h a l f b a k e r yQuis custodiet the custard?
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Three circularly flattened,
concentric
layered plasma globes, each with a
different gas inside, creating three
different colored spark machines,
layered on top of each other; each
about a centimeter deep, the front
18" diameter [deep blue], middle
16" [green], and rear
14" [red]. Clear
insulating layers
between each to protect against
interactions.
Moving electrodes hidden along the
perimeter of each, cause the sparks
to be linearly directed [with lots of
electric sparking noise, of course,
which is the whole
point], much as a plasma globe
does
when you stick your finger on it;
The rear rotates with the hour, the
middle with the minute, and of
course, the front with the seconds.
Observing the directions of the
three moving plasma sparks gives
you the overall
time.
(??) Plasma Globe Video
http://www-astro.ph...edu/~rnw/movie3.mpg
This was before we could tell time with them. [Amos Kito, Oct 17 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Plasma Panel
http://cheapnovelty.com/luminglas.html
Already flattened. [half, Oct 17 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Oh, I thought you meant...
http://www.mediplus...om/transfusion2.htm
[DrCurry, Oct 17 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
A dodgy animation
http://bz.pair.com/fun/plasclock.mpg
[200Kb MPEG1 file] Very dark. You'll have to squint. [bristolz, Oct 17 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
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Annotation:
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By varying the size or conductivity of the 3 electrodes, you may be able to do this with just one globe. Weak sparks for hours, medium for minutes, bright sparks for seconds.
But three globes are cool, too. + |
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Definitely worth baking. Track down the companies who supply Spencers with their gadgets and throw a proposal at them, with a royalty, of course. |
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If Farmer John says it's a nice
clock, then you have something
there. If I think it's nice, you get a
bun from me. + |
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Regarding the baking... I always
thought that bringing up an idea
with someone like Spencers'
suppliers was pretty much like
throwing it into the wind, that
there'd be no reason for them to
involve you as soon as they were
given the idea... anyone have any
info about this kind of thing? |
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Thanks for the feedback so far! [I
actually have plans to make this,
so the more the merrier....], [amos]
I'll keep that in mind definitely, my
first tests will be to try to flatten
the globe anyhow, so we'll see
what is reliable.... |
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Talk to [blaise], he's pretty familiar with patents. I'm sure there are probably others here with knowledge on the subject. |
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Large Croissant. I am sure we can all see this in our heads. |
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They do have the flat plasma eye
catchers. They involve many glass
beads between two plates of glass. |
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+
What sartep said. (link) |
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I have seen the "crackle glass" (neon lighting terminology) type. The ones in the link are clear. |
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Let me know when it hits Sharper Image. |
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[rayford] any idea how to get in
touch? blaise has no available
contact info that i could find- |
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[sartep/half] Sure they're clear? the
luminglas stuff that I've seen is all
that glassy-looking stuff. That's
cool.. maybe their company would
be a good group to get in
touch with directly, if they
already have that technology
readily available [ i think it's
patended]. |
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I guess the big thing I can't figure
yet, is how to fully insulate one
plate from the next- it works via
capacitive coupling through the
glass [typically], so if anyone has
ideas to make the flat plates not
interact, that would be great. Gotta
go start experimenting... |
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It doesn't have to be clear. The
plasma streams can break apart
and be in three places at once.
For the fastest moving hand place
it closer to the center, the minute
hand attractor somewhere in the
middle and the hour hand on the
outter edge. That would be if you
wanted the smoothest movement
for all of the hands. It would be
the
opposite from the way a normal
clock operates, but if anyone
wanted a normal clock we wouldn't
be having this conversation.
Personally, don't see why it has to
be a flat plasma face. It would be
just as neat to see this as a
sphere. |
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He seems to drop by on occasion, but I haven't seem him lately. |
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[sartep]= agreed. This was just the
first way I had envisioned it..
however, the sphere idea works as
well- actually, it could be
interesting to have the three
electrodes on the three
perpendicular axes of the sphere,
since we're leaving the normal
clock domain as it is... |
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If it is ok with you, this idea has
inspired me with a similar idea.
May I post it if I can link to your
idea? |
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[sartep] - by all means! isn't that
what this place is all about? |
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[bristolz] - i'm honored- pretty
much exactly as i envisioned it -
my first remote illustration work.
real cool. now that you know how
to make it maybe you can show
me some time... |
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Do you mean having something
like 20-30 electrodes with plasma
globes to light them up? Solid.
even more difficult! |
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[degroof] It seems like the only
way to really accomplish this is by
tapping the power supply.. i.e. I
don't think the back and forth
polarities would actually prevent
misdirectional fires, even with
pulsing. I think, however, that if all
electrodes were brought to half
the max. potential, and the display
was set that only the full range of
voltage would be enough to ionize
the path, then having most of the
electrodes set halfway would
prohibit any paths from
themselves, so to speak. |
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Actually now that I think of it, I'm
pretty sure most of this is wrong
[but I'll keep it here in case people
have ideas about it]. First of all
[and this part I think is fine] the
necessary voltage to do something
like this would be -much- lower,
as the high voltage is needed to
capacitively couple to the outside
air, instead of just bridge a gap.
But more importantly, one can't
switch polarities, because all those
electrodes are pulsing at very high
frequency AC, not being held at a
DC voltage- that's the only reason
it works in the first place! [because
only AC can cause the capacitive
coupling effect held over time] I
think to do a digital display would
require significant differences than
an ordinary plasma globe. |
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Isn't 'high frequency' pulsed DC
really 'high frequency' AC with a
DC offset? I thought it was just the
AC component that let the plasma
globe find it's way to ground
through capacitive coupling. Still
trying to figure it all out though,
speaking of which, anyone know
where I can get a two foot
diameter hollow glass sphere?
[seriously!] |
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'Bout the only thing I can think of is a fishbowl, and I doubt it would work. |
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I think that you could have such spheres blown/made for you and probably not too terribly expensive. |
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Fish w/ plasma storm displays. the possibilities are endless. |
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[degroof] nice link, only $30. not
bad. |
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[RS] Don't you mean -dead- fish
with plasma storm displays? |
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[+] wallclock: one very oblate spheroid, front hemisphere clear, rear hemisphere painted black: 3 concentric rings, each of 60 electrodes on the back and a digital timer/switch to select which contacts get closed, when. |
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