Before giving up on the existing sphere, I would try a "grain of wheat" 12-16v bulb - brighter than your typical small flashlight and easy to insert in a narrow hole that will not compromise the integrity of the ball if it does not work. Also, easy to power from a pair of 9V batteries or a hobby transformer.<br>
<br><a href="http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G15581">http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G15581</a>, or <a href="http://www.frys.com/product/2764833">http://www.frys.com/product/2764833</a> for example.<br>
<br>Dave Smith<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 3:48 PM, Ellis Farmer <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:saxywolf@gmail.com">saxywolf@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Clear isn't necessary. They are going to be lit up from the inside,
so... semi-translucent? We'll need to diffuse the light somewhat.<br>
<br>
Actually, I was thinking even 1/2 a sphere would work. I didn't measure the degree of rotation, but I imagine it isn't too big. The trick would be to fit it onto their holder/bracket. Their bracket is setup to hold a sphere in place. See the attached picture.<br>
<br>We can't use the current eyes. For one thing, we don't want to mess with what they are using so close to the performance. Also, we put a flashlight to the plastic and it didn't travel very far leading us to opine that the plastic is too opaque without doing invasive drilling/scooping.<br>
<br>I think using LEDs would be better than bulbs so they can easily change color.<br><br>It has eyebrows and whatnot. Well, I think it does. I forgot to take a picture of the front.<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
<br clear="all">-Ellis</font></span><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 1:43 PM, Karl Wacker <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kwwacker@ptd.net" target="_blank">kwwacker@ptd.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<u></u>
<div style="PADDING-LEFT:10px;PADDING-RIGHT:10px;PADDING-TOP:15px" name="Compose message area">
<div><font face="Arial">Small 110V lights [10-25W] will light up the
eyes.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"> [The bulbs for appliances are
ideal]</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"> The plastic of the eyes is not opaque, but
milky white.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial">1) Move the attachment point for the handle away
from the </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"> absolute rear of the eyes to
near the top or bottom.</font></div>
<div style="FONT:10pt Tahoma"><font face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div style="FONT:10pt Tahoma"><font face="Arial">2) Cut holes for the lights at
the current attachment point for the eyes.</font></div>
<div style="FONT:10pt Tahoma"><font face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div style="FONT:10pt Tahoma"><font face="Arial">3) Add eyebrows - they help a
lot to convey expressions.</font></div>
<div style="FONT:10pt Tahoma"><font face="Arial"> See: <a href="http://hackaday.com/2011/08/14/eye-see-you/" target="_blank">http://hackaday.com/2011/08/14/eye-see-you/</a></font><font face="Arial"></font></div>
<div style="FONT:10pt Tahoma"><font face="Arial"> </font></div>
<div style="FONT:10pt Tahoma"><font face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div style="FONT:10pt Tahoma"><br></div>
<div style="FONT:10pt Tahoma;BACKGROUND:#f5f5f5">
<div><b>From:</b> <a title="mailto:rob@pabut.org
CTRL + Click to follow link" href="mailto:rob@pabut.org" target="_blank">Rob Roschewsk</a> </div>
<div><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, March 13, 2012 1:30 PM</div>
<div><b>To:</b> <a title="makelehighvalley@makelehighvalley.com" href="mailto:makelehighvalley@makelehighvalley.com" target="_blank">Build things for fun!</a>
</div>
<div><b>Subject:</b> Re: [MakeLV] Shakespeare's Eyes</div></div><div><div>
<div><br></div>Do the eyes NEED to be spheres?? What I'm getting at you may have
better luck finding something like a clear or translucent salad bowl or some
such in that size..<br><br>The only other thing that comes to mind is a
laboratory flask (<a title="Florence flask" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_flask" target="_blank">Florence flask</a>) that is
round .... a tad expensive ... but here is one: <a href="http://goo.gl/YY569" target="_blank">http://goo.gl/YY569</a><br><br><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 11:28 PM, Ellis Farmer <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:saxywolf@gmail.com" target="_blank">saxywolf@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:#ccc 1px solid;MARGIN:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;PADDING-LEFT:1ex" class="gmail_quote">Yesterday, we saw the giant Shakespeare head/face for the
stagegroup... The eyes don't light up! (btw, the poster for the play is
the image attached.) So, if we can come up with eyes that can be dropped
in place it would be awesome.<br><br>The eyes are 25" in circumference with
19-5/8" center to center.<br><br>The eyes they have are (fairly) solid plastic
spheres that are too opaque to light up even if we embedded LEDs in
them. I think the hard part will be finding/making the spheres.
Lets assume we won't be able to find suitable eyes in a craft store, how would
we make them?<br><br>As far as the handle that moves the eyes, it is just a
few items to pick up at the hardware store.<br>2 Small Hinges (so the eyes
don't rotate too oddly)<br>Wood Dowels (or should we use small wood slats so
it is easy to attach the hinges)<br>Spring (This allows you to pull the handle
apart so you can cross the eyes)<br>Small hooks (To attach the spring to the
dowels)<br>PVC Sleeve (for the spring/rod to travel in)<br>Threaded Rod &
a Nut (this is so we can adjust the length of the bar, but probably not really
needed as long as the dowel is cut after the eyes are installed)<br><br>The
LED portion shouldn't be too hard, but might need some time to experiment with
diffusion.<br>I'm think at least Blue and Red as far as color. More
would just be gravy. Blinking? Fade colors? All possible,
just need someone to spend the time on the circuit. Don't forget that
someone needs to control the eyes. So, we really need to integrate the
switch onto the handle.<br><br>The eyes will have about 4" of dowel (or wood
slat) straight out the back with a hinge on the end, then from hinge to
hinge... I should diagram these, but for now here are 3
possibilities:<br>Hinge - Dowel - PVC sleave - Spring (attached to both
dowels) - dowel<br>Hinge - Dowel - Threaded rod - Nut - PVC Sleeve - Dowel
plug inside sleeve - Spring - dowel - hinge<br>Hinge - Slat - Drawer slider -
Slat - Hinge<br><br><b>What kind of single axis hinge can you use with a
dowel? Bend it around the dowel so the screws make a sort of X through
it?<br>How could we make the spheres? (Still, keep an eye out for
them.)<br>What would make a good toggle switch? Will need two
colors.<br>We don't have a meeting this Thursday so we need to have everything
ready to go for the following Thursday.</b><span><font color="#888888"><br><br>-Ellis<br></font></span><br>_______________________________________________<br>Makelehighvalley
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