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A MAKE reader writes in with a bit of speculation on Jeep's water fall -
"This is very cool and it doesn't seem like it should be that hard to do. The tricky part would be finding affordable electronic valves that could open and close fast enough. They say it is similar to an inkjet but an inkjet works one of two ways, (a) desktop inkjets dispense ink into a chamber then heat it until the expansion forces it out onto the page, (b) continuous inkjets like those used to print addresses on mass mail pieces use a continuous drip of electrically charged ink droplets. The droplets it doesn't want to fall on the paper are drawn out of the stream by a charge next to the falling droplet stream. " - Link.
looks like they ade a bitfall clone
linky: http://sphericalrobots.universalsuperjet.de/bitfall.php
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looks like they got DoS'd, heres a mirror:
http://www.hgb-leipzig.de/~julius/sphericalrobots/bitfall.php
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Use fuel injectors... cheap at a junk yard, easy to trigger/control.
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I was thinking you can some how have a consistent stream of drips coming out and fast actuators to divert (or not divert) the droplets coming out. (look up nitinol aka "muscle wire")
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He says its programmed similar to an inkjet printer, not that it works in the same way.
As in ok the image is moving across, is this pixel on? If so, open the valve.
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it's a little more complicated than that, although the interface is a lot more simple than you would think.
why do i know more than you you ask? well the man who invented the thing was one of my professors in college. i'm sure that he would love to tell you more, and in great detail. he's the kind of guy i would take my Lego Mindstorms creations to show both him and his son. cool guy. even had (and probably still has) a 1 gig hard drive for a Vax VT1100 for those of you who are old like me.
one of his original kinetic sculptures was used in one of the summer olympics.
oh yeah, Professor Steve Pevnick of the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
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fuel injectors sound neat, but I don't know if they can provide the right flow (or can be modified to).
Also, I wonder if the system is pressurized. 1000 gallons in water trough/54 feet = 8325 lbs/648 inches = 12.8 pounds / linear inch. If the trough is (I'm guessing) 1/2 inch wide, the pressure from gravity alone would be about 25 psi.
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Here is the website for the company that makes it. Apparently it's 24 nozzles deep. I wrote to Mr. Pevnick and asked how it works. We'll see if he is willing to share his secrets.
http://www.pevnickdesign.com/index1.html
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why not just a large tank with pipes aligned along the bottom, and some cheap pull solenoids from like american science & surplus, a bit of tubing, rod with a hole through the side, springs and grease, basically make a simple hand made valve, then its just a matter of keeping the tank filled, and a controller, and maybe a bunch of relays
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Sorry sonic, the other guy is the clone!
Professor Stephen Pevnick built the "Rainfall" in 1979 and patented it in 1981. See Bio
http://www.uwm.edu/People/pevnick/index1.html
The Rainfall is now the Graphical Waterfall; Built and patented in the Good Ol' USofA. 30 years later someone builds a thinner vrs and you call the One Jeep is using a Clone? Another US patent being used outside the country without permission!
For the real deal go to their site and check:
http://www.pevnickdesign.com/index1.html
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Instead of water coming down, this display uses bubbles floating up http://www.taomc.com/art_machines/pipedream_ii.htm
Slower, but a lot quieter!
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I installed "Pipedream III" at the Ontario Science Centre, in Toronto, last June:
http://www.taomc.com/art_machines/pipedream3/pipedream3.htm
This comes much closer to what the "Bitfall" simulation depicts. I am skeptical that it would be possible to do it with water drops-- not enough view time.
Bruce Shapiro
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