On 27 Dec 2015, at 20:55, golferron wrote: > John S. > > You got an awesome line up of clocks. Very creative. I saw you did a clock > design using a BK2000 display ... I love BK2000 and with a subwolfer it > sounds as awesome as it looks with the Doug Watson artwork. > > But I digress from my original question ... can you make a clock out of a > Williams DMD display? I swapped out of my Monster Bash the original Vishay > DMD and replaced it with a ColorDMD. You are a bit far from San Francisco, > but love your thoughts if making a clock display using a DMD is a doable > clock project. I have a doorway with about 18" of clearance between the top > of the door and ceiling that I need a long thin clock, and flashed after > seeing your designs that maybe my DMD just sitting in a box is useful > afterall! > > Happy holidays and thanks for sharing your work!
It's a long story, but four years ago I made a rash claim that I could make an existing magic trick in a much better way. I said I would do it in a transparent box and I would also make it work when you took the batteries out. So I did this and Sean Mills of UK's Pinball Palace company has pestered me for the rights to the trick ever since. Way off-topic by now, but maybe it will get back to neon, who knows? Anyway, after making the prototype magic trick four years ago, Sean came up this year with the bright idea that if he gave me a dot matrix display pinball machine would I swap my magic trick for it? Well of course I would. So I made up half a dozen magic tricks and Sean gave me a Bally WhoDunnit in return, along with a lifetime guarantee on the parts and labo(u)r. Just as well, because he's been back four times so far to fix it, the last time a week before Xmas. A three hour round trip every time. But we feed him well and he goes home content enough. The WhoDunnit seems to have been a big hit with our guests this Christmas, which included two Russian mathematics professors of various sexes. My prototype version BK2K, the Black Knight 2000, was taken away by Sean and sold for me. This took the angst out of me having to re-house it somehow. So I got spondoolicks and a new pinball machine. It so happens that Sean Mills is the sole UK distributor for the Colo(u)r DMD replacements. They are selling very well I hear. For the general neonixie audience here, what has happened is that the neon dot matrix displays, now often failing, can be replaced with colour LED displays that have new ROMs, custom-designed to display the old monochrome images, but remapped in a range of LED colo(u)rs. I have seen these in action and they are very impressive, although not cheap. So getting back on-topic, it may well be that I can collaborate with Sean, who has all the Bally/Williams test rigs for the neon DMD displays, to make something that will drive them. The problem is that I don't have a spare DMD display and have not yet delved into the nether regions of such devices. Anyone who has a working display tends to pass it on to someone who needs one, here in the UK. I shall ask Sean Mills and see what he says about driving them. If he has a spare then he will let me borrow it, I am sure. I think Nicko, our dear leader, bought one a while back, maybe he has some ideas? Best wishes for a wonderful 2016 everyone, John S PS: I really must get a subwolfer - the alsatian living across the road needs some competition… -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/86EB2951-1039-4F83-AFA1-1B76FE8C176C%40jsdesign.co.uk. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
