cedd

There are a few videos on’t net showing how the flying monkeys were done in Wicked. They have wings that appear to open out in a fashion that might be possible to scale up. Certainly when I first imagined what you described in your first post, I saw a set of wings that each formed an upside down “v” shape. Hinges as they attach to the body and again at the top of the V. Some steel wires around the v top hinge will allow them to extend outwards as the wing lowers where it leaves the body. So the V flattens out in effect. Not only will it look more “flappy” but it means no extending sections are needed. You can get wings twice as long as the available height. If you go a step further then you mount the wings so the whole arrangement can hinge forwards for storage. Now in their stowed position the wings can sit just behind the door laid for wards and as the dragon pulls out of the door they swivel to be upright - even more space saving. No idea if the above works - I’d need to break out the Lego box. (Yes I use Lego for prototyping!).

All very interesting stuff, thank you. As with most of the 2.4GHz offerings at the minute, antenna distribution is where things are let down a little. Line6 have some and I know the Shure systems have variants of their antenna distribution that go up that high, but otherwise there's not much. I have a 2 way splitter designed for microwave frequencies in my Line6 rack but that's passive. Being that 2.4Ghz is used so widely in the IT world I did wonder if there was anything suitable designed for that, but I can't find anything as yet.

There's hardly any info online at all to suggest which one is the latest. 2000 sounds an awful long time ago, It's worth a shot though I guess! I'll PM you my email address if that's ok? If anybody else has any newer copies or knows if v6.1 is the latest version, chip in!

Reawakening an old thread, but I've just been rooting through my disk drawer and can't find any of my copies of the S5 software. I've got 12 somewhere!!! They might still turn up, but does anybody have a copy they could share? The Dropbox link above now 404's. Thank you!

Take a look at reply number 13 - that was the solution I eventually went with. As it happened the thing stopped working recently but I think that may have been my fault rather than the handling of 30V. If you're looking for a decent quality 30V supply it would appear that lots of HP printers have 30V power supplies.

Think it's worth clarifying here that the suggestion of tourniquets was in the context of a massive trauma kit, and not as a catch all for light or moderate bleeding. And of course with any new kit comes the appropriate training. The ones we have come with a marker and label to record the time at which it was applied - only emergency services are to release or remove. We work on the assumption that in the event of something big happening we're going to have a huge turn out of emergency services with the first wave of resources arriving pretty quickly. Defibs and stopping massive bleeding are really our primary aims. Once the emergency services arrive we'll hand the major traumas on to them and we'll switch to walking wounded.

Indeed, most first aid kits I've come across (the statutory ones) just aren't geared up for the kind of major trauma seen in these kinds of events. Sadly my workplace is very much a target and we've recently invested in a number of major trauma kits including pre-made tourniquets, haemostatic dressings (incredible things - have a look at the videos on YouTube) and lots and lots of dressings. Confusingly, I was told only 4 or 5 years ago that tourniquets were bad things and shouldn't be used. Having dealt with a major car accident in my early twenties and applied one myself, which undoubtedly saved the life of the man involved, I had to disagree. Now it would appear they're back in vogue to the point where we're buying properly made ones for our kits at work (which prompted me to buy a couple for my own kit at home - save me losing another of my favourite t shirts to have to make another one like last time!).

I'm still waiting on my ribbon cable ordered in August! To be fair, the order I placed a couple of weeks ago came through this week, and I know there've been problems with this cable. In the meantime I bought one of the super cheap V75 systems from Gear 4 Music and have used it as a spare instead.

Whilst browsing the leisuretec site today I came across the Trantec S2.4 system. Not something I've ever come across before but apparently it's a 2.4GHz wireless mic system and I think is a reasonably new product. Unfortunately there's very little useful information online about it - TOA's (Trantec's) website is its' usual useless self when it comes to wanting anything more than consumer information. http://www.toa.co.uk/prodcat/s2-4/ Has anybody ever used them in anger? They appear to only have one receive aerial which means non-diversity and probably says a lot about where it's placed in the market. Nevertheless the price point is very competitive and as somebody who's running 8 channels of Line6 but getting a wee bit frustrated with poor support, it's worth looking at. Can't find a manual anywhere, nor any information on antenna distribution (if indeed it's possible to - might be just single system only). How many simultaneous systems? It says 16 available channels, but that doesn't mean 16 simultaneous systems. 5 hours on 2 AA's isn't super impressive, especially given that the S5.3's do 10 hours on one AA, but as I don't trust my Line6's to do 2 shows on a battery anyway, 5 hours isn't really a problem. I'm just curious about them really, but the lack of information isn't helping.

Boswell already knows this from a private message, but for the record; I contacted Sontec for some spares at the end of August - a battery door and a new ribbon cable after I had a battery go fuzzy inside one and leak its' contents all over the separate switch board and its' ribbon. Battery door was in stock but ribbon cable wasn't - said they'd ship when both were in. I chased the order at the beginning of November and they shipped the door saying that the cable still wasn't in. Still no sign of the ribbon cable but I've managed to repair it myself now by cutting it short and using a scalpel blade to trim down the original one to get some bare copper. Would still like to replace it when (if) the new one turns up though. Currently it's been 4 months. This, when compared with my Trantec packs for which I can get a spare of everything within a day or so, is a bit disappointing.

Well things are looking positive so far. I bought one of the 3 channel DMX dimmers that are flooding the market from china via evay - sold as being 12-24V. I opened it up and double checked it - the regulator is good for 35V as are its' capacitors. The MOSFET's are good for 60V. With an attitude of nothing ventured nothing gained, I connected it up to 31V and it didn't go bang. I haven't yet had DMX or an LED string on it, but I'll bring some in to work tomorrow and give them a go. If so then I'll probably just buy a 30V supply and stick it all in a box. 35V is a little close to the top limit of the cap's and regulator, but as long as I buy a decent supply I think we should be ok.

Would you believe it, somebody out there makes what I need! And CPC sell it! http://cpc.farnell.com/sunpower/dmxdim/DMX-input-dimming-controller/dp/PW03890 DMX controlled, up to 36v, looks to be 5 channel - designed for R,G,B,Y,W but I'll just put a string on each output. Once the bank account's recovered I might invest in one and have a play.

I've bought a cheap 24V dimmer to play with. Not had time to test them on 24V yet but as others have said it's probably an LED stack without resistors, so I don't think it'll work. I'll see what I can do to hack the 24V dimmer and let you know. If not then I may build my own using an arduino and some FET's - though probably not any time soon! Thanks for all your replies

Thanks Tim I had thought about hacking a 24v PWM dimmer. Should give much nicer dimming than a transformer and mains. In fairness one thing I haven't tried yet is running the string on 24v to see how bright it is. If it's sufficiently bright then it might be that I just accept a little reduction in brightness in exchange for the ease of using a 24v dimmer. Otherwise I may well take a look at hacking a 24v dimmer. I could break in to the supply to the processor and stick a buck converter across it. Think I'll get one and have a play.

Hi all A few shows this year are making use of festoon (which is good - I love the stuff. Come to think of it, one of the "shows" is my wedding!). I've just bought 60m of RGB WS2801 controlled festoon from China which will be getting DMX controllers attached when it lands in the UK. I'll be using this for anything particularly fancy or complicated. But... I also own 6 strings of LED festoons that are very much "fairy light" quality. They're pretty bright though and look nice when lit. The faff though is that they come with wall wart supplies and require 31V. I'm unsure of the current requirement off the top of my head, but it's not a lot and the wall warts aren't exactly huge. For lots of jobs these wall warts will do the job just fine, but there are also some jobs coming up where it'd be really nice to dim these. I don't think anybody out there makes a DMX controlled LED dimmer that'll handle 31V but I do know that dimmable transformers do exist for more domestic/industrial LED uses. Are these possible to be used for theatrical purposes? There are constant current or constant voltage types. Will both play ok with standard theatrical dimmers (I know I may need a dummy load on the channels as well)? Does anybody have any recommendations for affordable ones that'll do the job? They're only el-cheapo fairy lights so I'd rather not spend the earth being able to dim them.

You could have some fun doing it Little Shop Of Horros style - the performer comes out wearing a t-shirt with "mouse" printed on it, or the mouse's name. They take their bow and then, as if by magic, the "real" mouse comes out and magically takes a bow of his very own (on the remote control car, or in some other way that shows he's not being operated by a person. Operator and the cast all act shocked and surprised at seeing the mouse alive without any help. Works well because your operator still gets a bow, but there's some nice "magic" for the kids in seeing the character that they assumed was a puppet, driving around himself.

Not all puppets have to have people inside of them; http://s513.photobucket.com/user/ceddison/media/Web%20images/C54C95AB-2A52-43EB-A024-D21FD52853DD_zps3wddjv1o.mp4.html http://s513.photobucket.com/user/ceddison/media/Web%20images/BFDBC4BA-BF06-4A0D-95CD-5A57C522DD57_zpssats1son.mp4.html Remote control car servos are all you need. The mouse could come on sat on something that definitely couldn't hold the operator (maybe carried on a tray, or even popping out of someone's hat). You still maintain the magic of not seeing the operator actually making the thing move, so nothing is destroyed for the kids. The operator could even be the person whose hat it is sat on. Both of the above videos are of animals used alongside puppets. Carefully mixing them up means the audience can spend the whole show thinking its a puppet, only to see it get picked up and carry on working. If the end of the panto is a ball/party scene then could it even have its' own sedan chair carried by two chorus members?

I too have a pair of packs now finished, with parts laid out for another 2 just as soon as I get some spare time. Once I tracked down (ha!) a faulty etching on the boards they burst in to life and are behaving very well. I've shown them to a couple of people and all their comments were based on the panel layout, rather than anything else (they just seem to work, so there's very little else to say on that front!). The main comment relates to the positioning and size of the PTT switch - it's quite close to the volume pot and the lever is really quite short. It proves quite difficult to operate. My intention is to drill the front panel above the PTT switch (where Hieronymus has put his headphone sockets) and fit a latching push button with a different feel to the call button. I'll leave the toggle switch in place though. Another solution would be to find a switch from the same family that maybe was just 2 pole with a longer lever and do away with the momentary function. The only other thing I'm looking for is a volume knob that doesn't have a line marked on it. The position of the pot when used with an off the shelf knob means the panel legend doesn't quite tie in with the position of the pointer. My plan is to get a blank one and then mark my own line in the correct place. I've not used them in anger yet, but they appear to behave pretty well! I had some initial buzz when touching the metal components of the xlr's, but I swapped the power supply to a more expensive linear one as opposed to a cheap Chinese switch mode wall wart and it's now fixed. Cracking work guys!

Possibly, though I'm actually starting to think I could tap the case and then the orientation is adjustable from the outside without having to open the thing up. May have to glue a nut on the inside if the wall thickness isn't sufficient, but I reckon it'll do it. Just have to be careful to label the maximum screw length so they don't foul the PCB inside. I'm considering a felted magnetic plate attachment to allow it to sit nicely on the side of my desk, rather than floating around the tabletop, so a way of attaching and removing the clip would be pretty useful. I know what you mean about the cables hanging and pulling the beltpack around. I actually considered if 45 degrees might be an option - it seems to be the natural orientation of my own pack when I'm wearing them as it allows better visibility of the front panel and my hand falls on it nicely to work the PTT. Problem is it then becomes set to be worn on a specific side of the body. It might work absolutely fine upright, being a considerably lighter pack than most others that are out there. Just have to experiment once I've got one finished.

I've just bought some of the boxes from Farnell and have been having a think about the orientation of the belt clips. I've got some old ones off of some Kenwood radios which I'm planning on using. I love the neat size of the chosen enclosure, but I'm trying to work out which way "up" should be. Imagining the control panel on top for the time being, the box is shorter than it is wide. This means that the position of a belt is somewhere around the middle of the pack. Most packs I've used have more weight below the belt clip than above it, so the tendency is for them to hang nicely upright. Of course there's the weight of the XLR cable to take in to account, but I'm just wondering if it might be worthwhile instead having the control panel facing forward, with the connectors facing backwards. I guess the real answer is to try it and see, and with some careful drilling I can probably get away with 3 holes covering both orientations - one hole being common for both. I just wondered though which way most Blue Roomer's would wear theirs if they had a choice? I know some packs have a swivel belt clip to allow sideways wearing - does anybody use it?

I've been doing a spot of digging myself in to the source of compatible PC headsets. One thing that came to light is that Xbox headsets use a single 2.5mm jack plug. You can get a very small 2.5mm socket - 3.5mm 4 pole plug in line adapter that doesn't add much length to the jack plug itself, so this might be an option - maybe glue the 2 together. There's an Xbox compatible headset from Argos for less than £8. I'm going to build my first batch of beltpacks without the 4 pole jack socket. What I will look at though is if I can fit 2 3.5mm jack sockets above each other on the front panel PCB - there looks to be space for a second hole above the existing one. Then I'd just run short leads to the PCB. This would allow me to use unmodified PC headsets and would also give me a 3.5mm headphone output, meaning somebody sitting in next to me on the desk can bring their own pair of bog standard earphones and plug in to hear what's going on without having a mic. All depends if I feel I can safely drill the front panel without splitting it, and if there's space to get a panel mount socket in the existing hole without it fouling the PCB. Failing that I might fit them in the side of the aluminium case and just thread them through from the back once the PCB is in place. Might be a stronger panel to mount them to as well.

Hieronymus and NewChris, I've sent Boatman a copy of a spreadsheet I've designed which is able to calculate numbers of parts required, based on the user entering the number of beltpacks and power supplies they wish to build. It's able to take account of minimum order sizes and order multiples, so for instance if something comes in a multiple of 5 components and you need 6, it'll return the response "2 packs of 5". Just little bits and pieces that might make ordering simpler. It's probably simpler for now if you continue with your own spreadsheets as mine can't really be properly tested until we've got some real data to stick in it, but if you want copies to play with then PM me your email addresses and I'll send you the excel file. I've managed to write it without needing to use macro's so it's just a bog standard excel spreadsheet.

All of which is why the aviation industry are still very much a lead-free - free zone!

Wow, that looks absolutely the dog's whatsits. I suspect I'm going to have to get some practice in on my soldering though! Never soldered dual sided board from scratch before, only repairs. I guess there's a knack!

Those ones look significantly better than the ones I'd seen when I built my last set of comms packs. They barely had an inch of "hook" to go over your belt, meaning they very easily dropped off.