LightLogo Fresnel Jig




During the course of the Wilton Young Makers workshop I ran for a few months two students worked on LightLogo procedures that we projected through a fresnel lens. The beta release of the jig worked well, particularly the focusing function. However, you could really only project onto walls, not the ceiling, and the entire jig was a little fragile.

I asked a friend for some help with using his school's laser cutter to build a better jig. He created the shapes in Illustrator using my design input. We cut them from cardboard first.



Next, we used 1/4 inch plywood as our stock and cut the same shapes.




We cut two of the open "frame" shapes for the lens and one of the solid pieces for the base. The fresnel lens is sandwiched in the frame. The parts are connected with 1/4 inch threaded rods, lock washers, washers, and nuts.



Were I to make another, I would cut some of the wood from the base just for aesthetics. 

Once focused the jig projects both on the ceiling and, tipped on its side, on walls.





The red light in the image above is the power light on the Metro Mini being magnified. I ended up covering the lights on the microcontroller with a piece of electrician's tape so they would not affect the programmed designs.

I really like how this jig turned out. It is very portable, lightweight, and simple. It can still be focused quite easily. I like how it can easily change the atmosphere of a room depending on the procedure running on the Metro Mini. Right now I have my Lopez Sky procedure running on it and it is beautiful.

Comments

Anonymous said…
My old laser cutter had a focusing mechanism similar to this. I found the four piece focus frustrating. I saw a few that had a three Y shaped focus. Might be interesting to see if the Y shape is any easier. Or maybe a through knob to ease the focusing. http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/27R13/5-STAR-KNB-WTHRU-HOLE-14-20T.aspx?gclid=CPHJ_qqVpc0CFRY7gQodjvcN_w

Cool piece!

Patrick
Josh Burker said…
Thanks Patrick!

In general this piece really doesn't need focusing: being a little out of focus adds to the effect. The limiting factor is the shape of the fresnel lens.