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Post by nyarlathotep333 on Aug 25, 2017 16:50:23 GMT
Yeah, I will likely see about shortening the wires. The LED wasn't super spendy so I can experiment with it and not worry too much if I wind up accidentally breaking it.
To be honest, I am more worried about getting the batteries and electonics that run the lights to fit into the base of the portal. I don't know if this will need all 3 AA batteries to power it...I am wondering if I can get away with a smaller size battery (or even just less AA batteries) to run the LEDs and motor with. I will also need to figure out how to wire in the motor and any other associated electrical into the same power source as the lights. I don't know if I can do that easily without completely taking the battery box apart - though that isn't an issue to do that I guess.
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Post by Soul Samurai on Aug 25, 2017 20:12:37 GMT
There's certainly batteries with better energy density than AAs, you just need to make sure the voltage is correct.
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Post by nyarlathotep333 on Aug 26, 2017 22:30:42 GMT
Well, the one-way mirror film came in today. I was a bit worried since the 'mirror' side was pretty see through but it worked well when I tried using the mirror in the bathroom: I turned the light off to better capture the reflection, but it also worked pretty well with the lights on. The 'see through' side does reflect it's surroundings to a certain extent. I hope that this won't be too bad when I shrink it down to the size I will need it at for the portal.
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Post by Soul Samurai on Aug 27, 2017 5:25:02 GMT
That's encouraging, keep us posted with your progress!
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Post by nyarlathotep333 on Aug 29, 2017 6:00:54 GMT
Picked up some supplies and ordered some plasticard. I did come across an interesting item, a 'Mirror Sheet' which is a semi sturdy plastic mirror. I haven't taken the protective coating (similar to what you find on new electronics) off of it yet, but it seems like it is pretty reflective even with that still on it. It also seems like it would be pretty easy to work with, sort of like plasticard. It should be fairly easy to cut. I think my plan (read: experiment) here will be to see if I can use water effects to create the patterned surface...not sure if that will kill the reflective quality or not, but I have some smaller glass mirrors I can experiment with to start with.
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Post by Soul Samurai on Aug 29, 2017 6:31:36 GMT
I don't think it should; the mirror layer is underneath the water effects, so they shouldn't interfere with the internal reflections, only distort the final image, right?
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Post by strobe on Aug 30, 2017 3:47:12 GMT
That would be my take on it to. Water effect isn't as transparent as glass but it's still pretty clear.
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Post by nyarlathotep333 on Sept 2, 2017 23:45:49 GMT
I experimented a little with the water effects. They may work, though I the small mirror I used with my first attempt I put it on too thick and it didn't do the 'infinite' effect very well. I'm still not sure I am happy with the results, but my second attempt with a lot thinner application may work.
Also, I'm in the process of working with SparkFun but the motor the guy is recommending is pretty big. I'm still working on that part. I promised him I'd sketch up some diagrams on about the sizes I'm thinking of which will be my weekend project.
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Post by Soul Samurai on Sept 3, 2017 4:29:02 GMT
I was thinking about your idea with the motor, and the big problem I see is keep the LEDs connected while the mirror rotates. I don't know if there's some sort of commercially available rotating electrical connection; if not I guess you would need to attach the power supply to the mirror assembly?
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Post by nyarlathotep333 on Sept 4, 2017 1:36:12 GMT
Yeah, that issue crossed my mind as well. My initial thought is to have the LED lights embedded in the frame which would make it to where they wouldn't move, but the mirror would. That would probably be the easiest, but I'm still undecided how I'm going to make that work.
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Post by nyarlathotep333 on Sept 10, 2017 0:15:46 GMT
Almost have everything that I need to get started...I am ordering the motor this next week, though I might also need to pick up some reduction gears since they didn't have a low RPM small sized motor. The one I'm looking at now is 90 RPM (which the guy helping me estimated would spin around 60 RPM on a 9v battery.
I got some stone textured plasticard that I'll be using for some of the siding in the other day and I have most everything else I think I need. I need to wait for the motor to get in before I start so I can take proper measurements on how big the base (where the battery, motor, switch, etc.) will be.
I will update this as soon as all the parts are in and I get a start on it.
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Post by strobe on Sept 12, 2017 1:20:35 GMT
Looking forward to see it progress.
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Post by nyarlathotep333 on Sept 30, 2017 3:06:52 GMT
So I got my motor, 9v plugin and power supply in...not sure I got the right item for the power supply though. It looks like this is supposed to be used with a 'breadbord' which (after Googling it) seems like it might not work for soldering the connections to it? Anyone with electronics advice here would be appreciated. Here's what I have:
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Post by Soul Samurai on Sept 30, 2017 8:35:08 GMT
I don't actually know what I'm looking at, but it doesn't look like it HAS to be used with a breadboard; I suspect those holes can be used to solder pin-type connectors to. Probably.
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Post by Soul Samurai on Oct 13, 2017 19:32:35 GMT
So I finally received all the pieces I ordered and had time to start work on the mirror. So far I've learned a lot of things that DON'T work. The real problem is that I ordered two different types of mirrored film, and both are unusable. One turned out to be pure reflective and not a one-way mirror film, the other does not seem to be self-adhesive. Pretty annoying.
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