Hello

Have had my drum viewer on display in a couple places in London over the last two weeks and as I don't live in London its a bit of a bugger to move around.

Actually the drum part is fine, its the stand. So has anyone come up with an alternative or something so it will work on a table top? A strong tripod would be a good plan B too.

Another hack that someone must of done already is a power pack using off he shelf D or C cells. If made how long do they last?

Noticed 20p's don't go in too well and need a bit of a spin. Trying £1 next (cheaper than a cup of tea in most places). Would be great to have it start paying for itself.

M

--- In MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com, "blackiceuk" wrote:

>
> Hello
>
> Have had my drum viewer on display in a couple places in London over the last two weeks and as I don't live in London its a bit of a bugger to move around.
>
> Actually the drum part is fine, its the stand. So has anyone come up with an alternative or something so it will work on a table top? A strong tripod would be a good plan B too.
>
> Another hack that someone must of done already is a power pack using off he shelf D or C cells. If made how long do they last?
>
> Noticed 20p's don't go in too well and need a bit of a spin. Trying £1 next (cheaper than a cup of tea in most places). Would be great to have it start paying for itself.
>
> M
>

From past experience in using these in public displays, I have thought about alternatives. The thing to keep in mind since you are using the coin operation feature is that you will need to commit to keeping the head unit in its present position of having a 90 degree viewing angle for people to look straight into. If you think of using a table top display, this 90 degree angle can be uncomfortable. If you come up with a stand to tilt to a more comfortable and sensible angle closer to 45 degrees, your coin operation feature will not work unless you can separate it and keep it level.

I never proceeded any further with my public displays due to insurance costs soaking up the profits. My final display was using an adjustable seat in front of the supplied stand (which I locked in place at one height). Let me know if you want some photos of this. Might be worth a try. Most users from kids through to adults found it easy to view.

Cant help with the power pack option but it was on my wish list too.


Harry Calderbank

> From past experience in using these in public displays, I have thought about alternatives. The thing to keep in mind since you are

the core inner mechanism seems to be fine. Building a better case around it is a on a to do list.

> using the coin operation feature is that you will need to commit to keeping the head unit in its present position of having a 90 degree viewing angle for people to look straight into. If you think of using a table top display, this 90 degree angle can be uncomfortable. If you come up with a stand to tilt to a more comfortable and sensible angle closer to 45 degrees, your coin operation feature will not work unless you can separate it and keep it level.

having problems with the coins at the moment anyway. It was set to free till now and I experimented with it at 20p - which isn't round btw and it seems to take a deft hand to get it to take. Will look into adjusting it as the next outing is Badge Night in Lewes for the Cliffe Bonfire Society.

> I never proceeded any further with my public displays due to insurance costs soaking up the profits. My final display was using an adjustable seat in front of the supplied stand (which I locked in place at one height). Let me know if you want some photos of this. Might be worth a try. Most users from kids through to adults found it easy to view.

So far I'm just moving it around so nothing long term as yet.

> Cant help with the power pack option but it was on my wish list too.

Just had a special power usage meter on it this morning and came up with 5.7amps, so with that knowledge I'll see if a friend can build me a basic one which hopefully could fit inside. Not for long term showing, just for a night or two.

M

I looked into wall mounting as well. They do sell sliding wall mounts for HDTVs that looked like they might work. The issue is that the customers would be moving the thing up and down themselves, and I was concerned with kids getting their hands stuck in the track. If you've had kids you can imagine their hands/hair/head/etc. getting stuck in pretty much everything. The only way of beating the 90deg issue would be to use an external coin box and wire it into the coin signal within the existing coin mechanism. I believe a solid metal coin box would be better here in the US or even London, where I've heard crime is on the rise.
Steve