Open source “split-flap” mechanical display

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 9:31 AM UTC

gattilorenz wrote: post #32

argvargc wrote: post #23

Genuine question: what are some practical advantages of a split-flap display over, well... any other kind of dynamic character display? The only two I could think of are: - they don't emit light, so maybe there could be some kind of light-sensitive situation where this would be required (though in that case e-ink would surely surpass it). - the sound passively-alerting those present to updates. It's not obtrusive or…

similarly to an e-ink display, it doesn't take energy to show the current/last status, it's required only for transitions. If there's a blackout, the display is still visible.

Post by grishka » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 9:33 AM UTC

argvargc wrote: post #31

danohuiginn wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nostalgia, really -- I have fond associations of these with childhood train journeys. I could just about imagine a genuine use case in some kind of hostile environment. You could probably make one of these very resistant to water/temperature/radiation, with the controller kept safely out of the way.

That sparked an interesting idea: would these work in a zero-gravity situation (mechanically I mean), and if not, how to adapt them so they would? (And agree with the nostalgia - I'm sure for many the sound is associated with a quiet anticipation or excitement of embarking on a journey.)

Post by aubergene » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 9:43 AM UTC

argvargc wrote: post #23

Genuine question: what are some practical advantages of a split-flap display over, well... any other kind of dynamic character display? The only two I could think of are: - they don't emit light, so maybe there could be some kind of light-sensitive situation where this would be required (though in that case e-ink would surely surpass it). - the sound passively-alerting those present to updates. It's not obtrusive or…

Post by atrus » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 10:17 AM UTC

abetusk wrote: post #38

murderfs wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've been following this project for a while. It's pretty awesome. I estimate about $10 per character (as opposed to the $180/character (!!) another poster mentioned through Alibaba), with a large portion of the cost being the custom cut "flaps" (in small quantities). It seems like the cost could get in the $2-$4 range per character but I couldn't figure out how to do it without a significant amount of labor involv…

Laser cutting is straight out for the hobbyist, because of the chlorine, as you correctly point out. I think the way to do this is either with a CNC or with some die punch solution. Doing a single cutout of PVC with a CNC would be fine, but doing 40x23x7 is probably not. Doing a die punch is maybe possible but I don't really know how to create a custom punch and what tooling to use.

Post by abetusk » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 10:55 AM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #44

murderfs wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've been following this project for a while. It's pretty awesome. I estimate about $10 per character (as opposed to the $180/character (!!) another poster mentioned through Alibaba), with a large portion of the cost being the custom cut "flaps" (in small quantities). It seems like the cost could get in the $2-$4 range per character but I couldn't figure out how to do it without a significant amount of labor involv…

> Laser cutting a bunch of sheets at once could be one option Use a waterjet cutter instead. You'll have some issues with microplastics in the water, but these can be filtered.