BillFitzmaurice.info

Arrgh, for some reason one of the facade's side panels had stopped working. I checked it out and it seemed to be an intermittent problem with the end section of LED strip that I had soldered to (too much heat?). Luckily it was overlapping the 1st bit of LED (after going all around the edge of the panel) by EXACTLY the right amount so that I could just chop it out at the next solder point (4") and resolder. I thought I should do this when I was building, but was too lazy too! This has now forced me to do it, so not really a bad thing (other than a 'delay of video' penalty )

I have been playing with the music controller... 15 music programs MY ARSE! More like 9. According to the amusing Chinglish instructions, it looks like I am missing some of the better programs It may be because I am only using the mic and not the music input. I will go fiddle now and get this video done

Bloody youtube... 64 mins STILL to go. It's been going for about 2 hours so far BT Infinity being installed in a week or 2 though... 38MB/s should make these vids a bit quicker when uploading and still leave room for me to host a porn site or 2

I tried to show when I was changing mode by holding up the controller - I was also changing the volume of my booth out out of shot as some modes look better at different volumes. The 15 modes only work when you are using a 3.5mm jack in, when using the mic it only has about 8 music modes. Out of the 15 modes a lot of them are similar: 7 of them are just one of the colours flashing in time with the music, 1 is where the colour changes in time with the beat, and there are 3 that adjust the brightness on the beat, on the off beat there is just a dull glow round the edge. I forget about the other 4... I think they change from one of the primary colours to the other and back again.

The video doesn't do it justice TBH, it looks very good in the flesh

EDIT: Just checked the vid... I think I uploaded the wrong one It should still give a good idea. I will upload another one tomorrow

On a side note, I have started building a UV light. I'll post here as well shortly. It won't be much for a thread, as most of the work is going to be soldering 200 LEDs and 50 resistors together - fun! I know it isn't strictly BFM, but I am using the skills that Bill taught me to make it (and the facade). I hope that someone else maybe inspired to also use their BFM skills (woodworking/soldering/problem solving etc) on something other than cabs Bill's got a lot to answer for what with me spending all my time in the garage now!!

Looks darn good to me, pal! Very jealous of the lighting in your façade. You really hit a homerun there. As for the UV light, I absolutely applaud your taking on soldering hundreds of LEDs, but UV lights are pretty cheap on EBay. I mean, really, they are a $15 fluorescent light fixture and a $10 UV fluorescent bulb. If all the LEDs you'll be soldering will be powered "Christmas Light Style" where if the bulb "here" goes out, nothing beyond that bulb works, you have 200 individual points of failure that would be darn near impossible to troubleshoot and could leave the thing a paperweight. NOT trying to discourage you, but maybe bring something to your attention that may have slipped past you in the "enthusiasm of the moment. "

I also think it's quite nice of Bill to allow our (some others...but mostly us ) OT build threads. IMO, he's OK w/it as long as it's nothing that competes with anything he's selling. I certainly understand that! Thanks, Bill.

miked wrote:Looks darn good to me, pal! Very jealous of the lighting in your façade. You really hit a homerun there. As for the UV light, I absolutely applaud your taking on soldering hundreds of LEDs, but UV lights are pretty cheap on EBay. I mean, really, they are a $15 fluorescent light fixture and a $10 UV fluorescent bulb. If all the LEDs you'll be soldering will be powered "Christmas Light Style" where if the bulb "here" goes out, nothing beyond that bulb works, you have 200 individual points of failure that would be darn near impossible to troubleshoot and could leave the thing a paperweight. NOT trying to discourage you, but maybe bring something to your attention that may have slipped past you in the "enthusiasm of the moment. "

Nope, it's going ahead If all the LED's go out I will KNOW my power rail (literally a rail!) is bust. Otherwise all the LEDs will probably be grouped into 7s (with a 120Ω resistor for each group to limit current to 20mA), so only a group of 7 will be out 7 may be too many, but I'll see. I cannot buy a UV light in the shape of my logo, so I am going to have to make it. The initial idea was to sparked off when I did a gig with these guys:


Their "footwork" sign in the background is just a load of blue LEDs. I decided that it looked so good and was probably so easy to make (except the soldering), that it was put on the list of to-dos. It was only later when trying to decide the colour of LEDs that I realised that UV ones would serve a dual purpose - serving as a sign to look pro and advertise, along with the UV light.
Normal shop bought UV LED lights are CRAP as their LEDs only emit at 395nm - I have one and it only just makes white stuff glow. In my sign I will be using 395nm AND 365nm, which is further into the UV spectrum, so stuff will glow more I can get 100 395nm LEDs for about £6, but the 365nm are going to cost £70 You won't find any of those 365nm ones in any shop bought UV lights - I wonder why!

The logo will be a 'dots' version of this:

miked wrote:I also think it's quite nice of Bill to allow our (some others...but mostly us ) OT build threads. IMO, he's OK w/it as long as it's nothing that competes with anything he's selling. I certainly understand that! Thanks, Bill.

I'm in total agreement with you there... thanks Bill for allowing Mike & I to have these extra build threads on your board. It's not like we are flooding it with loads of stuff and it's hard to find the BFM stuff (in which case I would expect a telling off ). I DO enjoy a good build thread though whether cabs or other stuff - your (miked's) facade for example got me building mine. You can pick up ideas for your next build on ANY build thread, not just from the cab builds. I think it helps that it is related to BFM (i.e. building a rig), which means it could prove useful to others, which is surely the whole idea of this board.

In order to illuminate your logo from behind, you just need a cutout of your logo, with the light behind the cutout. IOW, if you had a 2'x3' piece of cardboard, and cutout the name "BOB" in 6" high letters, dead center, and illuminated it from behind, all you would see is "BOB" in a darkened room. You don't need to form your logo(s) with LEDs in order for "their shape" to be seen. So what I would do is cutout your logo however large you want. Then, make even rows of LEDs behind it, in whatever concentration you need to make it as "glowy" as you want.

Hope this helps.

miked wrote:In order to illuminate your logo from behind, you just need a cutout of your logo, with the light behind the cutout. IOW, if you had a 2'x3' piece of cardboard, and cutout the name "BOB" in 6" high letters, dead center, and illuminated it from behind, all you would see is "BOB" in a darkened room. You don't need to form your logo(s) with LEDs in order for "their shape" to be seen. So what I would do is cutout your logo however large you want. Then, make even rows of LEDs behind it, in whatever concentration you need to make it as "glowy" as you want.

Hope this helps.

No! No! No! He has got to make it so the speaker outline shadow glows constantly, but the "sound waves" chase in multiple colors! How effin' awesome would that look?

Small world, I know the Footwork fellas...

That WOULD look effin' awesome, actually! We are really bad for feeding this guys' OCD. LOL!

miked wrote:We are really bad for feeding this guys' OCD. LOL!

Yeah, I know. Ain't it fun??

DJPhatman wrote:

miked wrote:We are really bad for feeding this guys' OCD. LOL!

Yeah, I know. Ain't it fun??

YOU BASTARDS!! Thanks to you lot, I now have an out of control speaker building addiction, a serious case of OCD, 'PL-fingers' and tinnitus! Still, it could be worse... I've seen hifibob's battle against the bins. Get that man some help - NOW!!