my first Spirograph

[nikokapo]

ok i built this spirograph today with things i found at home
its not finished yet (i still need to build something to place the coolers (because they shake too much)

here are some pics and 3 videos (sorry but my camera is Cr4p! so u cant see it very well, altough the circles are "closed" when u view it with the eye, but the FPS of my camera just cant get a full one)

PS: one question though, i only seem to get circle shaped shapes instead of those awesome flowers and weird stuff that everybody else gets, is it because i am only using 2 mirrors, because i am rotating them at the same speed or because i just need them to run faster?)


note: i am running two 12v PC coolers, 8cmx8cm (almost 6,7cm diameter of the fan) and i am using my DIY power supply (18v max, 2 amperes), i have ran the coolers at the same speed from 4v to 12,86v (despite the 8,xxv. the multimeter is displaying)

(well it happens in photographs as well )

TURN THE VOLUME DOWN WHEN U ARE GOING TO SEE THE VIDEOS, SERIOUSLY I WOULD JUST RECOMMEND TO MUTE THE YOUTUBE PLAYER FIRST (my camera doesnt have sound so it kinda makes the speakers feel as if they had 220v. on them but no audio signal.)

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOWHa4VqcUQ[/media]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQhgxyqwOpg[/media]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5zOfQ4DTwk[/media]

 

[Amnizu]

That's pretty sweet. Nice idea using computer fans. I have enough fans and mirrors that I could do something similar. You've inspired me.

 

[nikokapo]

yay, show me how it looks like when you do it


can anybody answer my question please?

 

[SargeMX5]

You need to slow down the speed of one fan to be able to get a different pattern reflection off the second mirror. I used very small motors(vibramotors) and to control their speed i used 2x100ohm pots on each motor and i can generate flowers, triangles, circles and heaps of other things.

 

[rog8811]

My guess would be that maybe your mirrors are a bit heavy for the fans which slows them down which will mean that there are less cycles to produce the patterns and as sarge says vary the speed of one fan...
The other thing to try is to have the mirrors opposing each other rather than at 90 degrees, my photo shows 3 mirrors but you can see what I mean. I will say I am not sure that will make a difference but it is worth a go.

Regards rog8811

 

[nikokapo]

when i get back from vacations i will get a potentiometer (will i be OK with two 1kOhm potentiometers for each 12v. fan?) and solder it onto the circuit.
i will try your fan positions, i get what u mean, no problem


IMO the fans spin quickly enough, they do complete a circle, later i will get it on tape..

those were the thinnest mirrors i could get =(....(and i made em custom cut)

 

[porksmash]

1k might be good. I used 100 ohm pots on some 12v case fans (45mm) and I can't adjust the speed enough to make anything very interesting. I guesstimate that I can go 66%-100% full speed. I'd rather have full range of hardly moving to 100%, so I will also try 1k pots next. I'll save the 100 ohms for a daedal driver or two.

Also, I made my mirrors out of a hard drive platter that I hacksawed and ground to a small round shape. They work EXTREMELY well as mirrors, but were hard to make. I'll see if I can take some pics or movies of what I can do with mine as it is now. One of the mirrors is lopsided since it is hard to make them perfectly round and I think it is going to kill the fan

I also want some motors that spin faster, 5k rpm is ok but not great. Rog8811, kind of setup did you have in your avatar pic? (or is that just a long exposure picture)

 

[rog8811]

Rog8811, kind of setup did you have in your avatar pic? (or is that just a long exposure picture)

It is a pic taken with my ricoh camera when using my handheld projector.....
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1186862602

Original picture below....

Regards rog8811

 

[nikokapo]

ok, back from vacations, tomorrow im gonna go get some 1kohm potentiometers

 

[clwatkins10]

well how did it go?

 

[chido]

Look here.