Hand-crank Projector Progress - Lindstrom

I'm getting further along with the reconstruction/re-imagining of the hand-crank projectors. Thanks to Andy Hensler at the Wexner Center, I'm learning a lot about these projectors and the mechanics of how to turn an antique hand-crank film projector into a digital video projector. Although my approach isn't as "orthodox" as Andy would prefer, I think we're finding some good solutions. For example, I had to resort to buying the projectors on ebay. I can only see so much in the pictures that the sellers provide. I made it part of the project to do the best I could with what I could get. I don't have all the time and money in the world to start amassing a lot of projectors. In any case, we're figuring things out. Our biggest concern, no matter what projector we use, is how long the cranking mechanism will hold up against all the churning that might happen.

Here's the crank-side view of the Lindstrom, my favorite projector. The metal is thin and a lot of things were screwed into place instead of pressed or soldered. This was helpful for my simple mind. I could take things apart quickly and easily to get an idea of how things worked. First thing we took off was the back compartment that housed the light bulb. Next we took the clamp off that held the film in place which would be in the way of the lens of the video projector. Andy took the lens off and then we decided how the back compartment needed to be cut to eventually house the video projector - which turned out to be a slot in the back to give room for the electrical cords and a slotted notch in the front for the lens of the video projector. Also, there's sturdy foam cut into a useful base that holds the digital projector firmly in place inside the compartment.

The placement of the video projector proved much easier than I thought; it was made easier since the original antique lens was easy to remove. We wanted to keep the idea of the original look of the lens cylinder above the crank handle. Andy found a random object in his workshop that could serve as a substitute without obscuring the projection from the digital projector.

Andy had a really good sense of how to connect the cranking mechanism to the potentiometer of the scrolling mouse. He drilled a hole through the middle of the pulley shaft that connects to the handle on the other side. He then threaded a flexible wire into the hole and then crimped the other end of the wire into the mouse wheel.

This is a simple solution that seems to work well. We're still concerned with how long this connection will hold up. I am superglueing the end of the wire that connects to the pulley shaft just to be on the safe side. I'm fairly certain that the crimping will hold on the mouse side, but we'll find out soon enough. We had the option to use an allen wrench to connect the wire to the potentiometer, but Andy decided to use the plastic mouse wheel instead which I think is a better idea anyway. I was a little concerned that the metal allen wrench might strip the plastic potentiometer over time. I like using the connection that was originally built into the construction of the mouse.

The next issue was deciding where to mount the mouse board. We discussed mounting it below the pulley shaft which at first glance, as Andy held it in a reasonable place, disturbed my sense of aesthetics. The green circuit board might highlight the modernization of the projector, but it was all I could see. Upon hearing my response, Andy just smiled at me and said that it was no problem to mount it upside down and spray paint it black. "Oh, okay."

Ultimately, we opted to mount the board (which I still have to do) underneath the projector because the bend of the wire will be less convoluted or severe. Andy hot glued parts of the original mouse housing back to the circuit board to make it easier for me to glue the board to the bottom of the projector.

When I got the parts home yesterday, I plugged the USB connection from the mouse board into my laptop and voila, it worked like a charm.

List of things I still need to do to finish this projector:

- secure the wire to the projector with super glue

- build a small base for the projector (since the mouse mechanism will be on the bottom)

- secure the mouse circuitry to the bottom of the projector

- screw the back compartment securely into place

- find a small washer or rubber stop to keep the bottom reel from flying off

Here's a detail of the crank-side that had the lens and film clamp before we removed it. Just in case you wondered...