Mechanical GIF comes alive with the power of magnets
It doesn't matter how you pronounce it, because whichever way you choose to say "GIF" you're guaranteed to scare about half the people who listen. Such is the state of our polarized world, we suppose, but there's one thing we can all agree on: a mechanical GIF is a pretty cool thing.
What's even better about this thing is that [Mitch] aka [Hack Modular] used some really cool old airplane hardware to make it. He came across a set of cockpit indicators from a Cold War era RAF aircraft - sorry, 'aircraft' - which used a magnetically driven rack and pinion to rotate a set of parts prism-shaped in one of three positions. Which of the three symbols displayed depended on the faces facing the pilot; these were highly visible displays that were also satisfyingly clickable.
After a teardown in which [Mitch] briefly discusses the mechanics behind these displays, he set about customizing the graphics. Rather than the boring RAF flaws, he chose three images from [Eadweard Muybridge's] famous Horse in Motion proto-film. After attaching vertical strips of each frame to the three sides of each prism, [Mitch] came up with a driver for the display; he could have used a 555, but instead chose series-connected relays to do the job. Capacitors slow the switching cascade and frame rate; a rotary switch selects different caps to make the horse appear to be walking, trotting, cantering or galloping - yes, we know these are each physically distinct movements, but work with us here.
The set looks — and sounds — nicely put together in a nice plastic case. The video below shows it in action, and we find it pretty amazing how much information can be conveyed with just three images. And we're surprised we've never seen these screens before; they seem like something [Fran Blanche] or [Curious Marc] would like.
It doesn't matter how you pronounce it, because whichever way you choose to say "GIF" you're guaranteed to scare about half the people who listen. Such is the state of our polarized world, we suppose, but there's one thing we can all agree on: a mechanical GIF is a pretty cool thing.
What's even better about this thing is that [Mitch] aka [Hack Modular] used some really cool old airplane hardware to make it. He came across a set of cockpit indicators from a Cold War era RAF aircraft - sorry, 'aircraft' - which used a magnetically driven rack and pinion to rotate a set of parts prism-shaped in one of three positions. Which of the three symbols displayed depended on the faces facing the pilot; these were highly visible displays that were also satisfyingly clickable.
After a teardown in which [Mitch] briefly discusses the mechanics behind these displays, he set about customizing the graphics. Rather than the boring RAF flaws, he chose three images from [Eadweard Muybridge's] famous Horse in Motion proto-film. After attaching vertical strips of each frame to the three sides of each prism, [Mitch] came up with a driver for the display; he could have used a 555, but instead chose series-connected relays to do the job. Capacitors slow the switching cascade and frame rate; a rotary switch selects different caps to make the horse appear to be walking, trotting, cantering or galloping - yes, we know these are each physically distinct movements, but work with us here.
The set looks — and sounds — nicely put together in a nice plastic case. The video below shows it in action, and we find it pretty amazing how much information can be conveyed with just three images. And we're surprised we've never seen these screens before; they seem like something [Fran Blanche] or [Curious Marc] would like.
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