[SML] Projector dowser redux

[Jason Salvatori]

I have built the CD tray one myself with very little work.

Mine is a cd/DVD drive from an old PC.  I have an ATX computer power
supply sitting beside it, with pins 13 and 14 jumped with an on/off
rocker switch.
 The ATX PSU feeds power to the drive.
I opened the front of the drive, and soldered a momentary switch (NO)
across the same solder points as the open/close button on the front of
the drive.
That's it for the mechanical part.

If you have enough space by your projector to have the drive sit a
full tray away from it,  rglue or tape your flag (cardboard,
construction paper, etc) to the outside of the tray.

If your drive has to sit right beside the lens (as is mu case) put
some flat black gaff tape on both sides of the tray to fill the
opening in the middle of the tray.

And you're done.

Email me off list if you need pictures or drawings and I'll see what I
can put together for you.

Jason

On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 11:26 AM, Jon Ares via Stagecraft
<stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
> I felt this was a (perhaps long-ago) recurring thread, but my GMail
> search isn't really showing me much in the way of SML discussions of
> projector black-out solutions (save a recent discussion about masking
> off partial portions of the beam)....
>
> I'm in need of a flapper/dowser/douser/shutter.... and I'm much too
> poor to buy a $500 City Theatrical gizmo.  I would love DMX control,
> but at this point, I'll be happy with momentary switch action.
>
> Looking around online for the CD-Tray-Slider gizmo isn't turning up
> much in the way of practical info... I found Pat Immel's 2007 Tech
> Expo PDF, but I tore open 2 CD units (a Pioneer and a Sony) and
> neither are geared up like the well-explained diagram in said Tech
> Brief. ControlBooth has had lots of discussions (about 5-10 years ago)
> - but when provided with a link, it's now dead.
>
> If I had experience in servos and such, I'd attempt to build a
> purpose-built device, but I'm running out of time... does anyone have
> other diagrams/solutions for the CD tray method? Or some other method?
>
> 4 or 5 years ago, I tried using DMX-controlled Source Four irises, but
> they don't actually stop all the way down - there's always a hole...
> like stopping a lens down to f/22.
>
> Solutions/experiences?
>
> --
> Jon Ares
> www.arescreative.com
> Follow my twits @jon_ares
>
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