Farnsworth Discussion
- Thread starter Gordon Gekko
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- warehouse 13
raise by posting? or raise the quality of the build lol
I found this forum when I was doing research to build. there's tons of fantastic projects on here though.
getting in to 3D resin printing this year also, so ill need to use these groups to research, and ill pot more too!!
5keeve
New Member
I just want to say Thank you because I used photos shown here to make my iPhone a Farnsworth…
Well… Technically I simply made the lock screen look like it.
Next step will be to change the photos in my contacts to look like they are shown on the Farnsworth screen.
In case anyone wants to mess around with it, please find the files attached.
Well… Technically I simply made the lock screen look like it.
Next step will be to change the photos in my contacts to look like they are shown on the Farnsworth screen.
In case anyone wants to mess around with it, please find the files attached.
Attachments
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5keeve
New Member
I tried that. Unfortunately the iPhone expands the image so the result is useless. Anyway. I like my new lockscreen.
Kukulcan
Well-Known Member
Has a Farnsworth with a working display ever come to frution?
A 5" TFT 480x800 would cover like 85% of the screen, a round 2,4" 480x480 display would cover like 80%. I wonder if there is a chance for a significant magnification inside the limited room of a Wheatley box.
Edit: Actually this would be the perfect product:
btw. faceplate cut from 2mm brass incl. engraving might soon be available.
A 5" TFT 480x800 would cover like 85% of the screen, a round 2,4" 480x480 display would cover like 80%. I wonder if there is a chance for a significant magnification inside the limited room of a Wheatley box.
Edit: Actually this would be the perfect product:
3 Inch Tft Lcd Round Display Tft Ips 432x432 All View - Buy 3'' 432x432 Tft Lcd Round Display All View,3'' Tft Lcd Round Display 432x432 Tft Round,3'' Tft Lcd Round Display Product on Alibaba.com
3 Inch Tft Lcd Round Display Tft Ips 432x432 All View - Buy 3'' 432x432 Tft Lcd Round Display All View,3'' Tft Lcd Round Display 432x432 Tft Round,3'' Tft Lcd Round Display Product on Alibaba.com
www.alibaba.com
btw. faceplate cut from 2mm brass incl. engraving might soon be available.
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BeachcomberBob
Active Member
I've built both the 'plain brown' and Claudia's 'Farnsworths Farnsworth'.
Kukulcan
Well-Known Member
That‘s awesome. I think with the right display I might now cover a little more of the screen.
Edit: So I ordered one of these (was the best I could find that has an HDMI driver), which should in theory cover 69mm of 76mm diameter:
Oem Odm 3.95 Inch 480*480 Ips With Hd Mi Board Tft Panel Module Screen Diy 4 Inch Square Lcd Display - Buy Screen Lcd,Square Lcd Screen Display,Hd Mi Interface Board Product on Alibaba.com
Oem Odm 3.95 Inch 480*480 Ips With Hd Mi Board Tft Panel Module Screen Diy 4 Inch Square Lcd Display - Buy Screen Lcd,Square Lcd Screen Display,Hd Mi Interface Board Product on Alibaba.com
www.alibaba.com
Not sure if I could still fit in a battery. Do you use some Raspberry for the video playback? If so, is the remote control for booting the Raspberry?
My idea was also to use the middle knob position to choose between different videos. But it is still in the early idea and feasibility stage.
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Kukulcan
Well-Known Member
Tried a lens (79mm diameter, fits perfectly with a 2mm edge) on a 69mm diameter image. The effect is almost perfect, nice little distortion, on top of the already slightly distorted image).
Unfortunately this lens is too thick (27mm) so the Farnsworth would not close, will try some others.
Unfortunately this lens is too thick (27mm) so the Farnsworth would not close, will try some others.
Kukulcan
Well-Known Member
I would love to see the innards of your device.
Anyway, this is what I am planning:
Red is a flat Li-Po battery (1250mAh) that should fit under display/driver board, bottom left is the UPS board.
The other board is of course a Raspberry (Zero Pi W) which would play the movies. In theory it could run Zoom in a browser using integrated WiFi...maybe later.
Not sure yet about the 12 position switch for the middle knob, the ones I found likely won't fit. Bottom right is the well known Switchcraft 201.
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Kukulcan
Well-Known Member
So the standard magnifier with 75mm diameter has a focal length of 200mm. That looks OK too, the magnification is maybe 5% - better than nothing:
The lens detailed below has a focal length of 150mm and can probably be mounted like 4mm above the screen. It is available with different AR coatings at a price of like $80 (uncoated) updwards. Might replace the cheap magnifier lens with this later.
Sorry for the monologue, but maybe someone can actually use the information.
The lens detailed below has a focal length of 150mm and can probably be mounted like 4mm above the screen. It is available with different AR coatings at a price of like $80 (uncoated) updwards. Might replace the cheap magnifier lens with this later.
Sorry for the monologue, but maybe someone can actually use the information.
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BeachcomberBob
Active Member
I didn't document my original 'plain brown', but a couple of years later I had another fan contact me. She already had her Wheatley box and just wanted help with the guts, so I built her a kit version. I mounted the Lipo and rear parts etc. on a piece of clear plastic that she could just stick into the base of the tin, and I separately mounted the forward parts onto one of my brass etched faceplates. I didn't need a Raspberry Pi or Arduino (although I might revisit that now they're better products). The video is handled by a six button video brochure card (buttons replaced by the 12 way switch + momentary button), and the little sound card is just to play the Farnsworth ringtone. The transceiver is for my remote control of the ringer. I designed and programmed the discrete component flasher circuit board to pulse the led in a 'screen accurate' way. The lens I used was from a cheap plastic thermometer/hygrometer off Ebay. Essentially, Claudia's is the same except for the rotary switch that, because of the placement of the dial on the faceplate, I had to add a gear to offset it from under the screen. These days, there are square, and even round, screens but they use a different control system which would be more complicated to implement.
I did document the Claudia 'Farnsworth's Farnsworth on Tumblr (but it takes some scrolling down to find!):-
Beachcomber Bob's on Tumblr
Kukulcan
Well-Known Member
A video brochure player?!? Brilliant! Never really heard of those. Ha, I knew I need to bend those pins on the 12 position switch 
Got the Raspberry Pi Zero H, nice little thingamongie, boot time will be like 10secs, but will show some nice flash screen. Left switch will turn the display on off (maybe a 3rd position will also hard switch off the Pi). Right switch will start the Pi and do a soft shutdown.
Concept of what size I should be able to achieve with fading edges to black (without any magnifaction). Middle is yours for reference.
More real world look with a lens instead of some opaque plastic screen:
Got the Raspberry Pi Zero H, nice little thingamongie, boot time will be like 10secs, but will show some nice flash screen. Left switch will turn the display on off (maybe a 3rd position will also hard switch off the Pi). Right switch will start the Pi and do a soft shutdown.
Concept of what size I should be able to achieve with fading edges to black (without any magnifaction). Middle is yours for reference.
More real world look with a lens instead of some opaque plastic screen:
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Kukulcan
Well-Known Member
So I now have access to a 3 KW laser that seems to cut through 2mm brass like butter and can also engrave.
I wonder how to do the middle scale. My first idea was to cut out the scale and mount it 1/50" lower. The other idea would be to engrave it 1/50" and engrave the numbers an additional 1/50".
The problem is, engraving is done by "scanning" the surface and the result is far from perfectly smooth, so it would need some extra work to smooth it.
Any other ideas?
I wonder how to do the middle scale. My first idea was to cut out the scale and mount it 1/50" lower. The other idea would be to engrave it 1/50" and engrave the numbers an additional 1/50".
The problem is, engraving is done by "scanning" the surface and the result is far from perfectly smooth, so it would need some extra work to smooth it.
Any other ideas?
Kukulcan
Well-Known Member
Can someone make an educated guess how deep the engraving of radio waves, numbers and Farnsworth lettering actually is? Rather 0.5mm or 1mm (0.02“ or 0.04“)?
In other news: My TFT display is still on hold in Shanghai, my order of the correct knobs/switches is still pending.
In other news: My TFT display is still on hold in Shanghai, my order of the correct knobs/switches is still pending.
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Zaphod
Sr Member
This is absolutely amazing!A video brochure player?!? Brilliant! Never really heard of those. Ha, I knew I need to bend those pins on the 12 position switch
Got the Raspberry Pi Zero H, nice little thingamongie, boot time will be like 10secs, but will show some nice flash screen. Left switch will turn the display on off (maybe a 3rd position will also hard switch off the Pi). Right switch will start the Pi and do a soft shutdown.
Concept of what size I should be able to achieve with fading edges to black (without any magnifaction). Middle is yours for reference.
View attachment 1551046
More real world look with a lens instead of some opaque plastic screen:
View attachment 1551226
Kukulcan
Well-Known Member
Thanks
So finally I got my square TFT and got it running after quite some hassle. Also the Switchcraft switches have arrived, still waiting for the Davies knobs.
Still will be a challenge to fit all the electronics. Same for finding someone to make me the perfect faceplate.
So finally I got my square TFT and got it running after quite some hassle. Also the Switchcraft switches have arrived, still waiting for the Davies knobs.
Still will be a challenge to fit all the electronics. Same for finding someone to make me the perfect faceplate.
Adam Fails
Well-Known Member
Hi friends, great fun to see people still working on Farnsworths after so long! I was just having a look at the Wheatley website & noticed there's lots of fly boxes, specifically these ones? I made my farnsworth nearly 10 years ago so I don't really remember what happened r.e: Wheatley beyond they stopped making the same boxes used in WH13.
Can anyone tell me what the difference is between the original, authentic ones & their new ones?
Can anyone tell me what the difference is between the original, authentic ones & their new ones?
