HAL 9000 from 2001: a space odyssey

A sanity check if I may....

Is this the lens that you are referring to?



If so, it does look like we could do a bit of minor updating to Phase's drawings.....there are a series of inner rings that show some separation from the outer 82mm ring. It's not clear(?) if that's the intention of the current drawing.

-Jeff
 
It kind of was the intention actually. I will have to check everything but if you look I have a gap or "trench" around the outer ring.

I think the part you're talking about is colored yellow on my cutaway drawing.

stackedelements.png
 
That gap is for the lens cap to screw down and in the documentation that I've managed to find is for a 79mm diameter cover. The outer edge of the lens is probably 85mm or so. Then there is the aluminum ring.

The substitute fisheye lenses that I've been looking at tonight seem to vary in quality and price. Since size does matter (for this exercise), I'm trying to get some info a couple more lenses. It's looking more like a real lens will have to be supplemented with a semi-hemispherical cover. The lens will get you the inner appearance and the cover will get you the outer shape.

Gene
 
Phase,

Ah, yes....I see that now. Tnx!

I've been thinking about possibly using a lens filter of the correct size to replicate the outermost rings. That would get the correct ribbed look. The semi-hemispheric outer lens would replace the flat filter itself.

-Jeff
 
I was subscribed to this thread a few years ago, but didn't get any automatic notification via e-mail when things started picking up again recently. I guess my subscription ran out. :p

Anyway, it's great to see this topic active again! Thanks for the heads-up, k. :thumbsup
 
I'm curious if anyone has made any progress on this project? I waited until today when I could actually register with the forum, so that I could actually post here. :)

I didn't see it mentioned earlier in the thread, but I had a thought about the appearance of the glow in the eye. I think it's important to choose if you want it to look more like it did on screen, or how the prop probably looked in person.

The yellow in the center with a red glow/aura around it is almost certainly an artifact of the camera and filming process, and less to do with how the prop is made. When filming something that is self-luminous, usually there's a certain amount of bloom and saturation that occurs. It's quite likely that behind the fish-eye lens, all they had was a small red incandescent bulb (red filter, etc). If the red portion of the spectrum is saturated on film, and the yellow/orange portion of the spectrum isn't fully saturated but still significant, you'll get a yellow appearance on film even though in person it was probably more of a bright red.

I think there are some production stills that show it more as just a sharp red spot in the center, and I suspect this is closer to how the prop actually looked.

My point is, it might be rather difficult to get the movie-look, using a fish-eye lens to get the right depth and refraction. A yellow light in it will just make a sharp yellow spot.
 
Nothing of substance to report as of yet. I'm still looking at alternatives for the lens....in particualr the bezel(s). Possibilities include having it made on a lathe or creating a 3D CAD of it and having the part done on a 3D printer. Once painted it probably won't make a difference what it's made of.

For a one-off of the faceplate itself, I'm thinking that it'll be easier to just machine up the parts on a mill.....

-Jeff
 
It would be nice to know exactly what "It is 1/1 (life-size) will be cast in solid resin parts,with vacuform or glass?" means.

if the main body is made up of multiple cast parts and not a single casting, it could be a winner. (and would save me a lot of trouble!)

-Jeff
 
The more I look at the Render the more I think they might have gotten a hold of Phase Pistol's blue prints. Its that a bad thing? In an accuracy sense, no. In a "using without permission" sense, not sure about that...
 
I have a (not for sale) 12mm Accura Fish-Eye that reads 74.85 mm diameter for the cap threading . I believe it's from 1968, and have always thought it would make a bargain solution for my HAL 9000 some day.

It's probably way off, but might give HAL builders something to think about. It had three aperture settings, and no focus ring. This is an example of what one looks like, hope it doesn't derail this thread.

1.jpg
 
First Post! I ordered the Wilco kit, which claims to be a 1:1 scale kit. Sadly it is pretty bad quality, but I thought I would share some info since this thread has been revived and there's some talk about lenses and the scale of the piece. The lens area is 82mm, which hits the nail on the head for the Nikkor. The piece is 12x4". The speaker grill is 2 3/8" x 3 7/8". The frame is all one cast piece, although cracked and warped. Some of it looks machined, but I really don't think so. The worst part about it is the lens. It's a single vacuum formed piece of plastic that has been hap-hazardly cut out. There are chips around the edges and I can see a sharpie marker outline of where it was supposed to be cut out. Dimensionally though the kit is really good, and it comes with a very nice etched metal nameplate (although not worth the $60 I spent to get the darn thing).

I think what I'll end up doing is making a mold from the lens I have and vacuum forming my own lens. I'll then put an ultra cheap fisheye lens behind it to get a sense of depth (no way I'm shelling out $1000 for a collector lens).

I'll probably end up using very little from this kit, but I'll take the dimensions and fabricate everything myself.

Just an FYI, I'm hoping to do a HAL 9000 network attached storage for my home network. This thread has been invaluable. Thanks everyone!
 
I'll make sure to post a worklog here. The HAL 9000 interface plate might not be the best, but it will be good enough. It still may be a little while off though.
 
Pardon any ignorance in asking but other than size specifications, could not the needed lens be ground by a local optician ? I don't mean one of the 'one hour' chains but a dedicated old school maker of prescription eye-wear, might not hurt to make a few calls to local craftsmen.
 
Patron Zero said:
Pardon any ignorance in asking but other than size specifications, could not the needed lens be ground by a local optician ? I don't mean one of the 'one hour' chains but a dedicated old school maker of prescription eye-wear, might not hurt to make a few calls to local craftsmen.
Click to expand...

There's no need to go to all that trouble and expense. The Surplus Shed sells a bare optical glass element that is nearly perfect for the project for $8. It is 80mm (3.15") in diameter and 32.5mm (1.28") thick. It's even coated.

HIGH QUALITY COATED DCX LENS 80MM DIA, 60MM FL - Surplus Shed

Tom
 
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I preordered the kit on March 03. When they went to run the card I didn't have enough money. Doh! I'm still waiting on mine and then maybe next summer I'll do something really cool with it.
 
I thought it was the Nikon straight off, their serial numbers tend to be in that range.

The lens was multi-thousands of dollars in the 60s. Each one was blessed by a Shinto priest after it was made.

'Fortunately' it is thought here that Kubrik used the f/8 which is only really of interest to collectors. Only 1500 were made. While $2K sounds pricey, it is less than the lens was new - in cash! The later versions that are faster go for closer to $10K.

I would have thought it more likely though that Kubrik being known as a lens aficionado would have gone for the 66 version, the 7.5mm f/5.6 which was the first with a true 180 field of vew.

They are both mentioned in passing here: Nikon | Imaging Products | NIKKOR - The Thousand and One Nights / Tale 6 : OP Fisheye-NIKKOR 10mm f/5.6

As far as the making of a facsimile goes, all that I would think would really matter is that the focal length and the curvature of the outer lens was the same. Its not like you are going to look through it or check for sharpness or chromatic aberration.

The inner details you see look to me like they are the support structure for the lens, not the result of internal refractions.

Ken Rockwell has the optical formula of the later version

Nikon 7.5mm f/5.6 Fisheye

The 8mm is probably out there somewhere.

There are optically clear casting materials out there that can be used to cast lenses. The problem being that they need pressure as well as vacuum. They probably give the refractive index. So all we would need is a lens design program and a CNC lathe to cut some blanks for a mould...
 
Back when I was a member in the early-oughts, I had worked out a pretty detailed plan for the most accurate HAL panel yet. I'll have to dig them up. I was OBSESSED over it.

I came up with a way to make a lens assembly that would correctly replicate the Nikor lens. In essence, you could make a kind of two-part mold. Let me see if I can explain it:

The bottom half of the mold would basically be your outermost element. The top half of the mold would be kind of like a "lid": imagine it being flat on top, like any old lid, but on the inside, it would be made up of several different domes, stacked on top of each other. (not spheres, but domes) When you pour your clear resin, you put the lid on, and the resin forms around this shape. It cures, you pull it out, and then you have a "solid" lens, the front being the outer, dome-element, the back being a semi-hollow, multi-layer hole of sorts, representing all the other lens elements nestled inside.

Does that make sense, or should I make a drawing? It's pretty easy to do.

For the panel, I was getting quotes to get it sand-cast, but I never went through with it. I was just going to do a simple mold out of metal, paint it matte black, then use a sanding block to reveal the metal in the raised areas. Again, pretty simple.

For the logo, I have the correct art somewhere (I have a knack for re-creating graphics correctly; see the old "One Ring" project from around 2001), and I was just going to use, I think, transfer paper to do it directly onto the metal, probably after some white primer was applied to the area.

Any thoughts? I'd still be into doing this project.
 
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