pasithea

Yay! After some financial delays getting the stuff together to make the digital animation stand at school I finally got a webcam to add to the computer Corinne donated and the time Jeff and Dasha donated to get it running right and I installed a license of FrameThief on it. So last night, Peggy and I went on the long-awaited commando-raid of the animation lab to put this beast together. It turned out to be a lot more complex than I'd at first thought and now that it's mostly together, I'm finding I appreciate my Neilson Hordell a _LOT_ more. In fact, it's not a bad machine at all. It's a good machine. Good goood good old admiral Neilson. I'll never curse you again. My NH is in much better shape than the machine donated to the school and my gearing is much finer. I can do far FAR more controlled motion on my machine than the school's could. 1 crank of the handle on my stand pans maybe 1/100th of an inch. One crank on the school machine moves about 1/4 inch. Anyhow, comparisions aside, this poor machine has been much more abused than my little Neilson was. I think I can restore it but it needs a lot of TLC.

Hi Marty,

     I thought I should give you a brief on the animation stand in the 
lab downstairs, since I spent several hours last night putting it together.

First off, the mechanical stuff.

It's assembled and all of the parts seem to be there.  

Leveled up the base so it doesn't wobble.

Light mounts and camera mounts are rock solid with no slip.

The camera mount is, of course, made for a much larger camera than I
put on the machine.  I'm going to have to improvise a block to move the
camera out.  This is easily fixed and no biggie.

The collar for the composite (which has the degree markers on it for
rotation) was broken and in several pieces in the box.  It looks like
this was broken prior to our recieval of the machine though as part of
it is still on the collar of the composite.  This doesn't affect 
operation and it's a pretty simple matter to get some plastic glue and
put it back together.  I've got that on my list of things to do on Monday.

Then 10-field pegbar is not geared (it's the short pegbar) I put it on
the machine.  The 12-field super-wide panning pegbars I left off the unit 
because they're so long and unweildly that unless someone needs to use them,
they're probably better left to the side.

The composite rocks weirdly and feels spring-loaded.  I think this is 
deliberate and has something to do with the remote for the composite, I 
have to investigate further.

Most of the hand cranks slip badly.  This is generally the result of people
turning them while they were locked down.  My animation stand had the same
problem when I first got it and I think I can fix this.  (Requires replacing
some worn screws and possibly a little drilling or filing)  Before it goes 
into regular operation, it definetely needs some large signs threatening 
bodily harm to anyone who turns the cranks with them locked in place.

Counterbalance:  Cameras have changed and the counterbalance was MUCH too
heavy for the 3oz webcam I put on the machine.  I tried first removing the
shot-filled weight from the bottom and then removing the steel weight and 
replacing it with the shot-filled weight and it's still much too heavy.
We can empty out some of the shot in the counterweight to lighten it up more
but I suspect it needs at least 10lbs of weight to operate correctly and 
that's still more weight than the camera needs.  My proposal at this time
is to dump about 1/3rd of the shot into a heavy-duty canvas bag then 
sandbag it across the arm of the camera mount.  This will give it sufficient
weight to operate and balance out the load.  (More on this in a minute.)

Electronics:

Camera head motor:  The counterbalance makes a good place to segway into
electronics.  The camera head motor is functional and can raise the camera
head with no difficulty.  The big dial on the front of the control panel
controls the speed of movement.  HOWEVER, it REALLY has to work to lower
the camera head whereas it raises it with ease.  This is because the 
counterbalance is still much too heavy for the camera that's on there
at this time.  We could correct this just by sandbagging the camera mount
arm but I'm concerned the bushings on the motor may also be rather worn
and as I have no desire to rebuild an electric motor, I'd rather reduce
the overall weight in the load (see comments on counterbalance above)

Platten cylinoid and motor:  Does not seem to fire at all.  When you 
turn the machine on, you can press the pedal once and it makes a 'kachunk'
noise but nothing happens.  There is no motor noise from the motor for the
platten.  On closer inspection, it appears one of the cable connectors for
the platten is badly damaged.  (Looks like someone crushed it, possibly 
while it was in storage)  It's like a 30 cent part, so I'll pick one up 
at HSC and rewire the connector and hopefully that will fix the problem.
For the moment, I've removed the platten glass and set it aside so that 
no one tries to force it.  (Also left notes on the machine)  If replacing
the connector does not fix the problem, the cylinoid is probably stuck
and may need replacement.  Looks like a fairly standard one and I can 
probably find a suitable replacement at HSC.  I'm pretty sure the motor
is alright.  I'll know a lot better once I've had a chance to plug a 
multimeter into it and see what's going on.

Backlight:  Works (surprisingly)  Power for backlight is connected on
bare posts with ceramic insulator 2 inches apart. (110 voltage) BAD BAD
BAD BAD.  The firemarshall would not be happy.  I've got some heat-shrink
insulator that I'll put around those to make it more safe.

If that backlight tube ever dies, you'll need to get a new one from a 
florescent sign maker (which will probably be expensive) or replace it
with some more modern mini-florescent tubes.  The later is what I 
recommend as it'll be cheaper to maintain and much lower voltage.

Top lights:  Work and (aside from being a little dusty) are in very 
good condition.  Use normal floods.

Console power light:  I regret to inform you that the christmas light
behind the blue plastic gem lamp is burned out and will need to be 
replaced.  Where oh where could we possibly find a christmas light 
this time of year?  :)  Okay, I was disappointed I didn't get a shiny
blue light the first time I powered the machine on, but I guess I'll
live.  I'll grab a couple of spare blubs for it.   (I even thought to 
locate the fire extinquishers prior to plugging it in and had a friend 
standing by one, and plugged it into one of the 10-amp circuit breaker
power strips just to be safe) 

Wiring:  Expect for the crushed connector and the bare-posts of the 
backlight tube, all the wiring is in pretty good health.  Cables are 
not worn, insulator is in good shape, plugs are in pretty good shape.
It's all two-prong wiring, of course, but there are worse things in 
the world than that.

All in all, it's currently minimally functional for use as a still 
pencil test.  There's a digital zoom on the camera which can be used 
instead of moving the camera head for the moment, and I took the platten
glass off so you can lay paper flat on the bed.  The cranks are not 
suitable for camera moves at the moment but will do for just lining up
your art to photo.  On Monday I should be able to fix most of the 
mechanical issues and with any luck the electrical ones as well.

-Samantha