so i was thinking today about how a lot of people were wanting to have case windows that could automatically tint themselves and become transparent. it all hit me all the sudden. bear with me. so im working with my dad on his shop. im get out my welding hood to let it charge in the sunlight, and when i pick it up and press the "magic button" to activate it, it hits me. this thing would make a bitchin case window. see i have an autodarkening hobart hood. when the arc strikes, the little solar pannel sees this and sends a signal to the lens to auto darken. this happens insanely fast ( i wanna say 1/64,000 th of a second, but that is probbaby WAY off). anyway, i was thinking i could pull this out, and mod it to fit into say, a sff case. sff because the window would only be like 2 inches by 4 inches because that is the size of the lens. i think there are bigger ones now like 4x4. anyway, the lens has adjustments for shade, sensitivity, and speed. so you could control the tint of your window, how fast it changes to "solid" when you flick on your room lights and how fast it turns transparent when you flick them off. the window will have a bit of a green tint to it when transparent, but in the right case, it would look pimp. i also had the idea that you could use this window to hide/display an lcd/vfd if you so choose, like when your lights are on, you cant see it, when they are off you can. the thing runs off a watch cell that is charged by solar power. better modders could run this from their 5v molex, and even better modders could replace the photo responsiveness with say, a proximity switch so it can be turned on / off at whim. i got my hobart hood for around 75 bucks. there are cheaper ones, and im sure that you can get one for less. here is a link to the hoods im talking about, they even have a simple flash showing kinda how it works you might wanna take a look at...on second though, never mind, it isnt realy informative. so anyways, just some ideas i thought id throw out there to you modders. ill never do this myself, cause i just dont feel like it.
Woah that sounds mint, I thought you were gonna do it Big ups to anyone who gives this a go, sounds awesome as!
really itd be simple enough to do, pretty much just pull out the lens and controls, cut your hole and fit it in. i think id be great on a sff, but i dont have money just to go and build computers because i have an idea. if i did, then id have at least 5 very original computers sitting around my room keeping me warm from processor heat in the winter.
heh thats a nice idea. You can usually buy replacement auto glass at welding stores. IIRC I've seen pieces as big as 4"x5" but I could be wrong. oh btw the glass changes from light-dark in about 1/10,000th -1/20,000 of a second. Least those are the numbers I've seen most
yeah, ive seen replacement pre tints, but it looks like they are now offering the auto darkening pieces on the hobart website. i dont know if it is just the glass, or the controller piece too. ive not taken my hood apart to see. but that could be an even cheaper way to make your window, buying the replacemnts and using that.
this would be even cooler if you could bypass the light senseing bit of it and just have a switch to turn it on/off at will or at the least reverse the processe so it would tint when the light if off ...'cause wouldent tinting to light comeing on f*** up any kinda cool lighting effect also im just assumeing that as it is it only tints to and intense light source such as an arc or something would a normal bright led or cathod be enough to set it off or is there a senseitvity setting you could lower to get it to work ? but it is definately an awsome idea i do like the idea of an electricaly induced tint of some sort
thats what i just said. turn it around. when the room lights come on, the window tints, when they go off, it clears and you can see internal case lights. you assume semi correctly. yes, it is made to protect your eyes from the arc, but it does not take a light as bright as an arc to make it tint. im sure a superbright LED would be more than enough to cause the thing to tint. hell, it tints in my living room when i turn my head toward a window. uh, didnt i just say this? dont we all?
Well what would be nice is to have a proximity switch; when you hold or wave your hand in front of it it will switch on or off. Now that's magik. edit: here check this; electrochromic glazings
I was under the impression these systems used a kind of "LCD" to change their visibility. I remembered seeing some glasses that had LCD screens in the lenses, and a Photocell in-between, so when light shone on the photocell it let a flow of electricity into the LCDs, which caused them to go dark.
sorry, the button activates the circuit. it shuts down if it is not used for a while. basically it shorts the circuit and "wakes" it up. then it runs automatically through light sensitivity. and yeah i mentioned having a switch, but this: is a good idea. didnt think of that one. thanks! yeah, if they were 9 x 9 it would be great, but not really useful to a welder. 4 x 5 isnt a bad size though. also, i should apologize for confusing you and being short with you. it was late and i havent been sleeping. but that is no excuse. sorry. yeah, that would be cool too. now THAT is a window! heh, neat glases. may also originated for welders. you know i dont know exactly how these work. ive just been too lazy to research it. there are some eye glasses that have a kind of spray on auto tint, but it isnt really contolable like this electro stuff is.
no problemo its all good i donet sleep enough either "now THAT is a window! " i definately agree with that... to bad its so expensive ...but im sure it'll get used sooner or later
what would the reason be for wanting auto tinting glass in your case? if you wanted to show off the inside of the case you wouldnt be able to see in would you???
Ok I use auto-darkening helmets, and I am familiar with how they work. It is indeed a LCD, but it still presents a problem. Even in the "Light" state, they are still a number 1 or 2 shade, about that of normal sun-glasses. In the dark state they are anywhere from #9-#13 (even darker on some models) with a #10 you can look at the sun, you won't see anything special, but it won't hurt your eyes. I think you needa #14 or something to see things like solar flares and partial eclipses. Second, they don't absorb all the light with the LCD a good bit is reflected. From the outside my helmet's lens looks pink/purple, on the inside, you see everything in a blue color. Just moun't it so it is facing into the case, and it should work. for you though. Third, for tricking them on and off, a super-bright LED may not work, most of the time, looking at the sun dosn't make my helmet turn dark. However, and IR LED will work if you point it at the sensor. For example a remote control will make the helmet change at close range. Does it stay tinted or does it lighen after a second, because a lot of time, a sudden rise in ambient light can make it do that. But the IR from the remote is strong enough to keep it dark. I think the sensors are more sensitive to IR and UV than visible light. Fouth, as for controls I have a helmet with no controls, it shuts off automatically after 1 hr, it turns on when you first strike the arc again, (longer wait pd though, so I usualy use my flint lighter to turn it on) It is set at #10 which is fine for most welding things, and Ive never had trouble with the sensitivity or delay. If you could find something like that, an IR led to trigger it, and you would be set. When you order it you should get a whole lens unit, the only external thing may be a shade control that is mounted externally on some units. That way there are no connections to fail and keep the helemet turning dark. I know you could get something like this working, I would just question how satisfied with it you would be. Hopefully it turns out better than I think it will.
this is why i mentioned that the window will have a green tint to it even when open. it has a pre-shaded window on the front and darkens from there. what hood do you have? ive never seen a pink and blue combination. mine is green looking in or out. this is probably because you dont have sensitivity adjustments or "delay" adjustments. IR would probably work excellent. didnt think of that. that is what is happening. with the sensitivity turned up, any rise in light can make it change. with it all the way up, it seems to always stay tinted. it is really sensitive like that. the hobart hood i have has a good set of controls built onto the lens on the inside of the hood. three adjustments and the activate button. its a good setup and gives you more control. i think this would allow you to tweak it better if it didnt react exactly how you wanted it to.
The last little bit I'm going to add, When I was in middle school and parts of high school, The teacher would hook a graphing calculator up to a display that would rest on an overhead, It was basically a clear lcd screen. Any normal Lcd screen could be used in this fashion, The advantage being you could control the pictured displayed, The only thing Is I dont believe they get dark enough to block out all case lighting
Yes, these are LCDs. Another use for them is 3D glasses. The way these work is that the program on the PC shows two images, one for each eye, switching back and forth as fast as the monitor can refresh. The glasses are specifically timed to 'blank' out each eye peice so that only the images meant for your right eye see the images on the monitor and blank out the left eye images...so on and so forth. Since these LCDs are basically 'on' or 'off' theres no pixel potential. What this means is that there should be a simple way to switch these LCDs without using the superbright LED.
i remeber those! thats my thought. i think you can bypass the light sensitivity all together with just a normal switch and have it on or off at a whim.
I have an ArcOne Eagle the center is auto darkening, reflects the pink/purple color to the front, and on the inside when it is dark, the arc is blue or a green blue depending on the process and the metal (blue for MIG/stick and sometimes TIG on steel, green blue for TIG on stainless and alu) On the top and bottom there are bands of typical shade 10 filter. That is the typical green color. I've never really needed to adjust the delay, the shade level is typically good, and the only time I would like to have a sensitivity adjustment is for oxy-fuel cutting. (too lazy to get out the goggles) That has me thinging, if you can preserve the connections somehow, you could get a 4x40 LCD(or a graphic one), pull the glass off, and use that for the window.
