Andrew Cowan
Senior Member
I don't like the way that there is a slight delay between turning on the switch, and the bulb lighting. It is espesially visible in the video with the yellow bulb (1.03 mins).
Andrew
Andrew
I think I have a packet of sodium persulphate in a cupboard, I just need to mix it up. I am thinking about replacing my PCB tank - I am just searching for a tall plastic tub with a rectangular cross section. With the lid on the tnak when not in use, how long does a solution of sodium persulphate last? Or doesn't it do bad over time?Andrew, you made a nice job of your magic box.
On the subject of making PCBs, for an etching tank I use a plastic 'cereal' container with a fish tank heater and a fish tank pump with aerator stone for the bubbles. I no longer use ferric chloride and now use sodium persulphate, less messy and the etching process can easily be monitored as the board can be seen through the clear solution..turns a nice turquoise/blue when some etching has taken place.
This is my first solution of this which I made up about 9 months ago and it's still working ok, hav'nt done a large quantity of boards but I am more than happy with it's performance to date....I heat it to 40deg C fo the etching.I think I have a packet of sodium persulphate in a cupboard, I just need to mix it up. I am thinking about replacing my PCB tank - I am just searching for a tall plastic tub with a rectangular cross section. With the lid on the tnak when not in use, how long does a solution of sodium persulphate last? Or doesn't it do bad over time?
maybe a picaxe controlled robot fish??Fish heater... fish pump... now you just need the fish!
I did cut the 10 second reset time to about 7. I also added a routine where if I leave all the lights on for about 5 seconds the switches will only operate the light directly across from them. This lets you hand the board to someone else to see if they have the magic touch - of course they don't. Right now you have to re-cycle power to start the magic back up again. I've had a lot of fun at restaurants with it.That is brilliant, alpacaman, although with my one, it is easy to get the ten second reset time my unscrewing bulbs. How long is your reset, and do you take a while to switch round the bulbs?
I love the illusion created by the adde bit of wire - great!
Did you use technical's code, or did you write your own? I would be interested to see the part of the code that does the on bit - I find that the only problem with mine is that as soon as you hand it across, they work out how it works.I did cut the 10 second reset time to about 7. I also added a routine where if I leave all the lights on for about 5 seconds the switches will only operate the light directly across from them. This lets you hand the board to someone else to see if they have the magic touch - of course they don't. Right now you have to re-cycle power to start the magic back up again. I've had a lot of fun at restaurants with it.
I haven't tried it yet, but I was thinking of doing another all lights on timer to turn the magic back on. As it stands now you have to reset the power.Not sure on the exact code but the best way is to add another timeout which is always set to say 10 seconds whenever the switches are not all on, counts down when they are. When the timeout hits zero jump to different code which is a forced one to one mapping. The only issue then is resetting for more magic.
Sorry for the blurry picture. But, as you can see, I didn't use a circuit board. I used a wire-wrap IC socket and soldered everytning off the socket's legs. Another part of the illusion of no circuit board is cutting a hole in the cover of the battery box - exposing the batteries (see picture in previous post).I like the idea of spoiling the magic. However, a problem with both mine and alpacaman's is that by accessing the batteries, the circuit board becomes visable.
Alpacaman - can you take a photo of your PCB? I would be interested to see how you got it to fit in the battery box.
I handed it to a lady once, with the magic was turned off, and I exclaimed that she had broken the magic and I pretended to be upset. Worried, she asked if I'd be able to fix it. It's a lot of fun.The trouble with any auto-return-to-magic-land is that you never want that to happen while the audience are playing with it and you can bet that if you've had a good audience it will be doing a long journey with people pausing over it while everyone proclaims they can pull the sword out the stone.
This is quite unique as a prop goes in that the Real McCoy can be handed over to the audience.
Another approach could be to claim the audince have un-magiced the batteries, replace them with some others and a suitable shazzam incantation. Not sure how many times that could be pulled off though without it raising suspicion. You also wouldn't want the batteries to be easy to remove because an inquisitive audience will remove them.
The real challenge here is social engineering rather than electronic.