[QUOTE]Originally posted by wicky
[B]mac, I for one would be willing to take a subtle increase in cost.

 

Well, like I said, it was just theory. If you did it and it works, cutting the tips off sounds worthwhile. Do you polish them after you cut the tips off? If not, you can with some toothpaste, a rag, and some time.

 

I tried the toothpaste thing years ago (and once again a week ago since I was bored), but it did absolutely nothing useful. We're not dealing with high quality optics here, so preventing 2% of the light from being scattered is irrelevant. It's almost as useful to lick your finger and rub it across the top to remove loose dust from the cutting session.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ruexp67
[B]



Damn, wicky is just on the ball.

 

Still tweaking a few values, didn't like the high level of light emitted when the pots were turned to their minimum setting.

Spoke with the etching company today...the guy who programs the CNC machine for etching logos is on vacation (can't believe only one guy knows how to program the machine ), so I won't be able to do any custom work for at least a week. The guy I spoke with isn't sure if they can easily etch a stock screen (or even one of Ricks' size) since the vacuum table they use needs a lot of material to grab onto...I will advise once I speak with the etcher next week.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by MacGyver
[B]Spoke with the etching company today...the guy who programs the CNC machine for etching logos is on vacation (can't believe only one guy knows how to program the machine ), so I won't be able to do any custom work for at least a week.

 

I'm being dragged to a "party" at another complex (Merri is in property management) tonight, but I'll try to have a windscreen set up for pics by tonight or tomorrow. Once I have pics, it means I have an entire setup to evaluate myself...once that happens, I'll post a new thread for potential buyers to look at.

 

I am getting utterly frustrated

I popped 4 LEDs into a screen and hooked it up. Individually, the colors look nice (choosing only red, green, or blue to light up, nothing else).

The real issue is LED matching...there seems to be enough of a difference between individual LEDs to make a noticable color difference in the screen. For example, the 4 LEDs I currently have in the screen have more of a blue shade on the outer 2, but the inner 2 tend more towards yellow (the LEDs give off a little light at the minimum setting). At full brightness of only one color, any residual color is easily washed out and the screen looks sweet. But when trying to match a color that's NOT purely red, green, or blue, that's an issue...the residual glow of the different colors tends to show through and screw up the color scheme. A perfect example for this particular set of LEDs is purple...that should be an easy one with red and blue turned up...unfortunately, the extra red on the inner 2 and the extra blue on the outer 2 looks funky (cool, but not intended, and certainly not controllable).

I will attempt to resolve the issue by matching up the LEDs as best as possible before committing them to a set of wires, but I'm only hopeful it works, not assured. If it doesn't work out, I'm considering taking my $1000 hit and scrapping this project.

 

Good luck, Mac.

We all know how much time and effort you've put into this project (and cash).

I've got my fingers crossed for you.

-Pete

 

hey are you going to sell this as a package...such as the windscreen and allthe stuff you need to make it work.....please let me know