The Steampunk Console Project

Despite my not having posted anything useful, here, in quite some time... I actually have made a fair bit of progress on this project over the past several months... mostly thanks to the acquisition of some shiny new shop tools!

But... more about that later.

For now, here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, and a Happy AND Prosperous New Year!!!

------------------------

A break? From what???... as if I've been actually doing anything!

Well, actually, I have. Which I will now waste a little bandwidth in trying to explain.

I've been watching TV.

... but not just any ol' tv... no! I've been watching "Fringe". Which, without a doubt, is my favorite TV series, now.

The entire cast is great!... but, I would have to say that the lion's share of the credit-pie ( naturally, I would have to express it in terms of food ) would have to go to John Noble, for his wholly convincing portrayal of the quirky "mad" scientist, Walter Bishop. Certainly, the actor's dramatic flair has given his role a depth of character such as is seldom seen in many, if any at all, "real" scientists, these days.

It might, therefore, just possibly be... that "Walter Bishop" is the most immediately recognizable "scientific" figure of today.

Which makes what I'm about to say, especially from the perspective of having formerly been a... "lab-rat"... once, myself, all the more difficult...

The series is guilty of lab-equipment abuse. Especially the volumetric flasks!

You see it in every episode... Volumetric flasks set to boiling some strange colored liquid atop a Bunsen burner... with bubbling-jacketed glass-jointed condensers, not even made to fit, jammed into the top... with lengths of plastic tubing stuck down the neck for even more bubbling of unknown gases through yet more oddly-colored liquids... Desiccators! Half-filled with yet even more strange liquids!... and on and on and on... Oh!... Cruelty to Corning-ware!

Well that, at least, has prompted me to return, for now, to 3D-rendering as a pastime. With my current project being that of looking into a possible 3D re-creation of Walter's lab.

Someone, it seems, has to show them how it's done.



--------------------------

Never-ending
Fringe Friday
Knights!

--------------------------

Well, in addition to updating the last entry ( July 31st, 2010 ), I finally dug out my TrueSpace, and re-rendered that hypothetical and highly idealized 3D computer model representing something of what I hope to eventually end up with by working on all this nonsense. Here you go!...




The full image is 1280 x 1024 pixels and is shown, here, reduced in size. And, unfortunately, as a jpeg image, which reduces some of the detail. But, just click on the images to move up to the full size.

So, as you can see, I've changed a couple things... ( plod through more tedious stuff )

Yes... yes... I know.

I've actually been meaning to do this since February. And it only took me two full seasons to get around to it!

Not that there really has been that much progress, on the console itself. ( Read more lame excuses )

I'm continuing to make slow progress, focusing... mostly... on my own rendition of a Steampunk Keyboard for the console's computer. Hopefully this process will be accelerated by my impending purchase of a new bench grinder ( ...let's see... cheap on-sale 6-inch department-store grinder, or an 8-inch "Jet"!... cheap on-sale grinder... or a "Baldor"!... $$$!! Ack!!! ).( Read more )

A Steampunk Keyboard for the Steampunk Console Computer?

... and another sneak preview beyond the LJ cut!


Ack! I go into the next room to take a short nap... and already it's the end of August!!! No doubt about it! Something evil is stealing time from me!!
"You got that right!" says a sinister sounding voice, coming from somewhere behind me.

...based upon a true story!

-----------------------------------

Now! Where was I? ...oh,yes! Damn the sciatic nerve! Full-Speed Ahead! Ouch! Ow! ow ow ouch!... ok... half-speed then...

First, I would like to apologize, to all those who have been kind enough to leave a comment, for my singular lack of exertion in maintaining this journal account. Though I cannot promise that this will change, I will try, at least, to make up for it by being more forthcoming in details in what I do report.

For the rendered image in the previous journal entry... well, it's a twelve-hour render, and I have not made any improvements... but I have uploaded a full-screen image to allow better viewing of details. Just click on the image below to link to a mid-size image. Then click on that image to be taken to a 1280 x 1024 view ( after you click with the little "magnify" cursor ). Eventually, I'm hoping to release the content that produced that image... free to anyone who might want to use it... or parts of it... in their own 3D renderings. One stipulation, though. It will be in Caligari ".scn" format, in remembrance of dear ol' Caligari trueSpace... recently executed by the good folks at Microsoft, for the crime of having fallen below the bottom-line.

... so you will have to have access to a copy of trueSpace 6.6, at least, to open the file ( or an application that can read Caligari files ).

Now, for the console project:

There's no reason why all the panels on this build should be built in exactly the same fashion. Particularly since each panel will serve a seperate range of specific functions. One - power supplies, fixed and variable, single and dual-polarity; two - electro-mechanical ( controls for DC motors, steppers, servos, etc. ); three - electronic prototyping, an array of devices to facilitate the use of the drawer-mounted prototyping boards; four - the synthesizer section ( sound & music modules,and my trusty old ESQ-1 ); five - instrumentation ( digital and analog meters, frequency generators, counters, digital oscilloscope(s) ); aannd... finally... six - the computer...

...which, in the render, you see is not visible. Which is because it will ( if this works out ) likely be the most complex part of the whole machine. Since the computer ( and it's associated network of micro-controllers ) will be the main engine behind this system... why not design it rather like the engine of a... um... "hot-rod". That is, with the engine exposed. Open-frame.

Hence the initial design concept for the computer keyboard:



Of course, this is not the finished keyboard... ( Read more )

I can't believe that it's been more than four months since I've added anything to this journal account. Though some small progress has been made, it's not been nearly as much as I'd hoped. It just seems that whenever I attempt anything like this, a thousand obstacles and distractions begin coming from every direction. And, of course, it's just like that for many of us... but it still shouldn't be.
Hopefully, I can give an account of what I have done within the next few ( or several ) days. For now... here, at least, is a preliminary 3D rendering ( in trueSpace ) showing something of what this project may... eventually... end up looking like.



Well... maybe not the room. But as for the console itself, most of the electronics, materials, and hardware have finally been acquired.

Back to Business.



For the moment, the unceasing onslaughts of chaos have receded sufficiently enough so as to allow me to make just a little more progress:



Shown here is one of two just completed panel-illumination lamps. Two down... ten more to go!

UPDATED October 9, 2009: ( Read more )

Potholes on the Road to Nowhere for Now, Here



I've stalled for a bit. A frustrating search for a properly fitting nut, bolt, and washer turned into a weekend project to reorganize my parts drawers... which has decided to stay on for a few more days.

Aarrg! Never let your... hardware get mixed!

But, at least I received these two beautiful gauges which will be placed, with a third, 120 degrees apart around the base of the console's central column:

More on the general order of how, where, when, which, and maybe... eventually... a big side-order of "why?".





Closeup of the paddle-switch/LED panel ( I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to steam-punk-ify this, yet ), shown earlier, to detail the construction plan. Notice, on the underside, that these are connectible via terminal screws. This is the pattern that will be followed throughout , using terminal strips, cable connecters, and pin-type terminal blocks, rather than hard-wiring any of the raw switches, dials, meters, levers, tools and cranks, etc. This is to allow the whole set-up to be as easily re-configurable ( or dis-mantel-able ) as possible.

Also shown is a PIC controlled LED-display and switch sub-panel, sized and shaped for dropping easily into the holes cut in the plexiglass panels.



Ok... Confessions of a Dumpster-Diving Addict, here. I can't help it. To me, an abandoned circuit-board or unpurchased component is like a starving lost puppy... just crying to be put to good use! Consequently, I've collected, and assembled, a lot of stuff... over the years. So here's just a tiny fraction of the DC/DC converter and relay modules, and terminal hardware, and other things, that I could invest into this project.

It's meant to grow... and I've got a lot of lost puppies to feed to it!



...aand, in case you were wondering, there will be a central column, contained by this one-foot diameter plexiglass tube ( well... wood wouldn't do, here... ). And this will house a framework of moving platforms and riggings, to which can be attached DC motors, steppers, optical components, lights, spark-coils, lasers... whatever and whenever.

-----