What will you use Smart Strings for?

[bcstuff]

My plan is a 20 foot, 24 SS Mega Tree with a SS Mega Star atop.

Kind of like this one:

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2011 is gonna be awesome!

Brian

[wwwgator]

I had not had a chance to reply to your PM about this so I decided to post it here.

The only issue I see is I am not sure how well high speed data with no error correction like DMX or Pixelnet or even the high speed serial data the nodes themself use would work through a slip ring. This is the only concern of the design I have.  The idea and work you have done is excellent.

RJ

Gentlement, we use slip rings for data transport (RS-485) between our Omron PLC's mounted on a turret that spins a full 360 deg.  on our splicers. We load 6000lb rolls of paper into our printing presses and rely on the slip rings to transport encoder positions- encoded brake signals- prox pulses (rpm) and other assorted data. Some of the gear is over 30 years old and we only have to clean the rings and brushes annualy.

Awesome idea- and great sketch work!

[PJNMCT]

I had not had a chance to reply to your PM about this so I decided to post it here.

The only issue I see is I am not sure how well high speed data with no error correction like DMX or Pixelnet or even the high speed serial data the nodes themself use would work through a slip ring. This is the only concern of the design I have.  The idea and work you have done is excellent.

RJ

Gentlement, we use slip rings for data transport (RS-485) between our Omron PLC's mounted on a turret that spins a full 360 deg.  on our splicers. We load 6000lb rolls of paper into our printing presses and rely on the slip rings to transport encoder positions- encoded brake signals- prox pulses (rpm) and other assorted data. Some of the gear is over 30 years old and we only have to clean the rings and brushes annualy.

Awesome idea- and great sketch work!

We also use them on vehicles with rotating turrets that have PCs talking over ethernet. They transmit lots of data at high speed.

It can work!

-Paul

[mr2hogs]

My plan is to build a couple of grids (32 x 32 pixels).  If my math is correct that should be about 8 strings per grid and at 4 inches between lights just over 10 1/2 feet square.

Then I can take any small image (or animated gif) from the web and convert it to my "display".  Put the two together and I have a 64 x 32 display for things like this flag waving.

[remixsam]

my hope is to create ligthing for my wedding next Jan.   like wall washers and a cool chandelier (sp?) over the dancefloor...  i will keep you posted... just trying to grasp how to put it all together...

[thshadow]

Well eventually replace all my current lights with them... but in the short term to add some interesting effects to the Halloween display.. It will be cool to be able to give some the characters eyes or buttons or etc.. that can change colors.. right now that is very complex using traditional lights as it takes multiple lights to generate several colors. With SS I can see using very small segments here and there all over the place to give the characters Halloween and other a much more lifelike feel and a few extras.. Santa can wink a bit better; his buttons can sparkle; the skeleton pirates can actually get mad and their eyes can literally glow a different color to express it... Jack Frost can spread his winter blizzard with a bit of twinkle and change stuff from colored to bluish to frozen... None of that is possible or is very complex and only comes out so so with traditional lights.. I think the ability of SS to change colors takes down the number of lights needed to get the same effect which then means you can focus more on the effect and less on hiding all those lights and wires. Literally 4 lights hidden to look like a button is complex; one light that changes colors hidden to look like a button or what else is much easier.

And I am sure there are a lot more things to come but that is some starting ideas I have.

- Mike

[travailen]

I have been thinking about making a big one of these using a smart string.

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I would wrap a smart string around the perimeter of a bicycle rim (leaving a few spokes in place to keep it from becoming oval).  Drill opposing holes in the rim and attach the shaft of a DMX controlled motor to one hole and get the smart string signal through a rotating electrical connector attached to the other hole.
 
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Make a yolk to hold the motor body and the rotating connector body in alignment allowing the motor to spin the bicycle rim like the toy example. Adding a second motor to control the yolk orientation would make it even more interesting.

Rick S