Doppler Radar "chronograph"- they're here...(almost)

Damn! Right in time. I'm wrapping up and returning the chrono I bought at Cabelas 2 weeks ago. That POS is useless plastic junk made in China.

This doppler radar chronograph looks perfect, just watched the video! I can do all my testing at the indoor range and I'll have downloadable data logging.

I'll get one, simple as that.

Thanks for the info. Life saver right there.
 
I got cheap and ordered the hundi, figuratively.

I have designed very little optical stuff and always thought of designing a magnetic chrono. I can design magnetics in my sleep, and sometimes do.
The radar stuff I have worked on, I was always just the power supply guy.

Two videos at the magnetic company were young electrical engineers making presentations, like I did at the podium decades ago when I was young and handsome.

I am also predisposed to get gen III rather than vaporware.
 
They must have had some serious issues to delay production for so long. I am on their list but I will be waiting a bit for reviews at this point. They were supposed to be on the market two SHOT shows ago.
 
I've been shopping around for a chorine and this seems like it would solve a lot of the problems I've read about testing pistol loads indoors. It will be interesting to see some real world testing once it's released.
 
They must have had some serious issues to delay production for so long. I am on their list but I will be waiting a bit for reviews at this point. They were supposed to be on the market two SHOT shows ago.
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The story that I got was that it was literally days from going into production, when the wife of the owner of the (small) manufacturing company became gravely ill or actually passed away.

With that, the manufacturing company walked away from the deal, and they had to start the search for a manufacturer again.

And then they had to update the electronics.
And then they had to meet some new FCC regulations.
And then they had to raise some more funding.
And then they....


It might happen, eventually....

But I'm not going to hold my breath.
I haven't even gotten so much as a single (promised) email update, since signing up for their waiting list and newsletter.
 
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FM,

Neither have I. Disappointing. At this point I am wary that the problems have been more than they are saying.

I had a few PM's with a board member a few years ago who was a retired RADAR engineer who had built his own unit, and he shared an example output plot. He'd thought of getting it to market as a product, but his wife had been diagnosed with cancer at that point and he was feeling about like you'd expect in that circumstance, and so had no enthusiasm for it at the time. Now what you heard has me wondering if this might have been the same fellow?

I'm not sure what the manufacturing issues could be? Electronics assembly houses are numerous. It's possible to (and I have) get a good result from a bench prototype of something and then have real problems getting the thing to behave in a stable fashion in production because of a process influence. I note they are now claiming 100 yard maximum range, but the prototype photos went to 200 yards, so that may be a clue that the problems are with performance. Or maybe that's just bullet size dependent.

The basic machine should not be expensive. You can buy mass-produced 24 GHz Doppler RADAR modules that are in the $10 range. Add the circuit board and µP and display for maybe $35-50; something in that same range. The case mold is likely the biggest capital expense for production, unless you are paying employees. Anyway, the price is mainly going to be about recovering the up front costs, at least at first.

But before they can do that, it has to work.

As to picking up the other guy's bullet, the antenna will probably be pretty strongly directional. While it will have a wider sensitivity pattern than the size of an optical chronograph screen, I would not expect it to be fanning out far and wide. I see from the videos that you aim the thing with a molded-in chassis site.
 
Unclenick,

Your post intrigued me. I have wanted a behind-the-firing-line chronograph for some time, but the Magnetospeed has problems attaching to many barrels and the $600 Labradar has not made an appearance as we all know.

I have sent an email to toughchrono.com asking if their unit could be tweaked to clock a bullet (instead of a paintball). It seems to me (in the $400 range) is should be doable. But I have not gotten an answer yet.

This unit provides a barrel rest and unparallelled portability.

But I have not the expertise to even begin to attempt the construction (or reconstruction) of one.

Any volunteers?

Lost Sheep
 

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Anyone with a spare oscilloscope laying around) care to experiment?

A second idea (an ALMOST behind-the-firing-line chronograph) is to take an ordinary chronograph with remote sensors and replace the sensors with two (paired) wire loops extended in front of the shooting position on a boom. I picture the loops being about two feet in diameter, and the boom about 3 to 5 feet long (if the burning muzzle blast does not obscure the magnetic signature of the bullet at that distance).

The loops would clock the passage of a metal object by detecting the change in magnetic permeability as the object passed through the two loop pairs. Each loop would have to be actually be a pair of loops, one providing an electromagnetic field and the other detecting the permeability disturbance as the bullet passes through each loop. Circuitry would provide a signal to the chronograph that would normally be provided by optical sensors and the chronograph provide the speed calculations. This depends on the spike in permabiltiy being distinct enough to give a good measurement.

Presto! Delicate and vulnerable optical sensors would be replaced by simple wire loops. Loops that could be replaced easily and cheaply in the field if a bullet connected with one.

Does anyone have the expertise to make a circuit to replace an optical sensor with a magnetic sensor?\

Here's hoping

Lost Sheep
 
FM,

Neither have I. Disappointing. At this point I am wary that the problems have been more than they are saying.

I had a few PM's with a board member a few years ago who was a retired RADAR engineer who had built his own unit, and he shared an example output plot. He'd thought of getting it to market as a product, but his wife had been diagnosed with cancer at that point and he was feeling about like you'd expect in that circumstance, and so had no enthusiasm for it at the time. Now what you heard has me wondering if this might have been the same fellow?
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That definitely sounds like it may be the same guy, with something "lost in translation" along the way.


As for the issues, I have no idea. I have dealt with electronics prototyping and small-scale electronics manufacturing companies. It is not very difficult, nor very expensive, to get a few pre-production examples built and tested. And once the product is ready to go into full scale production (limited production, as it may be), the costs drop substantially. I can't imagine actual manufacturing being the problem.


I got an email from a member of another firearms-based forum, back in December, that was basically just a copied-and-pasted exchange with the developer. It sounded like he was trying, very hard, to get the product to market, but he just kept running into unexpected hurdles and was reaching the point of giving up or bringing in a partner to help keep the project moving.

But, the overall tone of the discussion was that he was still moving forward. It's just that progress was very slow, and everything was (as it has been for some time) substantially behind schedule.
 
All this reminds me of Vltor and the new BrenTen that is supposed to come out. Since 6 years.

Not going to hold my breath either. Actually I'm moving on and find me another chrono. I need a good one now.
 
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