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Dancing Fountian


gizmomkr

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I know several others have explored this in the past... I even saw a couple of posts refferencing the cavali valves.

I am quite pleased with some info I found on home-brew Laminar nozzel - they are cheap and easy, and give a nice clean "beam" looking jet of water

I have built some nozzels, I think my next step will be adding motion to the nozzel, and controling the flow rate. I was curious what others have done in there setups with water.

Im considering several VFD pump options, but mostly interested in what others may have used for direction / positioning. I have started to assemble a pan / tild mount with servo motors connecting to my nozzel. Will then use servodog to script the movements of the water jets.

I was really hoping to find a pre-made nozzel with some type of direction control, but the closest I found was about 1,000.00 per unit, and I know I can build cheaper than that.

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Evan,

Thanks for the link. I did send him an email.

Most of my interest lies in the pan / tilt. I have seen several people with fixed position jets. The basic conecpt of a pump with simple solenoid valves has been done by several folks.

I will likely end up with a fixed flow rate, (or 1 low and 1 high setting) single and even dual speed pumps are fairly in expensive, but 1 VFD pump would be more than I intend to spend on the entire project.

but I dont think I have seen many others with moving heads. I'd like to see someone elses ideas on mounting & attahcing servo's to the water nozzel

I'll try and get some photos & video clips posted of the tests and deign.

I think a lot of people would like to add water elements, but are afraid of cost and complication. ( not to mention mixing water and electricity)

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Hey Giz, I'm writing Alex too, asking if he can post construction tips/help for the fireworks props.. I like the water jets too, and would prob go with constant pressure to start with.. like you said.. mixing water and juice.. scary =)

Looking at the daytime photos, his yard looks a lot smaller than the nighttime videos make it look.

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I've been looking for a good source for the laminar nozzles. There are a few web sites on how to make them; but I would be willing to purchase them if they aren't terribly expensive. Anyone have any ideas?

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I had not heard back from Alex... but meanwhile:

The fireworks are quite nice. I think they would be fun to kae out of EL wire. (im a big EL wire fan) also found some neat stuff on Fiber Optics. http://www.fiberopticproducts.com/Sideglow.htm has some "side glow" fiber, that isnt verry pricey. The expensive part on fiber is the light source, but you dont HAVE TO buy from them. could probably home brew a RGB light source fairly cheap.

Both the side glow and the end glow fiber look easy to work with and could give some nice looking effects.

I think I actually saw an RGB DMX light on there site.

Oh but back to water.... thats what led me to the fiber. The Laminar nozzel was really not hard at all to build. CK - if you search on "Laminar Nozzel" and "pond" you can find a lot of pre made stuff. http://www.themel-costore.com/servlet/Detail?no=237 has the entire unit lighting / pump / controller / "cutter" - its only 2,500.00 :shock:

These guys also have a lot a nozzels - http://www.fountaincomponents.com/c-17-fountain-nozzles.aspx

I still say home built is the way to go. I looked at several videos from drilling plastic to milling brass pipe.... in the end about 200 drinking straws, 1 ft of 4in PVC, 2 end caps and a hose adapter worked great. without a doubt, the most importiant part is that last tiny bit of pipe or plastic that the water goes out. the thicker the material, the worse your jet. I ended up drilling out a hole in my end cap, and then epoxying a washer in place.

The light right now is pretty weak, I think I found a blue 20 watt 12v bulb and shoved it in for testing. I plan on finishing up with a 7mm End glow fiber placed in the middle of the tube. Right now the lights are on the edge of the pvc. They do show, but not verry bright. I think the fiber will get the light right where I want it to really light up the whole jet of water without effecting the stream.

Sorry in advance about photo size...

img_0049.jpgimg_0050.jpg

img_0067.jpg

More pics - http://www.welightupthenight.com/photos

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just a quick update on this for those interested.

I have mounted 1 server for pan left/ right. I dont have a tilt yet. I know pic's help, I'll have some when I finish the lighting.

I found some great info at http://laminar.forumotion.com/

I have ordered some PMMA Fiber, and am now working on a mount to hold the fiber infront of a 3 Watt RGB Led.

I have also found some really neat elements: Fiber spears (not sure if its fiber as much as its really just material that evenly distributes the light piped in.

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gizmomkr wrote:

Just a quick update on this for those interested.

I have mounted 1 server for pan left/ right. I dont have a tilt yet. I know pic's help, I'll have some when I finish the lighting.

I found some great info at http://laminar.forumotion.com/

I have ordered some PMMA Fiber, and am now working on a mount to hold the fiber infront of a 3 Watt RGB Led.

I have also found some really neat elements: Fiber spears (not sure if its fiber as much as its really just material that evenly distributes the light piped in.


what brand of led? I know of "fiber injectors" for older luxeon led's
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi All -

I threw my hat into the firework ring this year. After beating my head into a wall for weeks on a design, i finally settled on a simple led strip on fiberglass screen approach.

Here is the video to the first one i built (its running in my garage).



I swore i woudln't put em on the house unless i got them looking damn close to real fireworks. What do you think?
If you're intersted in how i pulled it off, let me know.
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Andy
That is awsome !!! Do it 20'x20' and we won't need real fireworks anymore !!!
And before you are flooded with request...Post step by step with what everyone loves..Lots of pictures !!!

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Ok folks - here you go. Detailed as i can be. Each one of these puppies is about $150 worth of supplies (i made 4 this year) - most of the cost is the LEDS. but they are way worth it. The first 3 i made were solid colors, one red, one white and one blue. The last one i made was a multi color one that was the scraps left from the first 3. The video for the latest one is here:

http://www.youtube.com/christmaslunatic#p/u/5/ZnwjgHZPS1s



Also, you might this interesting.... last night i built my "Color Column" - v2.0. Last xmas i did this with incandescent strings wrapped around a 4" pvc pole, but i was limited to 2 colors. When i tried to wrap the column in a 3rd color (aside from becoming very bulky) the bottom color got buried and you couldn't see it. So, now that i'm in love with these LEDs, i remade the column in RGB leds. Now i can have an infinite set of colors. Each column is divided into 8 sections over 48". Each section has (3) 8" LED strips. The 3 strips in each section are wired together, so they are always the same color, but i can vary the colors of each section. Ok i didn't explain that right, just watch the video and you'll get the point. Also, note that the column is actually sitting upside down in the video because i was working on the wiring at the base. I came up with a cool way of connecting it - 25 pin serial cables. If you think about it - each of the 8 sections has 3 channels - an R,G,B = 24 channels Plus the one common positive is 25...worked out perfectly, and its very convenient. Let me know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/christmaslunatic#p/u/4/TVYrZQbWZhY

Enjoy


Attached files Firework Instructions.pdf

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Nice job Andy, very good tutorial. It's talented individuals like you that really make reading these forums a great value. Thank you very much for sharing.

Joe

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thanks joe. The amazing part is that i'm only a 2 year user. I bought my first single LOR controller the christmas before last. If you would have ever told me i'd have the gear i do now OR that i would be posting instructions on how to do anything - i would have literally laughed at you. I learned everything i know from these boards.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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