit&client=firefox-b-1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjklYTAzLPeAhXC4IMKHeuDCiUQsAR6BAgEEAE&biw=1280&bih=667

Super simple clap switch. This article shows it tied to a controller, as others have described, but, as I said, I don't think the controller is even necessary.
http://embedded-lab.com/blog/making-a-simple-clap-switch/

[CatalinaWOW]

You added a significant degree of difficulty in your last comment.  Not something that would change whether to use Arduino or Pi, the Arduino is plenty unless you want to incorporate record keeping, trends, stats and the like in your toy.

Generating the stop signal is the essence of this problem.  For a single shooter a simple acoustic sensor can generate an interrupt for the Arduino and the rest is simple software.  When you are asking which shooter is faster you need to distinguish between two shots which are likely to be very close to each other.  You mentioned the use of blanks and a sensor in the target.  That can be a solution if the wadding in the blanks consistently gets to the target (and if both shooters hit their own target).  The knock sensors from car engines have been used pretty successfully in this type of application.

My real suggestion is think carefully through what you are trying to do.  Also think of all the situations you might see.  Are there ever going to be more than two shooters?  Do you care who is second fastest?  Do you need to get a ready signal from each shooter, or just one?   Will all the guns be identical or do you have to account for differences that may exist?  Then think of possible solutions and think through what might go wrong.  For example if you think of flash sensors, what other light sources could compete?  Could they be dazzled or blinded?

[rhb]

I had assumed these were time trials with only one shooter at a time.  If there are two shooters, a pair of  microphones, a baffle between the shooters and a comparator and flip flop are all that's needed.

Put a short baffle wall between competitors, actually a good idea on safety grounds, with a microphone on each side.  Feed the mike output to a comparator and flip flop to latch the side which was first.  It won't give you a measure of time, but will determine who was first.

[Richard Crowley]

This would be a simple (and cheap) way for me to practice at home, on my own.

Does that mean that you need to sense only ONE participant (yourself) for practice at home?
Does that mean that you participate in some public competition already implemented by others?
How is that competition implemented?  What do THEY use for this application?
Wouldn't it seem better to start with what is already in use and accepted?

[rstofer]

Then there are laser targets with timers for those who believe "Fast is fine but accuracy is final.  You need to take your time in a hurry!" - Wyatt Earp (movie):

https://www.amazon.com/LaserLyte-Trainer-Target-Record-Tracer/dp/B01L450QBW

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wyatt_Earp_(film)


That CED 7000 I linked above will also work for dry fire.

[rstofer]

This would be a simple (and cheap) way for me to practice at home, on my own.

Does that mean that you need to sense only ONE participant (yourself) for practice at home?
Does that mean that you participate in some public competition already implemented by others?
How is that competition implemented?  What do THEY use for this application?
Wouldn't it seem better to start with what is already in use and accepted?

For competitive matches, something like the CED 7000 I linked above is pretty common.  Among other things, there is a random start buzzer so the range officer says "Shooter Ready!", pushes the button and some time later the buzzer beeps.  The 7000 then times the first and all subsequent shots for some long string.  Why?

Well, the first shot includes "presentation" time (the draw, usually from a "surrender" position with the arms raised), then there might be double taps and folks are interested in the time between shots ("my Colt 1911 cycles faster than your Glock!") as well as the time to traverse from target to target.  There might even be a reload.  This is often called the Mozambique Drill - two shots in the body, one in the head on each of 3 targets.

The body shots on all 3 targets are fired first, then there is a mandatory reload followed by 1 head shot per target.

On a single target, Bob Vogel is about as fast as they come at 3 shots from the holster in 0.93 seconds.



Technically, the Mozambique is only one target but, for some matches it extended to 3 to force a mag change.  The "El Presidente Drill" is similar with 3 targets behind the shooter and includes the turn.  Bob Vogel can get those shots off in less than 5 seconds.



A lot of clubs don't want to include the turn so they just shoot 3 targets as described above (9 shots total).

[Bartty]

Thanks very much for all your suggestions and information.
What I am interested in is something for me to practice with on my own, I only described the competition to try to help clarify but looks like I muddied things up instead.
Re buying something that is already used for the competition, most of them are Judges, a manually operated switch puts the light on and then the winner is the one that knocks the target plate down first, triggered by a micro switch and illuminating a LED to show which target hit first. I need a timer to check if I am getting better :-)
Looks like getting an Arduino kit might be a good start, especially if it has information on how to write the code.
Also a ready made timer might be a good idea, had been searching for Cowboy Fast Draw and had forgotten the type of timer we used to use for Practical Pistol Years ago. Had a quick look at the ling, something like that might work but would need to be able to trigger it differently, might be able to add a different switch into it. Hesitate to modify something I have just paid lots of money for though :-)
You are giving me plenty of options and ideas. Thanks again for your help.

[Nusa]

If you have a smart phone, either android or iphone, do a search for shot timer apps. You may already have what you need for one-person practice in your pocket already.

Not trying to discourage you from building one, but you seem more interested in the result than the process.

[Bartty]

Have a kit from Ebay with the components in that I need.
Managed to make a reaction timer up but it had a diagram and the code with it.
At least I have a start now.
Thanks for all the advice.
Regards, Chris

[joeqsmith]

There are ready made timers for drag racing if you are still looking for an off the shelf product.   The one I have a very flexible.  It has two switch inputs for two players.