saint's gameroom - what's he up to now? :)

[bleargh]

If Saint's lining up a train loop around the room it can have only one purpose.... automated beverage delivery.

 

[bfauska]

You done YET?

[shilmover]

I have a bunch of Maarklin stuff - some is 30 years old.  GREAT TRAINS!!

Yes, they are!  I think mine are at least 35 years old.  The picture several messages back of me and my sister playing with one of my engines is from 1971, hence the very realistic cardboard fireplace.   

I have a couple of boxes full of Maarklin stuff in my garage... Same ones my dad and I played with (most still 220V). one of the few childhood memories I remember.   

[saint]

You done YET?

Heh. There is *ONE* stinking thing holding me back. Been trying to solve it for months.

[bfauska]

Sometimes problems are easier to solve when you can ask for advice... of course that may mean letting us in a on a secret. 

[superbigjay]

Come on saint,

asking for help never hurt anyone... 

Jay

[saint]

I need something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JN66WO/ref=wl_it_dp/102-2397091-1913749?ie=UTF8&coliid=IDDBM5NVQKUEO&colid=7TYCAZECQ5ZV

I was hoping Halloween would help but so far no luck

[polaris]

close but not exactly what youre looking for, could be worth a phone call
uv filter

ill ask around see if any of my work buddies have seen any uv rope light in the uk

bfauska may have some ideas for you in the us

[bfauska]

The only thing I can come up with off the top of my head is to use some side-glow fiber optic cable and use blacklight to illuminate it. I've also seen ways to run fluorescent tubes w/o any houseing, just endcaps and transformers.  The fluorescent tubes wouldn't allow bending obviously.  Another option would be if neon is available in a UV form.  All of these options probably bump you out of the price range you are looking for.  Any time we've needed blacklight on stage it's been wholes stage lighting, not ropelight like sources.

Good luck.

[polaris]

hey bf , i was kinda thinkng that blacklight ropelight wouldnt actually work that well anyway, knowing what a uv cannon bulb is like, most of it is a shield to stop radiation from the bulb escaping, cant see how youd really make a good blacklight bulb that small, what do you reckon.
you ever used a blacklight gel, not sure how good that would be either?

[saint]

Blacklight UV emitting LED's work great, I have several of those - problem is getting the quantity needed in the lengths needed...

[polaris]

Blacklight UV emitting LED's work great, I have several of those - problem is getting the quantity needed in the lengths needed...

hmm okay, um wrong on that one then. i know its a ballache but what about making your own looms up?

the only other way i can think then is to get good bright rope light or maybe el wire and wrap it in the filter i linked to.

[saint]

I thought about looming my own up, I actually bought several hundred UV LEDs and resistors on ebay from an overseas outfit - the doing of it though will be a serious headache if I can just find a product already made....

[polaris]

I thought about looming my own up, I actually bought several hundred UV LEDs and resistors on ebay from an overseas outfit - the doing of it though will be a serious headache if I can just find a product already made....

yeah, cant say id fancy it either, but its looking that way isnt it, im afraid.

in the uk , our trade organisation is called PLASA , might be worth looking through their list of members for products, not sure what the equivalent us organization is. but ive found nothing through google uk.

 ill ask about in the week to see if anyone has seen it to hopefully stop the nightmare self build

[polaris]

well heres one but bloody expensive
led strips

[saint]

Hah! You're a genius! 

http://www.oznium.com/led-flex-strips

Woot!

Woot!

Gonna order a strip and see how it works.

Woot!

You're a genius!

[polaris]

Hah! You're a genius! 


You're a genius!

permission granted to add that as my custom title.

and after a year we get to finally see what saints up to now maybe

[bfauska]

Now don't I feel like a dummy.  We almost ordered some of the clear strips from that exact site about 4 weeks ago at work.  X-mas lights ended up working in our application but we were looking at that very site before we tried what we already had.

Great find.  Hopefully it works out, and hopefully you don't need to much of it, that is fairly pricey.

A note on the UV gels/filters.  Most of the light sources that you would put that filter on don't actually even emit enough UV light to get a blacklight effect.  All those filters usually do is make the light the purple color that white stuff glows under a real UV light.  The other thing that many UV filters are is actually a filter to REMOVE what little UV is actually in the light.

[polaris]

cheers for the clarification on that brian, i was wondering about their effectiveness, its uv cannons all the way for us when we need it. last year on a show i had to walk onstage every half hour to check the bulb was intact in a uv cannon, to see if the lens was good and therefore not emitting harmful rays to the stage, ahhh  the joy of health and safety reps onsite.

[saint]

OK, that brings up a question. BlackLight (Black light blue) lights in my game room. Harmful to the eyes? I've seen varying answers to this question...

[bfauska]

I didn't look too long, but came up with some interesting stuff on wikipedia.  I'd heard of UVA and UVB in the past, but never really thought about the differences or their effects.  Here's the Link I only read the safety section which sounded like it would take quite a bit of exposure to cause problems, but I could be underestimating it.

[patrickl]

I used a black light tube to wipe UV EEPROMS and to make photo circuit prints. I guess they must emit at least some harmful rays to be able to do that.

[polaris]

by all accounts the glass surrounding the source is what protects you from the radiation, i will do some asking around.
regarding what i said the elf and safety boys were concerned that the glass bulb was intact , and therefore protecting you, as the bulb could still work if the glass was broken.
ill see what my workmates suggest.

[polaris]

just spoke to a mate whos very knowledgeable in the field of lighting, he said it was non harmful, no more than any bright light is harmful

he also suggested contacting  batmink as they may have a product available, they do a flexible neon which is possibly available in blacklight, ping em an email explaining what you need and my mate reckons theyll relish the challenge in finding a solution

[Santoro]

well heres one but bloody expensive
led strips

Looking at that site they sell an RGB version with a special controller.  I'll bet you can bypass their controller and rig it up to an LED-wiz. 

[Kremmit]

well heres one but bloody expensive
led strips

Looking at that site they sell an RGB version with a special controller.  I'll bet you can bypass their controller and rig it up to an LED-wiz. 

Tell 'em you want one without a controller, maybe they'll knock some off the price.

[ChadTower]

Whoa... those strips rule, I'm half tempted to start putting them all over my house.

[Level42]

Forget the strips, how about THIS:

http://www.batmink.co.uk/videofloor.php

That RULES !!!!!!!! Hook it up to your MAME PC and......

How about standing on it and playing a game of Pac Man

Now we need some scanner that inputs your moves into the game for a real-live Pac experience

[polaris]

yeah man, i almost forgot why i went to the site in the first place when the vid started, i just stared at that floor for ages, i so want one, even if its just a little one just big enough for me to dance on.

im gonna have to go to the trade show next year to see it for real

[Level42]

Think it'll cost a LOT....

Seen the same technology used at gigs behind the band etc.


{Blatant Personal msg}
Polaris, I can't stand the tension, tell me what you've got for me  
{end of Personal msg}

[Level42]

Just thinking.....suppose a box of these, you can go inside and play a video game in REAL 3D.....Now THAT would be a nice new arcade video game concept

[HaRuMaN]

Just thinking.....suppose a box of these, you can go inside and play a video game in REAL 3D.....Now THAT would be a nice new arcade video game concept

We had this at my university.  screens on three walls, floor, and ceiling.  They had it set up to where you could play Doom inside of it.

[polaris]

Think it'll cost a LOT....

Seen the same technology used at gigs behind the band etc.


{Blatant Personal msg}
Polaris, I can't stand the tension, tell me what you've got for me  
{end of Personal msg}

ive not seen anything of that resolution used in gigs bar a video wall, ive seen led cloths but way low res, who've you seen using it out of interest

(thread derail)aaaannnddd its a tshirt , nothing that exciting really ,  my mate forgot to get the autographs so he ran back to get a t, so it kinda worked out really, im just trying to get to the unit to pick it up for ya
but let me know when you wanna go see em next im sure the guest list is easy to sort for you(/thread derail)

[patrickl]

I once saw a simpler version of this (online) where each module could be one color. A couple of students built that themselves and were selling it.

[polaris]

I once saw a simpler version of this (online) where each module could be one color. A couple of students built that themselves and were selling it.

theres cheaper ways of doing that called chroma panels , which can be any colour you choose, we use the for simple disco type underlit floors
much cheaper , i cant imagine what that floor would cost.

[patrickl]

I once saw a simpler version of this (online) where each module could be one color. A couple of students built that themselves and were selling it.

theres cheaper ways of doing that called chroma panels , which can be any colour you choose, we use the for simple disco type underlit floors
much cheaper , i cant imagine what that floor would cost.

I think that's exactly what they made.

[Chris G]

* BUMP *

Any progress, slacker?

[lanman31337]

I've got it all figured out.  Since I'm a native of Pittsburgh, and Chad already brought up the King Friday --- Saint is making a trolley ride like they have at Idlewild Park, but it'll be more like Mr. Rodgers meets Carnevil --- you shoot stuff on the trolley ride, GWAR throws blood and other stuff on you, moon pies half way through the ride, etc...

[WunderCade]

Hah! You're a genius! 

http://www.oznium.com/led-flex-strips

Woot!

Woot!

Gonna order a strip and see how it works.

Woot!

You're a genius!

Imagine those multi-colored leds backlighting the room with an LEDWiz set-up to your audio EQ controlling them playing Journey's Escape. AWESOME!

[Jdurg]

It's a bit incorrect to state that UV LEDs or Lights are not dangerous.  In comparison to something else, yes, they may not be as dangerous but they are definitely not harmless.  It's akin to radation.  Low levels of radiation still have the potential to cause damage, but not nearly as much as highly active radioactive materials.  I own samples of throrium metal, uranium metal, and various other radioactive items.  The levels they emit are very low and not dangerous, but I still take precautions and don't expose myself to them for extended periods of time.  This is because even though the radiation is of a low level, it is still above zero which means it still poses a problem.

To ignore the dangerous of UV Light will simply cause many problems down the line.  There's a reson why UV light makes certain items glow or look different.  It's because of the immense energy the light has.  If it wasn't that energetic, the items wouldn't glow.  So if you think that a simple bulb will protect you from the damaging effects, look and see if the sensitive items in your room are glowing.  If they are, then the bulb isn't doing anything.

There's no problem having UV light in your cab or in your gameroom, but just pay attention to how much of it you have and how much time you spend in there.  The less exposure the better.