SJ, You must have the patience of Job! I know you are getting close. I am dying to see it in it's full glory. When do you think you will be projecting?

The actual truth is that since all things are related to each other, its easy to lose focus on any one thing...

However...

I do have a new designer with me who has been steadfast and good company to boot. Sometimes she even falls asleep while Im gaming, which is my way of releasing stress...

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lol! :-)

So here I am working (playing) with the new design for the front fresnel adjuster and I start to realize that something is SERIOUSLY out of whack....

Im looking at the depths I had somehow got lodged in my memory and was amazed that everyone elses looked thick and mine was kinda slim...

...so I took out my plans.....wrong plans...where are my plans?....."Honey? Have you seen my plans?....No, the ones for the PJ....Okay. I'll check the garage."

Its a testament to how often I play with this design in my head that I cannot recall seeing my plans since I cut the spacers for the sled....

Hmmmmmmm....no plans in the garage...How about the car?...Nope....Office?...Oh Gawd No! Not the Office!

Okay. Not as bad as I thought. It takes me half an hour to discover they were in a sachel for traveling to one of my duty stations...

So I look at the design. Damn! I had been trying to do 6mm and 8mm respectively when I should have been doing .6 Inches and .8 inches....

Jokes on me!

So then I thought it was easy enough to screw it up, so why not make some pre spacers? Translated to MM and then cut into measure units, mounted on sticks...
Like so...

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It makes adjusting these little boogers so easy. Even for just winging it. Just insert your selected spacer, in this case it was the one for the front fresnel, and adjust until there is slight pressure, then remove...so simple...

A shot in action...

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Now the new design makes more sense.....jeeessshhhh

That's a pretty cool idea. That should make a lot easier for us noobs!!!

Like I said, Im trying to make this available to everybody, not just the science class kids...
I want to help everyone get a little somthin somethin out of their PJ!

And for that, you have my heartfelt thanks!!!

(most of this rant has been removed...)

Well, I had the "opportunity" to go to an empathy class today. Mandatory training for all folks in my branch...sigh)

Thats what I like about being a geek.
People get mad, they pout, they get over it. End of line.
I spent 17 years in the psych field. I used to teach a class similar to this...It was like Deja Vu all over again...

So I multi-tasked and planned a few things....

First the gate needs to be finished and its nearly there. as you recall I built some hinges for it with variable pressure adjustments. Now I attach the large flyer wings to them and we are on the way. I have since learned or remembered that these are called "barn doors"...

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With two of these, I can now replace the bendy things I came up with and put it something a little more linear...I attached them to the single bolt on the holder for the adjuster for the screws...

And here they are...

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I like this a whole lot better than sitting there and bending those nice warm metal flaps by hand...

Now a quick test to see if they still do the same function... I grabbed a shot of it just as the bulb was warming up. It seems like I get a sharper box if I do it while the bulb is still in the green stages...

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I did paint the interior of the flaps black, but I think I will most likely use a high temperature flocking to reduce incidence.

Now I think I will go look at some of the sketches I made today. I may have figured out a way to make the fresnel adjuster even simpler.
By the way if you have old sketches of your intial designs, its really fun to take them out and look at them...

Have a good night all!

Hey SamuraiJack,
How is it that you can change the description of your plog in the Plog list. I just can't figure out how to do it. Your help would be much appriciated. Sorry to clog you awsome plog your, just on a whole other level. Awsome work.

hey, if u edit the first post in your plog.. u can change the desc. that show up in the plog thread list.

Thanks for the compliment! This is my play project, so Im taking it nice and slow and having fun.

comp_atkins has it right, just edit your first post!

Okay, so I finally got around to putting a few ideas to wood...Im trying to make this really simple so that even someone with just a pocket knife could make one. No CNC machines and complex algorithims, just good old move it around!

So I promised a 3 dimensional fresnel adjuster and here is how its going to be made....

First make your frame.

Then cut a strip of wood roughly the size of the width of the frame. You will trim the ends later so dont worry too much about precision. Then cut two more pieces about twice as long as the strip is wide...

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Now measure to the center of the two small pieces and give each one about 1/8 of an inch on either side. Mark it if you like. We are going to cut channels about 1/8 inches deep. It will be oval...


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Now , if you have a dremel, great. If not you could use a saw, a file on its side or even a sharp knife to make the trench. Just remeber to keep the piece nice and still and cut AWAY from yourself....

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continued...

continued!


This is what you are shooting for. It doesnt even have to be that even. Just need a few MM on each side to adjust....Adjust you say?


Mark the longer piece like so and cut a very shallow trench in it...

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Once you are done, you can take a drill, piece of sandpaper or whatever and round out the trench so that its just tall enough to accomodate some threadbar or a long machine screw...


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Next, we will need to make a small channel on the outside of the smaller blocks. Once again think of this as a spot for a small machine screw...

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More to come later....LOST is on!

its a GREAT show!

Yep, its such neat show that I forgot to come back and post more pictures and details. More to come tonight...promise!

Where are you guys up to in lost? Here in the uk,we have just had the brother and sister's story!

Its an awesome show!

second season baby! all sorts of stuff going on.. i wont spoil it for ya though suffice to say there are plenty of surprises

so where was I last night? Ah yes...

so now your thee pieces should look like this...
Nice and simple.

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This a basic layout of how the hardware for the 2 axis' will go...

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And last but not least, the glueing. Dont worry too much about stray glue. You can always use a drill bit to take it out. Once you have set your pieces it will be on the the next steps.

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Dont forget to clamp. Even though these are small pieces, if you adjust them in the wrong order things could get tight for them...

okay, more on the 3d-fresnel adjuster...

so last time we clamped, and now we tale a drill or some such and clear out the channels. Test it with a piece of the rod you will use to suspend the rig. It should move freely, but not jump around too much...

As you can see, I have alread sunk the side adjuster screw. Whats important is the amount of space left between the end and the screw thread whn its all the way in...You are going to trim any excess with a saw so that when the screw is all the way in, its holding the thread rod against the far side. It DOES NOT have to be bone tight...

Notice that the end of this screw has been thrimmed. If you dont do that then the screw will try to find its way up/under the rod and you will break the hanger.

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A shot of the unit with one of its holder s in place....

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and another. Look closely at the pocket and you can see the screw gently holding the rod in place. Gentle screwing is good...

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Next, it will be time to drill...

Drilling can be a pain. The only words of wisdom anyone really needs are:
Do it on a flat surface.
Drill from the top down.

Centering can also be a brute. If you have a piece of the stock your working with measure out a square and then do the old "connect the corners for the square"

Like so...

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You dont have to worry about accuracy now because the only time it will count with this hanger is when you hang the fresnel lens. And even then its pretty lenient (SP?)

Now comes the weird part. What? You didnt think I was going to do this without a little wierdness, did you? Pick two bolts for your hangers and then take the far end with the head and leave enough room for your fresnel frame thickness. Then bend it.
I used a vice. 5.00. Yard Sale...

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and the tool I used to delicately bend them over...heheheheheee

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More to come...

i'm lost at this point but waiting to see what u come up with

So after you have bent the bolts ( you dont have to use bolts, I just used what was lying around.) the with the addition of a few small hardware pieces you are ready to assemble. Normally we would mount the fresnel frame, but Im leaving it out for now to keep things clear.

The bolts go in like so...

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You are going to want to put a bolt at the bottom, right next to the curve. This will keep the spring from crowding the Fresnel frame. You dont need an industrial spring either. Standard hardware store stuff works very well.

Assembly order is like so..

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Now, we are almost finished with the mechanism. Two more springs and thats it...

More to come...

and the finished model...

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Side view...

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Mounting for this has only one problem point, but its easy to watch out for.

Well. I ran into alittle problem with my spacing...hehe...

Turns out if you use a 3/4 space meter against a 3/4 stock, you end up resting the guide in a space where there is no wood....see?

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Okay, so not the brightest bulb on the tree. But in the couse of thinking a little more, I figured out I can just as easily do this with the rear fresnel as well, with just a slight modification to the rear fresnel frame and a tiny smidge of luck.

The origin of the mistake? Well as you can see from the next picture, my bit slipped while I was trying to get a little more play from my slot ( stop it! ), So I dropped the outer anchor points and moved them inward to the large sealer piece I used for the top. That way I can remove the front and rear fresnel frames and lenses in less than a minutes. Bonus!

The pieces down at the bottom are new 3/4 aspen strips working on becoming part of an LL project...

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so...using the old reduction technique, I drew out a depth of wood from the table saw on the ends of the spare stock and tested them to make sure they could accomodate the screw width without binding...

Trim the void first, then trim the ends....most folks I know REALLY like their fingers.

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The grooves. I found an even easier way to do these. Just take a drill bit and lay it on its side in the center of the strip. Be patient and it will start to "nestle" into the wood. Just keep on going, Dont Press! and soon it will be a straight recessed channel.

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Not EXACTLY what a drill was designed for, but it makes it easier for folks to build...

Notice that I am making two of these units...

Now a side by side of how these compare. You can see how the channel is set deeper towards the middle of the frame. This will allow it to ride fully on the center piece. Loosen the two screws and it will come right out, fresnels and all.

In the meantime, Im hoping these will do nicely for adjusting the frames and the fresnels inside them...

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My friend Tom says I should learn CAD...
Ive been called a cad many times, so it should be very easy to learn, right?

I come home and its raining. I have heard the reports of snow, but I think " Ah, how bad can it be?"

Heres my answer:

This is two hours worth. Im thinking of snowshoeing to the garage...

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yikes.. snow already? what happened to summer?

Yikes... That's the kind of weather that we're supposed to have around HERE! We're up in the "Frozen North" and expecting temperatures in the high teens tomorrow. (Mid 60s for you south of the 49th.)

I wonder what kind of screen snow would make. All those ice crystals...

Here in Florida is just a toasty 55 degrees. Shorts weather... I don't envy you at all!!

Haven't seen snow in about 12 years since I moved down here from NY.

Hey! Samuraijack

Nice picture! What kind of camera are you using?
Wow! I'm not looking foward to that though!!! Cold weather.

That's the kind of weather we usually get around here aswell.

P.S.
I've been following your plog. You do nice work... keep it up!
I'm looking foward to your final results.


Later

a.k.a

Man , this was bad....
I lost two trees, one of which was a 100 year old apple tree I had resurrected from going wild. I had semi-good apples this year...

In the end we got a foot of snow by 7 AM, all of which was wet, sticky and VERY heavy. I did manged to rescue my new willow tree. Shook off the snow and it kinda raised up from the ground like some franken-tree...uugghhhhhh!!!!

The camera is a kodak DX3760 ( somewhere in that range).

Thanks for the compliment. Im having a great time building this. Seems like everytime I get something figured out, I think of a better way to do it...At this rate I will never get done.

Samurailjack


Sorry to hear about your trees. 100 year old tree is not replaceable...
I didn't realize you guys had so much snow.

Keep up the good work.

Later

aka

Well, took some time off due to a small back problem, probably tension related, and spent the day at home. I have so much PTO, that three people joked that it was about time I did it.

Sooooooo.....after the muscle relaxants kicked in, and I finished a two hour stint with a nice cozy heating pad, I was ready to do a little more work on the PJ...Why not? Its relaxing...

This should be the BETA assembly for the 3-D lense adjusters.
Now because I had my tolerances so small, this will look strange at first, but thats only because Im doing this with extra materials. If I had this to do again, I would have used a 15 inch internal diameter...

So here is the top crossbar for the lens assembly...just a basic piece of pine but its the central piece which all the other fresnel assemblies hang off...I used a pair of straight through threaded rod pieces...

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This next picture is a down shot of most of the pieces you will need. Notice there isnt anything really fancy here...its all simple.

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Basic assembly...

Use the sliders you made with the holes as a template to drill your fresnel frames. The holes for the rear fresnel can be tight fitting. The front fresnels I suggest using a bit two sizes larger so it can swing.

Next, put one of the angled threaded bolts through one of the holes you made. Like so.


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Remember, we built this rig so it could stand a few tolerance problems. It doesnt have to be perfect. Any problems in slight "off" measurements can be made up for with the adjusting.

Once you have one the two bolts. it should look something like this...
Eventually the will go through the bottoms of the holes inside of the blue X's.

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If you decide to use springs to keep tension on the frames, rather than gravity, you will want to put a nut down next to the fresnel frame to keep the spring from interfering with it.

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Now insert the fresnel frame bolts into the slider from the bottom . You can use springs or not. I was thinking I would, but my tolerance was a bit close. So I removed them at a later point. Those with larger enclosures can expect MUCH more room to play with.

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starting to come along....

so now that we have the hangers/sliders ready, we can hang them. Pretty simple just put the two thread rods into the slots on the sliders...

These guys...

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Here is a shot of the final mount position of the front and rear fresnels frame mounts and how they adjust each way...

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Like I said, its really easy to make up for framing or alignment mistakes with this setup. Front or rear fresnel to close or far for comfort? Simply turn the L screws around. Swap your fresnels by accident? 2 minutes tops to change them. Just take the top hangers off each side and switch, then adjust..

Note. To make these hang evenly, you may have to increase the bend, making the angle of the L bracket more acute. Im seriously thinking of making these into straight rod assemblies as soon as I determine if it will have a detrimental effect on the keystone action.

Here's a slightly blurry shot of the setup from the side. Im thinking about some anchor points at the bottom, but not yet...

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Here is a better shot of the top with the parts labelled...

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The rest is just adjustments and I noticed I forgot to put on the side lock bolts, but to be honest, if you dont move your PJ a lot, you could do it just as easy with a stiffer set of springs. They could keep pretty good tension on them. Originally I was also going to put the depth bolt directly into the frame, but you need to keep the arc of the keystone mech as close to the fresnel as possible.
Plus it gives me the option to do other things later...

The results?

This is a picture of the alignment after two minutes of adjustment. Its actually dead on, but the site in my camera is off center...

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And this is a picture of the same from a slightly higher angle. Dont just do spot on checks, do them from the middle ( keep your eye exactly level) and from the top to check on vertical alingnment

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Looks like Im getting closer. Oh and the total cost for wood and hardware was 5.77 +tax...US.


so, what yah think?
(sound of crickets chirping....)

very clever.. allows for perfect fresnel alignment.. so whats left to do?

Play...
sing...
dance...

Improve the efficiency of the triplet...

Or maybe just finish the outer case...

Actually, there are a few things left to do with the 3d lens adjuster.
1. I should put in the locking screw for the horizontal adjustment
2. I need to adjust the angle of the hangers for both frames. Looks like they are hanging a tiny bit off center
3. I need to trim the top bolts so it can fit in the main enclosure
4. I need to anchor the rear fresnel frame with something adjustable.

Looks like I should be able to strip off the saran wrap this weekend....From the fresnels, I mean...

Very nice SJ.
Should give you all the adjustment you ever need.
Very inventive!

Wonderfully inventive, and practical. The only problem that I might see is for the rest of us who are using active cooling. (I know that you're planning not to.) A simple arrangement of flexible rubber weatherstripping should not interfere with adjustment, and still direct airflow.

Samuraijack,

Michigander here, we get alot of snow so I feel for you.

We normally get out to Vermont once per year camping, it's a great state!
Sadly this year we didn't get there, but for a good reason though.
The wife is preggers with our first kid, when we planned on going on our Vermont
trip gas prices SOARED and she had alot of nausea.

Hopefully we'll get out next year, swing by Grafton, camp at Mt. Philo etc.


Oh yeah, and make the obligatory tours of Ben n Jerry's, Cabot's and Lake Champlain chocolates!



FS

Heheheee. Mt Philo is literally 15 minutes away from me. Congrats on the new child! Its like the universe just wrapped you in the head with a 2x4 the first time you see them. I have two daughters who I wouldnt trade for the world....most days

PS. If you have a high tolerance for chaos, drop me a line and we can hang out!

Two daughters how easy that must be, I've got two boys the two year old is faster than Dash from "The Incrediables" pretty bad when you can't keep up with a two year old. But when the teens hit the girls may pose a few more "issues"

Easy! Hah! I am cursed with a very good memory of all the girls I have been with since I was a wee lad, and those images are going to haunt me. With boys, its easy "I want them to be just like me!"...

...with girls its "I need to protect them from guys like I was!"

Getting the Itch...
My dog is a very mellow animal, and terrific companion. About every three weeks or so, she will get up and just tear a round the room and go nuts!
Thats how I feel right now...just before she goes wild

I know I said I was going to take my time and lots of snaps along the way, but lately I have been fighting off the urge to just blindly run forward and complete it in a night! I see all these neat pictures of folks with their PJ's and final photos and think to myself "If I strip the panel, I could have something on the wall by tonight."

I also have a newfound respect for those PLOGs that hit the end so soon. Its a very seductive call to finish the PJ. Two sides to every coin...
Now I understand how so many PLOGs are just a start and then BAM! Right to the finish!
In the end, its how you feel about the thing you have done that counts most.

I AM going to complete this with full pictures and narration, I just needed to vent a little.

So I stick by my original goal to take a lot of notes and hopefully generate something someone can use.
Is it worth it?
Well, I did say I was going to do it this way and I find honor in keeping my word.

But, Damn! This is harder than I thought it would be.


Not much to see right now. Im just doing a little finish work so I dont have to seal it while its assembled. Just a few coats of poly on the pine frame components.
The lighter surfaces should be Kid-proof. My little one has just discovered PB and J....

I so hear that...

I had planned on taking a long time with my projector, but I never promised anyone. So when it came time for "But I could get a projection up..." I went ahead and did it.

Surprisingly, considering how much adjustability I "sacrificed" in order to get it done, it's turned out to be a very versatile box indeed. But it does lack the reference-style PLOG that you've built up so far.

So I spent Saturday chopping up my favorite tree. Actually I spent the time sitting while a friend did it, then I fixed his computer. Love that barter system! You have a chainsaw, I have a multimeter....!

In the meantime, I did get a chance to check the adjustments on the fresnel adjusters and I think I can make them straight with little or no problem. That will save folks bending and cutting time in the overall construction and make it easier to build. It will mean getting a few extra percentages of degrees out of alignment on the top, but I think the trade will be worth it. It shouldnt really come into play unless you have a long drop from the adjusters or if your keystone is severe. It may also involve some small lead weights at the bottom to counteract the force of the springs. It shouldnt be much though.

More to come...

Okay. Its defintely a doable thing. So the first thing I did was to take the previous "L" shaped hangers and cut the bottom part of the L's of of them. Yes, I cut cut the L out of them....

In the next version, you can use a straight piece. It will do the same job.

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Basically these pieces are about an inch and a half (36mm) but I will trim off at least 10mm. The adjuster rods have to be below the ridge of the main support frame. Next time...the luxury of a few extra MM could be really nice.

Using the holes, previously drilled for the L screws, I drill down into the hole...

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Since the holes line up with the holes from the adjuster, it should be fine...but! Watch out and be prepared to switch the adjusters plates with each other. The only drawback to this method is that once the screws are in, they are rigid and might have to be abused a little to get clearance...Whicha!


Then screw in the adjuster screw and be really careful. If you can use vise grips to get a nice steady, straight penetration. If not, the rod may crack the wood.

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...and so does it work?
Does a Samurai drink Sake at night?

Yep, it works. The keystone adjustment is a little stiff, but its nothing a few small weights wont cure. It also hangs much better than before since it doesnt have the odd angle to contend with. A finished shot from above...

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And a shot from the side. Notice the rather obvious angle that the fresnel header sits at? I think it might be a much as 5 degrees, but you can make up for it with the adjustments and it all aligns very well. Once again, after a remount, it took a minute to align it all.

It does need a tiny bit of weight at the bottom. Maybe two large sinkers, the bend on type. Not splitshot.

and yes...the front and back fresnels are both gravity driven now...I will most likely have to devise an anchor sytem because I got caught with something I hadnt expected. Frame warp.....(&^$(@)#*^!!!!! )


Wise Shih-Tzu lounging on the couch....look to the right!
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EDIT: I found out afterwards that the spring assemblies on the top of the fresnel frames were actually causing the keystoning to be stiffer. So I took them out. They hang much nicer now. I think I may recess the nuts on the top of the fresnel adjusters to give a little more clearance to my setup. Then its time to mount it in the box.