Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Belshazzar's Clock, luminous paint night clock

blog.karliner.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 20 posts

Re: Show HN: Belshazzar's Clock, luminous paint night clock

#13

Post by bigiain »

mkarliner wrote: post #6
gigaflop wrote: post #5

Not sure if you can get this where you are, but I've personally used some of these glow powders, and they get very bright: https://unitednuclear.com/glowinthedark-items-c-101_45/ I've had Aqua and Green, and they look gorgeous.

Thanks, I'm in the UK, and US-UK shipping is horrendous, but I may give them a try. Right now I'm try to find a longer persistence photochromic for the daylight version.

Have you come across Stuart Semple/ Culture Hustle?

He makes a lot of interesting paints and pigments, and is UK based.

https://culturehustle.com/collections/powder

I've bought a couple of versions of his blackest black paint, and one of his whitest white, and they've all be extraordinarily good.

I have some of his "LIT - THE WORLD'S GLOWIEST GLOW PIGMENT", but I haven't used it yet. I have no doubt it'll be great as well.

(I have a vague plan to paint a motorcycle in Black4.0 to see if it's unreflective enough to evade the IR laser speed detectors cops use here...)

Re: Show HN: Belshazzar's Clock, luminous paint night clock

#14

Post by djsavvy »

bigiain wrote: post #13
mkarliner wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, I'm in the UK, and US-UK shipping is horrendous, but I may give them a try. Right now I'm try to find a longer persistence photochromic for the daylight version.

Have you come across Stuart Semple/ Culture Hustle? He makes a lot of interesting paints and pigments, and is UK based. https://culturehustle.com/collections/powder I've bought a couple of versions of his blackest black paint, and one of his whitest white, and they've all be extraordinarily good. I have some of his "LIT - THE WORLD'S GLOWIEST GLOW PIGMENT", but I haven't used it yet. I have no doubt it'll be great as…

That's a great idea. I'd love to see if it works.

I've wondered whether it would be possible to design a motorcycle with a surface that's non-reflective to radar because of it's shape or texture, like how stealth planes work.

EDIT: I realized the super black paint is probably the worst thing you could do for your own safety on a motorcycle, but that's besides the point...

Re: Show HN: Belshazzar's Clock, luminous paint night clock

#16

Post by bigiain »

djsavvy wrote: post #14
bigiain wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you come across Stuart Semple/ Culture Hustle? He makes a lot of interesting paints and pigments, and is UK based. https://culturehustle.com/collections/powder I've bought a couple of versions of his blackest black paint, and one of his whitest white, and they've all be extraordinarily good. I have some of his "LIT - THE WORLD'S GLOWIEST GLOW PIGMENT", but I haven't used it yet. I have no doubt it'll be great as…

That's a great idea. I'd love to see if it works. I've wondered whether it would be possible to design a motorcycle with a surface that's non-reflective to radar because of it's shape or texture, like how stealth planes work. EDIT: I realized the super black paint is probably the worst thing you could do for your own safety on a motorcycle, but that's besides the point...

I've been riding motorcycles for about 30 years now, I started back when Neal Stephenson's Zodiac was still new, and this part was still ringing in my head:

“I had to ride slow because I was taking my guerrilla route, the one I follow when I assume that everyone in a car is out to get me. My nighttime attitude is, anyone can run you down and get away with it. Why give some drunk the chance to plaster me against a car? That's why I don't even own a bike light, or one of those godawful reflective suits. Because if you've put yourself in a position where someone has to see you in order for you to be safe--to see you, and to give a fuck--you've already blown it... We had a nice ride through the darkness. On those bikes we were weak and vulnerable, but invisible, elusive, aware of everything within a two-block radius.” ― Neal Stephenson, Zodiac

Re: Show HN: Belshazzar's Clock, luminous paint night clock

#17

Post by exmadscientist »

djsavvy wrote: post #14
bigiain wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you come across Stuart Semple/ Culture Hustle? He makes a lot of interesting paints and pigments, and is UK based. https://culturehustle.com/collections/powder I've bought a couple of versions of his blackest black paint, and one of his whitest white, and they've all be extraordinarily good. I have some of his "LIT - THE WORLD'S GLOWIEST GLOW PIGMENT", but I haven't used it yet. I have no doubt it'll be great as…

That's a great idea. I'd love to see if it works. I've wondered whether it would be possible to design a motorcycle with a surface that's non-reflective to radar because of it's shape or texture, like how stealth planes work. EDIT: I realized the super black paint is probably the worst thing you could do for your own safety on a motorcycle, but that's besides the point...

My brief experience with Black 4.0 was not particularly impressive. This video pretty much hits it dead on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKOC3Z9tDiI

I didn't compare with the other paints (I only found that video after ordering the paint...) or with the difficulty of painting (I got the intern to do it!) but in terms of the final result, that's exactly the same result I got.

I also have some of their glow pigment and it's a lot more impressive. This particular color doesn't glow very brightly or for terribly long, but the hue... glow pigment isn't supposed to be this color!

Re: Show HN: Belshazzar's Clock, luminous paint night clock

#18

Post by avidiax »

mkarliner wrote: post #4
Cerium wrote: post #2

Sweet hack, thanks for sharing. I remember playing in the dark with luminous paper as a kid - If I remember correctly, I would take a hacked up disposable camera and put various objects in front of the paper before triggering the flash. I imagine that you could improve the consistency and readability some by modeling the state of each pixel of paper. That way when the drum comes around you can compensate the exposure…

Interesting, I'll have to think about that. Actually, with rare earth paints, the big issue is persistence, which is rather too long. In the current script, I only turn the drum 1/4 turn, so it takes roughly 4 minutes to illuminate the same patch again. Otherwise the lowest digit tends to be blurred because it is a combination of the last two values.

Maybe you could make a clock based on a cylinder of sealed powder. You draw the time on it, and when it's time to update, you rotate the cylinder enough to mix the exposed powder and draw the next time.

Maybe the same thing could be done with beads and something similar to the marble machines to replenish a screen of beads, then dump it when the time is invalid.

Post reply on HN