The Steampunk Console Project

Season's Greetings!!!... from The Steampunk Console Project!

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 10:44:37 GMT

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!!!

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A Break from... The Steampunk Console Project...

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:11:02 GMT

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.

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Never-ending
Fringe Friday
Knights!

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The Steampunk Console Project - A New Render, and MORE... such as "Why is this taking so LONG?"

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 10:59:29 GMT

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... I've changed the perspective, altered a couple props, simplified the flooring, changed and simplified the lighting... and STILL it doesn't look right!

For one thing, the iron girders are still relatively simple objects, with ridges and surface details left to bump-mapping a simple bitmap texture. So I may need to try this again by detailing the model's geometry, and using procedural texturing ( which will increase the render time ).

The lighting, I suppose, is an improvement from the previous attempt. A little less stark. But still too simple, having been achieved by only six interior point-lights, and a single bright infinite-light coming from the viewer's perspective. Imagine that the main door is open, and facing the dawning sun. You, of course, are not casting a shadow.

Which is the problem. There should be more complexity in the shadows ( which increases the render time! ). The dome was made more complex, with bump-mapped texturing... and the roundel textures are made partially "transparent" to background illumination. But these are not actually casting any light in the interior. I could separate the roundels from the dome, and make them fully transparent to an array of infinite lights... but that will increase render time!

Anyway... I may have to try this again... when I've got a WEEK or two to devote my creaking computer to rendering another attempt.

Meanwhile... here is a slightly closer-in shot, focusing more on the console itself:

BIG DEAL! SO WHAT! WHY IS ACTUALLY BUILDING THAT THING TAKING SO LONG???

Well...... many reasons, really.

Partly from... from living in a society which places greater value on things like the promotion of corporate hyper-commercialization, rather than the fulfillment of individual dreams. Things like television programming, such as "American Idolatry" and "Promoting Politicians by having their Kids go DANCIN' WITH THE STARS!!!".

And other things, like...

OH SURE! BLAME SOCIETY! IS THAT ALL YOU CAN SAY???

Ah... well... I admit, it's partly my own fault. A penchant for disorganization, and... er... a bit of laziness... but...

BUT WHAT???

Okay. Things like... um... this:

So... basically, chalk it up to one leading an unnecessarily over-complicated life-style.

The console, itself, is but one of a series of interrelated projects. For all of these, I "need" to have the facilities of the instruments, shown above, which comprise my "workbench".

As one can see, these instruments are mostly of "vintage" type. At least, that's what they call them on ebay... ( which, to the American surplus market, is what Commodity Trading is to the Stock Market. Thanks a lot... Meg Whitman. ).

Though mostly battleship-built by Hewlett-Packard, in the "good-old-days" ( ...hey! These are the things got us to the MOON and back! And what have we done since?... ) they still all require a bit of care-and-feeding. Some require a bit of repair... many are not properly calibrated. All need to be studied... and routinely performance-checked.

And I really do need to get better organized... if for no other reason than to alleviate at least some of my apartment-manager's deep suspicions concerning all this "junk".

Eventually, then, at least part of what I hope to do, here, is to chronicle some of the trials and procedures I will be performing to get all of these little gems "up-to-snuff".

So... at this point in my life, it's either this, or give up and sit back to... watch television.

What other choice do I have?

The Steampunk Console Project - an Update... no, really, an Update... sort of.

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 08:22:07 GMT

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.

Part of the problem has been an unending series of distractions... not the least of which has been having bought the PC game "Elder Scrolls: Oblivion"... a very time-consuming game ( but I really do need something to take what's left of my mind off of those other distractions )!

Another problem has been that the next step is to just get in and tear the whole thing down, again, so that I can finally implement some reinforcements of the pedestal section that will put an end to that annoying wobble wobble every time I so much as touch it. A step which, for some reason, I have found myself being very reluctant to get on with. Possibly because... well, you know... life, the universe, and so on.

And yet another problem has been the fact that this has not exactly been a stand-alone project. Rather, it's something that's deeply inter-related with a number of other goals and projects. Such as rebuilding myself, again, toward following some sort of organized pattern of work-habits ( excluding computer-games, of course... and taking into account an aging process that's currently advancing with an almost dizzying... or is it just me... rapidity! ) that will allow the reorganization of the electronics work-bench which will, in turn, allow me to implement the various designs meant to be installed in the console, itself.

Well, as you know, I could go on and on ( ...though, perhaps more about that, later ), but what would that accomplish?

Instead, let me wrap up this entry by posting a few construction-detail pics of one of the console's accessory components: the glass Railroad-Insulator lamps!

Pictures for now, and I'll try to edit in a few explanatory comments in a day or two.

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.... or in a month or two. Or three.

Anyway... Sorry folks. And also, whether due to some sort of forum "crosstalk", or to some people mistakenly assuming that this is a "Harry Potter" chat room... all comments that are not, in some way, relevant to the subject matter, here, will be deleted.

So. Moving on.

To see a larger version of any of the photos, below, simply click on them to be taken to a 640 x 640 pixel version.

The top photo shows all the parts needed for this project.

First and most important, of course, is the insulator. The one shown here is a "Hemingray" No. 8, which measures about 3-5/8" tall by about 2-1/4" wide at the base. The glass is blue with a slightly greenish tinge. Other types can be found in different sizes and shapes, and in many colors. And also in many price ranges, from just a few dollars for ones such as below, to sometimes hundreds for rare colors. Ebay, is a principle source, naturally. But I'd really suggest that you shop around your local antique stores first, just in case there's someone who might be willing to sell you a purple or red glass insulator for a bargain price.

The whole thing is mounted on a wooden base. Here, I've used a 4-inch diameter beaded-trim wood-round, that you can buy at many hobby stores such as Michael's. For this piece, I trimmed about 1/4" off the bottom, so the maximum thickness is 1/2". Looks better, I think, when mounting it all on a larger wooden sub-panel. The piece is red-mahogany stained, and then drilled for mounting the hardware. Six holes for the 1/8" x 2" brass bolts, and one 3/8" center-hole for the threaded tube ( the type used for electric lamp assembly ). The holes are all counter-sunk to accommodate the bolt heads and tubing hardware. Finally, the piece is given a coating of clear satin polyurethane.

The threaded tube is mounted, as shown. The brass bolts are placed, semi-securing them on top with 1/2" long x 3/16" diameter pieces of brass tubing.
The 3 large "brass" flanges, in this case, are made from doorknob trim-plate adapters. These are 3-1/2" O.D., and 2-1/8" I.D., so each needed the inside rim enlarged slightly ( done with a drill-type grinding stone on my drill-press ), to accommodate the insulator. Since the insulator tapers somewhat, toward the top, the bottom flange is trimmed more, and the top flange less or not at all. Holes are drilled, using the wooden base as a template, and the first of these is placed on the bolts over the slips of brass tubing.
Underneath this first flange ( see LED photo below ) I have also placed a rubber gasket to help secure the glass insulator. This is made from a 2-1/4" sink basin gasket, which is shaped to fit by centering and securing the gasket on a threaded shaft, to my drill-press, and then cutting away the rubber with a small spherical-shaped dremel-tool bit with both turning at high-speed. By this method the gasket has it's raised center trimmed to just fit the bottom-inside of the insulator. And it is also channeled slightly, to better accommodate the beaded bottom-edge of the insulator.

Seven LEDs are used here - six 5mm ultra-bright whites plus one 10mm ultra-bright blue, which are wired to be independently controllable.
So nine solder-tabs are secured, with small brass wood-screws, around the center-hole, arranged in groups of three. This allows the white LEDs to be conveniently soldered on in pairs which each have a common negative terminal ( ground ).
The positive terminal for each LED is wired to one conductor of the six-conductor ribbon-cable. The negative common terminals are all wired together. The ribbon cable is fed through the threaded tube and out the bottom. If desired, a six-connector plug may be added at this time.

An additional solder-tab is secured to the wooden base for the terminal to the positive lead of the large blue LED. The LED is positioned above the center-hole, and the negative lead is soldered to the nearest common terminal.
The bare ends of the heavier two-wire cable, shown in the top photo, are fed into the threaded tube, and out the top, where they are soldered to the positive terminal, for the large blue LED, and to the common.

As shown above, the metal flanges are separated from each other by using twelve 3/8" diameter x 1/2" length nylon spacers, found at any hardware store. Each of these has been fitted with a closely cut and polished length of 13/32" diam. brass tubing ( hobby store K&S Engineering #136 Rd Brass Tube ). Six are placed between each flange, and when assembled the nylon spacers should not be showing.
Enough length of the brass bolts should be projecting above the top flange that you can now secure the assembly with six, each, brass washers and cap nuts.
The rounded inside edge of the top flange was created by cutting the bottom out of a 2-1/8" diameter closet-door cup-pull ( yes... also brass ). This top assembly should be shaped to just fit around it's respective part of the insulator with enough of a gap that a 2" diam. rubber o-ring can fit snugly in-between.

Done! ( hopefully )... Now just connect the cables to the appropriate control circuitry of your choice, and off you go! Any questions?

The Steampunk Console Project - Steampunk Keyboard , an Update, Crimefighting, etc.

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:29:06 GMT

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!!! ). With the next greatest problem being: How to make the best possible use of this wonderful collection of gears I've amassed ( this, given my recent acquisition of some vintage Gibert-Erector, Meccano, and other gearage, now represents about half of my collection ):

In the case of the keyboard, I at least intend to have certain keys ( like shift, tab, Ctrl, etc. ) trigger various mechanical reactions ( with the "Enter" giving a nice typewriter carriage-return type "zzzzztt! Ding!!" ). As for the rest... I've found a free online reference that might help:

http://www.includipedia.com/wiki/507_Mechanical_Movements_Mechanisms_and_Devices

... along with Tim Robinson's Meccano Computing Machinery web site ( http://www.meccano.us/ ), of course.

Speaking of which, I've recently found the following... thoroughly wonderful!... online comic:

http://2dgoggles.com/

An alternate-reality Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace!... as a dynamic duo ( always loved "The Avengers" ) using their inventiveness, math skills, and their gargantuan Difference Engine, in the fight against Crime, Corruption, Chaos, Monsters, Poetry, and Aliens! As I said, thoroughly wonderful!!! Please give the artist all your support as I, for one, would like to see more. I think I will definitely buy one of her coffee mugs!

Anyway, maybe some more details on the keyboard later. For now, I've just updated the February 8th, 2009 entry to include more photos and details in the construction of the panel-lamps... which shall, henceforth, be known as "PPBL's" ( ping-pong ball lights ) in recognition of darthdalek1138's rendering of them.

The Steampunk Console Project

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:05:15 GMT

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!

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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... simply a loose assemblage of the prospective components, until the final details are worked out. Note the use of old-fashioned Gilbert "Erector-Set" pieces. Also shown is one of the two sets of micro lever-switches that will be used to convert the movement of the vintage "Victor" typewriter-keys into PC keyboard matrix signals. And note the gears...

Now, by having the "engine" exposed, I don't mean having the motherboard, drives, power-supply, etc. out in the open, or even visible, for that matter. This is a "Steampunk" computer... and that means... gears. So the computer section may end up looking something like this:

...and, from another angle:

This view shows the semi-finished power-supply section to the left, the WIP electromechanical section centered, and the "fiddling-with-it-till-it's-right" computer section to the right ( likely it will not end up looking exactly like this... but this is the general idea ). The aluminum strips, separating the sections, will be replaced with hardwood and brass... and it's likely that the entire console will be studded with a range of smaller knobs, indicator lights, switches, and bronze-finished embellishments over the surface of each main panel.

The central-column section isn't even at the "fiddling" stage yet... as I'm only just now near readying a jig to help me cut the one-foot diameter acrylic tube into sections. So, for now, there's just a few brass tubes and parts to help me imagine.

Hopefully the final version will look a bit more orderly. And... this is the main thing... the gears must be functional! Steampunk... not Steampunk'd ( http://wondermark.com/538/ ). Since this is meant to be a functional instrumentation console... not a prop.

The objective here, then, is to implement a range of mechanical accessories... mechanical numerical readouts, thumb-wheel switches, event-counters, etc. Perhaps even some of the remarkable designs detailed here:

Tim Robinson's Meccano Computing Machinery web site - http://www.meccano.us/

So... opinions? Too cluttered? Too... "Steampunk'd". Too... much?

The Steampunk Console Project

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:49:48 GMT

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.

The Steampunk Console Project

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:07:01 GMT

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:

These were made from readily available parts: the brass bits from two different types of door-stop bumpers, some small brass wood-screws and washers, a small wood disk that just fits in the bottom brass piece, three white-light LEDS from Radio Shack, a machine-bolt through the wood bottom to hold the two brass pieces together, some hook-up wire, some epoxy glue and... a ping-pong ball... yes, cut in half.

Shown, below, is my method for cutting these ( click on the pictures to view an enlarged image ):

I set up my benchtop drill by first using a countersink bit to make a centered hole in a fixed piece of wood. Smooth the edges of the hole with a little sandpapering and carefully place the ball with it's equatorial joint as horizontal as possible. Apply a little hot-glue to the top, and quickly use the drill-press to lower a 1/4" bolt till it's well set into the glue. Don't allow the bolt to contact the ball, itself, as this will distort it's surface and possibly ruin the alignment. Hold until the glue is well cooled. I then use an exacto-knife, fixed in a cross-sliding vise, adjusted slooowly ( and you may have to experiment with the cutting angle ), to cut the ball.

The domed doorstops have an interior piece for bolt-mounting, so you will have to mark and cut slots in the ball halves.

I then use my trusty nibbling tool to cut the slot, and an ordinary paper punch to finish the rounded end.

I prefer using two bolts in securing the brass dome, so a 8/32 nut is held in the outer hole while epoxy glue is applied and allowed to set.

Here, then, are all the parts used in this construction. The three LED's are 5mm white ultra-brights purchased from Radio Shack. Three seems to be about the minimum needed to give sufficient intensity for this to look good. More would be better, or I may add a couple ultra-bright red LEDs ( for those Red-Alerts! ). If you look closely, notice that the ends have been flattened, which greatly widens the "viewing angle" ( needed because of the very close interior spacing ) of the projected light, which then appears more evenly spread out through the dome's plastic front.

Photos showing various stages of the assembly. The LED's are mounted on a wooden disk used to secure the brass dome to the other doorstop piece. A tightly fitting metal spacer is also inserted into the center of the disk. This is used as a conduit for the hook-up wire, and to allow the brass assembly to be rotated about on it's wood base.

Finally, a picture of the project, console-mounted, and illuminated:

They look good, I think. At least good enough to justify the effort. Maybe I'll post some additional construction details later on... though they are quite simple to make.

One other thing I'd done was putting a bright-blue LED inside the case of one of my vintage Weston meters... illuminates the meter mechanism. Not sure about that one yet... whether it's worth the cautious effort or risk.

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The Steampunk Console Project

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:29:10 GMT

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:

The Steampunk Console Project

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:50:15 GMT

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.

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The Steampunk Console Project

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:52:25 GMT

What it will become... eventually.

Though the first section of this rebuild is far from finished, this arrangement of components ( with some of the wood pieces not yet stained and finished )shows the planned layout. The remaining sections will, of course, follow the same steampunk theme, with different layouts according to general function.

Notice it's appearance versus the older plexiglass panels.

mmmmm... Mahogany, Brass, and Bakelite!.... plexipetroplastic, yechh!!!

The Steampunk Console Project

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:52:39 GMT

How It All Began... sort of...

( Sorry about the picture quality, but these were done from scans of a few old and dusty Polaroid camera shots... yes, I've been fiddling with this for that long! )

....a long time ago ( though it seems like only yesterday ), in places not really so far away...

These photos depict the console's original form. The left image shows the framework, built as a skeleton of one-inch aluminum channel-stock. On the right is the semi-finished project, with the original plexiglass panels.

It's functional, at this stage, with built in computer and color VGA monitor. Plus, a power supply and a series of panel drop-in modules providing switches, encoded keypads, LCD displays, digital and analog meters.

Still a long way from what I really wanted to accomplish, though.

These show a little closer detail on the computer, originally a Tyan Trinity AMD K6 motherboard. Now quite obsolete, of course. Oh, well... it's a Type 40... right? I had several I/O expansion boards for this machine, including a homemade 16-channel analog-to-digital converter.

The nice thing about the shape of this thing is accessibility. The innards can be reached from above or below. The bad thing... is that if I have to move, the whole console has to be dismantled. So, it had better be relatively easy to take apart. It is. I've had to tear it down several times by now.

The picture on the left shows the main purpose of this project. A prototyping workstation. The slide-out drawer provides three computer-interfaced prototyping boards, each with a PIO chip, clock and divider circuitry, drivers, and built-in LED's and DIP switches. The console panel, above, expanded the functionality of these boards with a sub-panel of 24 paddle switches and 24 tri-color LED's, plus drop-in keypads, displays, and PIC microcontroller modules.

On the right is the heavy duty power supply which provides 48 volts to a chain of DC/DC converter modules, for powering digital circuitry in the sub-panels.

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The Steampunk Console Project

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 09:03:01 GMT

Well... I'm back to making slow and torturous progress on this old thing again. And if I have any time or energy left afterwards, I'll post a few details here.

Meter sub-panel for console power-supply section. Water-Jet cut brass kick-plate inset onto a craft-store French-Provincial wood plaque ( www.walnuthollow.com ). Two Weston Type 301 meters, 0-10V and 0-20KV scale. One Allen Model 214-327 fan-type meter, multi-scale. Three control positions, knobs on bronze bushing mounted shafts with shaft couplers for rotary-switches or potentiometers.

Switch sub-panel for console power-supply section. Eight toggle switches, 15A 125V SPDT. Eight Radio Shack 272-710 Neon Lamp assemblies. Brass inset onto 4-inch by 16-inch inkeeper sign.

A few of the new components for upcoming sub-panel projects:

Miscellaneous console items. Top left: trial run assembly of vintage style rotary-switch components. Top right: Antique railroad-type glass insulator elaborated with brass door-knob mounting hardware. Bottom left VINTAGE Weston Type 643 meter, 0-15V, 4-inch diameter. Bottom right: Vintage Marco radio vernier, inset onto a 5-inch wood round.

Miscellaneous console items. Top left: phastron 40-013857 meter, VOM type. Top right: three-of-ten Mossman heavy-duty telephone-type 5PDT center-off switches, PM-4013-Z1P2.
Bottom left: One of seven Vintage Lionel J-38 Morse Code telegraph keys. Bottom right: two antique-radio style tuning knobs.