Accurate Vickers Viscount 700 Series Reading Lamp project

[r2maker]

“Whether you are restoring a vintage Vicker's Viscount 700 airliner,
or you need spare parts for the YT-1300 Corellian freighter that you
just picked up in a game of Sabacc, or you are putting the finishing
touches on your fan made replica dome … this project is dedicated to
producing the most accurate replica reading lamps ever produced.”

We are really excited and wanted to share a comparison shot of our first Vicker's Viscount 700 Passenger Reading Lamp replica prototype to the original reading lamp.
Our replica is on the left (with the temporary nylon lens and aluminum grasp) and the original is on the right.
This will be, in every way possible, and identical copy of the original.



The replica is based on the dissection and meticulous analysis of three original Vicker's Viscount 700 series reading lamps.
The lamps have been disassembled, laser scanned, and had metallurgical, plastic, and glass analysis in order to create the best possible set of construction plans.





The current working prints and 3D information are posted at Vickers Viscount 700 Series Reading Lamp by R2maker - Thingiverse





There is still a lot of work to do. The deep draw stamping process prove out needs to be completed ... the EDM grasp needs a little bit of fillet work ... and the replication of the original glass lens is just getting started.





r2Maker

 

[R2Dan]

love this! Colour me interested

 

[r2maker]

This shows an original-replica-original (right-bottom) and a replica-original-replica (right-top) combinations.
They are interchangeable.
We are approving all of the work done on the threads.

 

[r2maker]

Here is a sample of one of the seven nito scans to determine the material that each component was made from.
This shows that the lens seat was made from 2024/14 Aluminum Alloy.



We've requested a second set of 6 prototypes made from the correct materials (the first batch were all made from 6061)

We've also had a lot of feedback with a preference to making the grasps from AL instead of plastic.
The first batch had 6 AL grasps that we EDM'd and they were intended as "just good enough to check form/fit/function" place holders.
It has been suggest that we develop them as actual parts.
This second set will have corrected missing fillets (I left them off CAD model) and a correction to the chamfer angel (machinist made a programming mistake)

 

[Duncanator]

You are going to a great deal of effort to accurately reproduce these. Impressive!
I know this isn't a "for sale" thread, but I assume you'll be making these available. What price range do you think they'll end up being?

 

[r2maker]

At this point the goal is really to reverse engineer the lamp, get a good 3D model, and get working manufacturing information.
i think we are about a week away from posting everything anyone needs to make the machined parts.

 

[Duncanator]

Sounds great! Can't wait!

 

[SofaKing01]

Hi Gang,

We had the pleasure of chatting with R2Maker at TEDx who was kind enough to show us these original casts along side a pair of original Vickers parts. They are nothing less than spectacular! While holding the originals was like holding the Holy Grail... the cast were simply amazing. They were perfect in every way.

We're definitely going to aquire two of them for the next console!

 

[r2maker]

We really enjoyed the TEDx talk.
Chris did an outstanding job on his presentation.

We've got two slotted to set aside to donate for the full size project.



Um ... Chris ... it goes the other way round.



That's better!

 

[r2maker]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/683485805/vickers-viscount-700-series-reading-lamp-replica

The project moved forward this week.

An original glass lens was mailed out Saturday and should arrive at the Glass manufacture by tomorrow afternoon. The glass will be analyzed to see what material it is made out of and how it was made.

Tomorrow a piece of an original plastic grasp is going to be mailed to a plastic shop for analysis.

When these parts are returned we will have determined the composition and manufacturing process for all of the components in the reading lamp.

Blueprints will be updated with all the material specs and uploaded to http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:55991

 

[r2maker]

The first KICKSTARTER is looking really good. If we hit the goal on Wednesday we will push out the dimensioned blueprints (with actual alloy analysis) for the machined parts.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/683485805/vickers-viscount-700-series-reading-lamp-replica

 

[sonicscrudvr]

wow, this is too cool, that is a lot of blood sweat and tears to reproduce those lamps... looking great

 

[r2maker]

The KICKSTARTER was funded with 55 supporters!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you ... to everyone who contributed.

This KICKSTARTER deliverable bundles up everything we have done so far ... the laser scan, the PDF drawings, the STL files ... and adds the material analysis for the machined parts, dimensioning the PDF drawings for the machined components, and posting the native CATIA parts as well as STEP and IGES for the machined components.
We also have some t-shirts to get made ... and some prototypes to mail out.

 

[r2maker]

In about two weeks we will start a second KICKSTARTER.
The goal of this round is to do material analysis on the glass lens and on the plastic grasp.
The material analysis on the plastic grasp is about $1200.00
We are waiting on the quote from the glass guys.

This will be the same as last run except the deliverable it fully dimensioned blueprints for the glass and graps, material specs, and CATIA, STEP and IGES files posted on Thingiverse.

 

[r2maker]

Here are the material reports for the machined components...

 

[r2maker]

Attached is a photo of a set of the machined parts made from the correct 2024 material.
These were just finished about an hour ago.
We will check the fit of these parts to the blueprints and to the original Vickers parts.
If they look good everything will be uploaded to thingiverse.com

 

[SofaKing01]

Those are pretty!

 

[r2maker]

A quick update as we move from the machined parts to the glass and plastic parts...

"Hi Robert,

I finished up meeting with R&E to discuss your sample piece. After further reviewing it we believe that the ideal way to manufacture your glass lens is through a re-pressing process. The glass quality is very nice and appears to be re-pressed float glass. Kopp's industrial quality glass would have slight cosmetic inclusions.

I would recommend contacting a company called United Lens. I know that they do glass re-pressing. I'm sure their are other companies in the U.S. that do this also. In Europe there is a company called Bluebell who does glass re-pressing

Good luck with your project and I hope that you are able to get this successfully replicated."

So we are going to give both these guys a call in the morning.

 

[OdiWan72]

COOL undertaking!!!

I am tempted to get one of these, if they become available...just to put it in my glass-cabinet to the other props

Markus

 

[r2maker]

Here are the first 6 sets of the machined parts in the correct 2024 material....