[SML] Split Flap Signs

[Nielsen, Tim]

Sorry I didn't get to this sooner, Jeff-  I'm a digester.  Feel free
to contact me directly off list if you've got a specific question that
I can help answer and you need a quick reply.

We had nixed the possibility of having each individual letter flip, as
it was beyond our abilities.  We were looking for something that could
be hand operated.  Instead of individual letters flipping, we had the
whole row flip at once.  A large crank on the side with markings for
where to stop and we planned to have an actor on stage crank the wheel
and flip through the signs.  A couple of signs of gibberish in between
the words we wanted was decently convincing.

We considered splitting each row in two on left and right and having
someone on either end cranking away.  It would give us a bit more
randomness to the letters scrolling by, but not get too much more
complex to build and operate.

We learned tolerances are fairly tight to be able to get the words to
stop on cue, but with a bit of practice it worked ok.  I'm drawing a
blank on the name of the material for the cards, but we were using
those thin plasticy "For Sale" signs you see at the big hardware
stores.  Nice and stiff with just the right amount of give.

We have very limited fabrication resources in our shop.  Pretty much
all hand construction and whatever we could pick up at HD or Lowes, so
if you have access to any CNC capabilities, you life may be easier.
We were looking for larger than life so working on a larger scale put
it in our capabilities.

I'm sure you've come across it, but one of my starting points was
here: http://tomlynch.co.uk/split-flap-display/
He's got a blog of his build process that is linked from there.  It
was a great resource to not have to reinvent the wheel from scratch.

Were I to do this again, I'd consider a TV or rear mounted projector
in a custom enclosure with a speaker built in.  There's a couple of
websites out there with the animations that might be useful to you.
My takeaway with these displays is that it's really just a matter of
throwing enough money at the problem if you want the real deal-  but
when is that not the case?

-Tim

On Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 3:00 PM,  <stagecraft-request at theatrical.net> wrote:
> Sure thing.  As a matter of fact that subject will be discussed at this
> morning's production meeting.  Do you have any insights you can share?