first spirographic projector project

[Mr_Boticron]

This my latest project is well under way. I have completed the first two projectors. The third would have been done today but I busted the motor in the process of building it. ops: So tonight its another stop at radio shack for me.

heres how I wired the pots
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4539217

heres one of the units from the sideview
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4539216

heres the two units I've built so far.
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4539215

I have tested them briefly. Shined the lasers off them to see what was what. I was mostly curious to see how the two reflections would interact. Now that I get it, I'm already getting some other ideas. Cant wait to post some vids tonight.

[buffo]

I didn't realize how large those rubber feet were! You've got a lot more rotating mass there than anything I've ever played with. (Your motors look to be a lot larger too.) The nice thing though is that your mirrors are also larger. This makes it easier to have multiple sets of spinning mirrors (more than just 2) without having the pattern fall off the last mirror in the train.

Can you get those motors to spin really slow? Say, around the 100 rpm range? Because there are some neat effects that you can only accomplish when one of the mirrors is moving really slow.

Adam

[chad]

Don't forget to get a small dc boxer fan, put a pot on it also. This is called chop. Shine the laser through the blades so as it spins it 'chopps' the beam play with all of the speeds and you should get some cool stuff!

Chad

[Mr_Boticron]

Good call Chad, I will pick up a couple of fans while im at it. thanks

[Mr_Boticron]

I can get them down pretty slow, but not 100rpm, I'm guessing maybe twice that. i was thinking of changing the pots over to rheostats with a lower impedance and maybe dropping a resistor to limit the voltage to the motors to try and get them to run even slower. but I'm still researching how to go about it. to me have the fun is building this stuff and doing all the research to figure out how to add functionality. The reason I'm using the feet is because I can take em off and put them back on very easily. This will help when I add larger mirrors or pop on a grating later on. I can just switch em at will.

[Mr_Boticron]

heres a compilation of video I shot last nite.
http://media.putfile.com/projector-16

[chad]

While at radio shack pck up a dpdt switch (Double pull double throw) switch. you need to be able to reverse the direction of one of the motors. It will double the amount of images that images that you can make..

Chad

[Mr_Boticron]

Heres some more pics and another vid with some over dramatic music added for effect
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4547545
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4547544
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4547543
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4547542
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4547541
and heres the vid
http://media.putfile.com/projectionshot