Tom Baldwin

One set of spill rings for a 500W R&V beamlight, as pictured. Free to a good home - either collect from north-east Hampshire, or postage at cost.

How about this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32840324731.html 0-50V variable output at 5A, and it’ll take anything from 6V up to 50V as its input voltage (so your could feed it from your 24V rail, for example. You’d have to double check the dimensions, but it’s approximately right for the size hole you have in that front panel already.

Farnell sell enclosures by a manufacturer by the name of Box (which makes searching for them difficult!). They’re in a very similar style to the Tecpro enclosure you mentioned, but in a range of sizes and colours: https://uk.farnell.com/c/enclosures-racks-cabinets/enclosures-boxes-cases/metal-enclosures?brand=box-enclosures

The small V A panel meters I have seen normally have separate connections for a supply to make the meter electronics work and for the system to be measured. So you would feed the meter supply connections with something less than 30V, while the other connections (for measuring) can cope with up to 100V. Do you have a link to the meters you've bought?

Pretty sure at least one generation of the ChromaQ color block was power+data over the 4 pin XLR, because you could daisy chain them and achieve individual cell control. There was no addressing on the blocks, you set that on the control unit/ PSU. I assume the protocol must have followed the same pattern as all the WS2812 and similar LEDs now, where everything acts as a shift register: the data is clocked through all the units until every unit has been given a fresh value, and then on some signal all the units adopt the value(s) they've been left holding.

Neither right clicking to download, nor opening in a new tab work for me either. I get the error "This attachment is not available. It may have been removed or the person who shared it may not have permission to share it to this location."

I couldn't find a solution to this problem either, so I ended up self-hosting a calendar server. Not especially difficult if IT is your thing, but certainly a step or two beyond plug and play.

Much as I liked themadhippy’s suggestion of a hovercraft, it would probably be cheaper to extend the workshop so I didn’t need to move the trolley at all! I’ve ordered a set of four swivel castors (2 with brakes) from Ross Castors. I don’t need something that’ll go in a straight line for 100m, I need it to be very manouverable, so swivel castors it is. Sadly the omni wheels from Australia seem to have put on a lot of pounds on the journey from here to there (the price in AUD is quite good… GBP not so much!) Thanks to everyone for their suggestions, much appreciated. Tom

The current castors were eBay cheapies - on paper they're rated for 200kg, but what they're really rated for, of course, is anyone's guess! They are only 2" in diameter, which may contribute to the difficulty in getting to swivel - there just won't be as much leverage as with a larger wheel.

Bit of a left-field question, but with all the experience here of pushing things around on wheels, I hope there might be some good ideas lurking. In the workshop, I've got a trolley/ truck with some woodworking machinery on it - all up, it weighs about 80kg. Because of the layout of the workshop, it needs to move around - not large distances, but it does need to move. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as moving back and forth along a straight path - the movement is a mix of sliding in various directions, and also rotating. It's on swivel castors at the moment, but it's quite hard to maneuver - probably because of the nature of swivel castors - the wheels will always swivel to align with the direction of travel. To then push them at 90' to the previous direction of travel means the castors need to swivel, and that always takes extra force. The answer might be as simple as upgrading the castors to something good from Flints, but they'd still have the problem of needing to re-orientate themselves each time the direction changed. I've looked at alternatives like omni-wheels or mecanum wheels, but finding some which can take the load at a sensible price is a challenge (to give an idea, Flints want about £50 for a decent set of castors, while omni-wheels seem to be nearer that price just for a single wheel). I did also wonder about ball transfer units in an inverted configuration, but I was worried how much damage the point loads of small (<1") metal balls would do to the concrete floor. Does anybody have any suggestions of how best to achieve an easily moved truck? Thanks, Tom

Could it be a malfunctioning DIP switch? They do tend to pick up dirt over time, and if the switch isn't reading the same on your one "defective" unit, that might explain its different behaviour.

There's a video by Mike's Electric Stuff on YouTube about them . Looks like an interesting product!

I was thinking along the lines of a new outer flight case which had shelves for the existing racks to slide into - a bit like this sort of tool case (Flightcase Warehouse): but with shelves for the existing flightcases instead of drawers. It could have a removable back (for access to connectors) of whatever depth was necessary. If the shelves had stops at the back, the existing racks wouldn't slide too far back, and the front of this new case could have sufficient depth of foam to stop the existing racks sliding forwards in transit. Once the rack was in situ, I can't imagine the existing racks would want to move around. You could perhaps have one for all of your racks, and a second one for just three of them (assuming that when you're down to just two racks, the effort to cable it up is not so great as to justify a custom rack.

I haven't used them for PowerCon splitters, but I have used the BEX enclosures from Box Enclosures before for other projects, and found them to be very nicely made (and in terms of construction, close cousins of the Canford beltpack enclosures). I think B3-080BK would work nicely for a 5-way splitter. Farnell sell it here: https://uk.farnell.com/box-enclosures/b3-080bk/case-aluminium-black-109x45x80mm/dp/1418594 The datasheet is here: https://www.boxenclosures.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/B3-080-Master-Drawing-Model.pdf

TMB sell "shotgun" style dual Cat5e cable: here - you could use two of the pairs for video & RS-485, and the rest for power. By my reckoning, you have 12x 0.22mm2 conductors available for power. In a similar spirit of combining lots of conductors, there's Canford 8-pair FSM which is a single 11mm diameter cable I had wondered about running a higher voltage down the cable and then dropping it at the camera, but introduces more active devices in the system which could fail, cf. the passive approach of the "right" cable.

A large pile of socapex, ideally to go as one lot - collection from north east Hampshire. All in used condition. There are some PAT failed stickers on this lot - I can't remember why they failed though, don't think it would have been fatal or we'd have chucked them at the time. Lengths are a bit approximate. All cables are 1.5mm2. The soca is ex-PRG, which might help guessing the lengths (if you know the colour codes)! 2x 15A (M) - socapex (F) fan-in spiders 1x length unterminated 18-core cable - 8m 3x 20m socapex 1x 7m socapex 1x 30m socapex Offers invited - suggest around £100 for the lot?

Having a clear out - offers invited on any of the below (not looking for much money, just want to see things being used rather than skipped!) Collection from north-east Hampshire - can look at couriering, but not sure how feasible that would be. ABTT Code Of Practice for Portable Appliance Testing and Advice on Electrical Safety in Theatres Good condition, can be posted. Free to a good home. Jands Event 408 desk - good condition, with a flightcase. Sadly, I don't seem to have any pictures of this one, but it's had an easy life. Dataflash strobes - 9 or 10 available Not all have lamps/ tubes; all have the blue tinted lenses as shown. NOTE: these are the original Dataflashes, which use a proprietary LWR protocol. There is one home-built converter (accepts DMX) available, which can control all of them. Furse JFR 500W fresnels - 6 available Some have lamps; some have been resprayed in high temperature black paint. Altman 360Q Lekos - about 9 available Not certain of the beam angle any more. There are also two with much longer lens tubes available - think they are the 6x22 variant CCT Silhouette 30 1kW Profiles - 4 available

The clearout continues - some 32A ceeform cables and connectors this time on eBay: 32A 3-phase extension, 2m, 3PNE, 6mm2 32A 1-phase extension, 16m, 1PNE, 4mm2 A second 32A 1-phase extension, 16m, 1PNE, 4mm2 Job lot of 32A 1 phase connectors - inline and panel

I've got a few LX bits and pieces up on eBay at the moment: 2x Neutrik NC4MX male 4-pin XLR connectors 10x Neutrik NC4FX female 4-pin XLR connectors Socapex panel-mount 19-pin connector, female I've also still got some other Socapex bits listed here on the Blue Room

I've got a selection of 5kW fresnels, dimmers, cables, and also some barndoors. Offers are invited on any or all of this. The fresnels and barndoors are definitely collection only (from north-east Hampshire); the rest could be posted at cost. To comply with the Blue Room rules, all offers over £500 for this lot will be refused. To comply with reality, any offer anywhere near that amount would be treated as crazy. I'm not looking to make loads of money, I'd just like to see these things being used. 2x 32A extension cables, about 15m long. The cable is 4mm2, so ideal for use with the fresnels below (no picture) 4x Ianiro 15" 5kW fresnels, with fairly long cables and 32A plugs. Most have a used lamp, and at least 3 of the four have a TV spigot hook clamp. There are also 3 barndoors for these. They're huge, and awkward, but have a lovely quality of light that I haven't gotten from anything else. 1x Strand Act3 3-channel 5kW dimmer. Accepts 0 to -10V control input; no local control panel. Currently fitted with 2m of 6mm2 5-core cable and a 32A 3-ph ceeform 1x LitePuter P-625 6-channel 20A dimmer. Accepts 0 to +10V control input, and has local control as well. It's a hardwired dimmer; the cover for the terminal strip on the back is missing, as are a few screws.

11x 15A plugs, used. Duraplug brand, as pictured. All 11 for £12, including postage to mainland UK.

Yet more from the clearout. ** all prices include postage to mainland UK ** 2x sets, each comprising: 1x DHA DA12 flame effect disc and 1x DHA AMW075 fixed speed rotator (2 RPM) Note, these are quite small - the ruler in the picture is in centimetres. £15 for one set, or both sets for £22 4x 440mm diameter dot effect discs. Just the disk, no mounting mechanism (e.g. flange, hub, etc). Unbranded. Some have some scuffs to the paint. £7 each, £10 for two, or £17 for all four. If you buy all items in this post, I can combine postage to give a total price of £32 incl. postage.

The clear out continues... more to follow ** all prices include postage to mainland UK ** 1x Tourmate female 19-pin socapex-type connector. Unused (NOS). £12 1x Tourmate male 19-pin socapex-type connector. Unused (NOS). £12 1x 13.5m length 19-core cable, no connectors. Used. £12 1x 1.5m socapex (F) spider to 6x 15A (M). Used. £10 1x 18m length 19-core cable with connectors. Used. £20 1x 2m socapex (M) spider to 6x 15A (F). Used £10 1x 15m length 19-core cable, no connectors. Used. £12 1x 1m socapex (F) spider to 6x 15A (M). Used. £10 1x 1m socapex (F) spider to 6x 15A (M). Used, has a PAT fail sticker on it, but I can't remember why. £8 If you buy multiple items, I'll try to offer a discount based on postage savings, wherever I can achieve them by combining packages.

It sounds as though the number of good ideas for expansions/ upgrades/ conversions/ repurposings is threatening to exceed the amount of board space by some margin. Would there be value in breaking out as many internal signals as possible to a pair of parallel headers, to allow bespoke daughtercards to be easily mounted? I'm specifically thinking of the form factor (style) of Arduino shields, where one or more expansions can be stacked on the main board. No need to populate the main PCB with the headers if not required, but for anyone planning on expanding their BlueClone, there's a nice, standard way to go about doing so.