Nice find and background information about this “build your own mechanical TV kit” @ Retrothing (the video is great!)…
Here’s an opportunity to build and own a televisor similar to the device created by Scottish inventor John Logie Baird in 1924. Middlesex University Teaching Resources have released a clever £28.56 kit that includes everything necessary to build your own vintage mechanical television.
The unit measures 260 x 195 x 70mm and includes a CD encoded with compatible TV footage. Simply plug your CD player or iPod into the televisor to view the video. The kit design is vaguely reminiscent of the most popular commercial televisor, manufactured by Plessey in the early 1930s. Around 1,000 of these tin-encased devices were sold at a price of £18, qualifying it as the first commercial television.
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Oh I had that kit a year or so ago.
Some hints:
Lose the red LED. get a white one.
Forget the CD it’s useless. Make your own vid
There’s free software to create it here:
http://users.tpg.com.au/users/gmillard/nbtv.htm
I also found the CD player useless. Use an MP3 player.
And finally forget the batteries. As they go dud you have to keep tweaking the timing. Stick a mains power supply on it.
Once I did all that the thing worked GREAT.