Question about collimated display systems.

[Neil Hewitt]

Fantastic achievement, guys! Presumably with a powerful enough vacuum source this could scale up to a full-sized wraparound for a 737-sized sim - I guess you'd do it in segments with a separate vacuum source in each? Although I guess you've got to find some way to mask the noise long term

You could build these and sell them for serious money - I'm sure there's plenty of folks here who'd be willing to fork out a small fortune for the ultimate display.

Just wow.

NH

[wledzian]

Fantastic achievement, guys! Presumably with a powerful enough vacuum source this could scale up to a full-sized wraparound for a 737-sized sim -

It doesn't take a tremendous vacuum to draw down the curve. The major limits to size are:

• Amount of stretch required. To go beyond about 40° vertical field of view, more than 2% stretch is required, which runs dangerously close to Mylar's yield strain point. Do that, and the mirror goes *pop*.
• Width of available Mylar sheet. Since the flat-pattern of an unformed mirror is a flattened conic surface, increasing the horizontal field of view increases the vertical width of the mylar sheet. To go big, you need a really wide piece of Mylar.

I guess you'd do it in segments with a separate vacuum source in each?

We had originally considered segments as an easy way to go wider, but upon seeing the degree of distortion at the edges, this is pretty much a non-option. If you look carefully at the photo in post#128, you'll notice a line of distortion running vertically where the 'ear' meets the center section. In this case, the mirror is barely touching the underlying structure, and is being distorted by less than 0.01" judging by the known depth of the imperfections in that part of the frame (that piece of structure just happens to be faceted). That distortion disappears when the pressure is backed down a little bit, but it would be extremely difficult to build a segmented mirror without very distracting distortion at the edges.

Although I guess you've got to find some way to mask the noise long term

That's probably not a huge issue - my plan is to build my sim in my office and keep my shop-vac in the garage, with a small vacuum line running through the wall. I'm confident that anyone determined enough to do this would find a way to get the vacuum out of the room.

You could build these and sell them for serious money - I'm sure there's plenty of folks here who'd be willing to fork out a small fortune for the ultimate display.

Unfortunately, that's NOT going to happen. Many of the techniques required to build this mirror are covered by active patents. To build this for ourselves for the purposes of recreational use or satisfaction of curiosity (to see how it really works) is generally OK, but we'd be opening ourselves up to some serious legal trouble if we tried to make a business of it.

Just wow.

We had the same thought. And believe me when I say that the photos and videos do NOT do it justice. When the mirror hits the right curvature, the image just jumps out into the distance - your eyes instantly relax, and everything just looks so real. It's freaky.

[benjaminransom]

glad to know it....it always be having nice with display systems.....

[mikesblack]

Congratulations! Must bee a hopeful moment. It has been fun watching this concept evolve to a real model. Keep the pictures and commentary flowing. I look forward with to start experimenting with great inspiration. Thank for that guys.

[jackwall]

Way to go fellas .... trail blazing stuff. These first 'fire it up, let's see what it does' moments are the elixer of innovation and motivation. To echo Jordan above, alot of positive envy I'm sure going around.

jack

[Matt Olieman]

I went to bed and woke up this morning thinking about Gene and Wayne's accomplishment and what it means to our hobby. I'm so excited about this and YES I believe in the near future this will be a common device within our community of Flightsim builders.

I can't begin to tell the countless hours I've spent over a 15 years trying to accomplish the same thing, of course most of that time I didn't know what Mylar was. It's thanks to internet and people like Mike Powell who presents us with all sorts of technical information and points us to the right direction, that helps make this possible.

This topic has been discussed, as far back as I can remember, where there was a forum to discuss flightsim building in (that's beginning of time) The same questions and same outcome every time. I thought the same thing, as every time when this topic started, here we go again. BUT with Gene and Wayne's determination, they made it work, truly AMAZING.

I realize this is not a new technology, but in our eyes, as builders, it was an impossible technology and cost prohibiting feat for our builders, Gene and Wayne proved that wrong.

Thank you again Gene and Wayne and Mike Powell for providing such pertinent technical information.

WOW!!!!

Matt Olieman

[vybhav]

Well summed up Matt, couldnt agree with you more.

Regards

[geneb]

Here's a walk-around video I did a little while ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zogFny49zrI

Enjoy!

g.

[AK Mongo]

That video really helped those of us who had never thought twice about a collimating display to understand how one works. How are you going to cover the display? Mylar again?

[geneb]

That video really helped those of us who had never thought twice about a collimating display to understand how one works. How are you going to cover the display? Mylar again?

I'm not quite sure what you're asking. Are you refering to enclosing the mirror?

g.