BTTF Futaba Delorean Remote Project

As it goes, I have hit a rock bottom regarding my financial situation and it will be extremely difficult to continue with this project.
I will however purchase some silicone so that I can finish the mould and manufacture 2-3 displays - these will be sent out to selected members so that they can continue for I know you all want this so much. I will have a two year period where I will find it difficult to continue but will do so when I have the possibility, it's just that I cannot priorities it as I would like to.

The project is not dead, it's just reduced in speed, but perhaps with the other members help and involvement things will continue.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Does anyone have the dimensions for the 3x 7 segment display?

What dimensions are you looking for? I don't know if finding them out would help you.

Its an exceedingly rare, obscure, obsolete, 30+year old part with no reasonably close substitutes available to purchase anywhere.
 
At this point you would know more than me as to how hard it would be to scratch build one. I'm honestly very new to prop making but I wonder how expensive it would be to laser cut the segments for that piece? When I get a chance at work tonight I'll take a better look at the pictures you posted a few pages back.
 
At this point you would know more than me as to how hard it would be to scratch build one. I'm honestly very new to prop making but I wonder how expensive it would be to laser cut the segments for that piece? When I get a chance at work tonight I'll take a better look at the pictures you posted a few pages back.
Found here. http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=137923&p=3428022&viewfull=1#post3428022

If one can design them in 3D based upon the measurment and then use a high detailed 3DSLA printer (online order), it is possible. But to take the rout you talk about is not going to be easy. My reproduction have many stages left and I am full aware of the fact that there are maybe 5-10 individuals who are drooling to get a full set.
 
Does anyone have the dimensions for the 3x 7 segment display?
@Oneminde has one of the original displays. I don't know if he has tools to take accurate measurements. I don't believe the Stanley part number has been posted yet, but if we can discover that, a datasheet might be available. They usually have accurate scale drawings.
 
@Oneminde has one of the original displays. I don't know if he has tools to take accurate measurements. I don't believe the Stanley part number has been posted yet, but if we can discover that, a datasheet might be available. They usually have accurate scale drawings.
I contacted Stanley and asked for info, but they have not replied and that is after at least a year and two attempts.
 
Did you try Google with the part number and "datasheet"? There are dozens of datasheet collections online, and people add to them constantly, so even data for parts this old and older can be found.

Also, I was once a moderator of a group of people who collect and use obsolete display technology in new projects (technically I still am, but I haven't been active for a long time), so I may be able to get the data even if it isn't online. If you've seen my Quantum Leap Handlink topic, there's a person I mention indirectly who gave me some of the "unobtainable" LEDs that the original handlink props were made from. There's a very strong possibility that he also has one or more of the Stanley displays, and/or a datasheet. Even if he doesn't, he might know someone who does.
 
Last edited:
Did you try Google with the part number and "datasheet"? There are dozens of datasheet collections online, and people add to them constantly, so even data for parts this old and older can be found.

Also, I was once a moderator of a group of people who collect and use obsolete display technology in new projects (technically I still am, but I haven't been active for a long time), so I may be able to get the data even if it isn't online. If you've seen my Quantum Leap Handlink topic, there's a person I mention indirectly who gave me some of the "unobtainable" LEDs that the original handlink props were made from. There's a very strong possibility that he also has one or more of the Stanley displays, and/or a datasheet. Even if he doesn't, he might know someone who does.
That's interesting, you should definitely continue on that

- - - Updated - - -

What's the number under "Stanley Readout"? Do you have higher res photos of all the components?
The 2'nd image can be found very early in this tread, I only reposted it and so it is not my unit. I have no part number what so ever.
 
I am working on the Stanley display and found the place I purchased my Molex switches.

----> http://www.sciplus.com/p/MOLEX-SWITCH_42572


http://www.sciplus.com/productImages/photo/250x350/42572.jpg

Is that 3 switches for $3?

The 2'nd image can be found very early in this tread, I only reposted it and so it is not my unit. I have no part number what so ever.

Ok, I'm exhausted. Happy New Year everyone! In the past 12 hours at work I just read through all 19 pages here, a few other threads, and watched some videos on this. I see now that you were given a casting of one of the displays. I̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶ ̶o̶r̶i̶g̶i̶n̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶p̶o̶s̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶p̶i̶c̶t̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶u̶n̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶r̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶i̶t̶.̶ After a third read through I found it was Gary that posted it on page 10. In fact, I'm pretty sure a lot of people's photos are lost forever (well, I'm sure they're sitting in a data center in Utah).


I'm not going to pursue scratch building one anymore considering there appears to already be copies of it out there. Is anyone still working on these? I would love to try to "recast" it, as it were. I know recasting others' work is frowned upon here, but it seems as though everyone that starts the process for one reason or another, stops, which is too bad because there appears to be a large contingent of people still looking for the displays.
 
Last edited:
@fantomas: Recasting someone else's casting of an unaltered, purely found item shouldn't be a problem, as long as you take some effort to clean it up as much as possible to keep it faithful to the original. Remember multi-generational castings tend to amplify distortions and artifacts of the process, just like multi-generation photocopies or digital scans and printouts. One of the more noticeable problems we have to deal with (if you're looking for it, and have a good reference) is shrinkage. All silicones, urethanes, latex and other rubbery materials, and even most hard resins, exhibit measurable shrinkage when they cure. If you have a master pattern of reasonably large size (at least a few inches) and a casting from a mold pulled from that pattern, measure them both carefully with a micrometer or digital caliper and you'll see what I mean. Some materials expand when they cure (many plasters). Another issue is warping, which typically happens with all flexible molding materials but can be minimized by making the mold thick enough and/or supporting it with a rigid backing mold.

The big gripe that gets almost everyone upset, is recasting someone else's casting of their own sculpture -- even if that "own sculpture" is a reproduction of someone else's original sculpture that was the basis of a prop. Apparently, it's OK to make your own re-sculpted copy of original artwork (and castings from your new sculpture), but pulling a new mold off of a cast from another person's interpretation of that artwork and then re-casting from that mold without his permission or a legal right to use that mold isn't cricket. And beware that if your sculpting skills are so good that people can't tell that castings from your mold of your own sculpture are not castings from a mold pulled from their castings (or the original prop), you're still going to catch a lot of flak. I've met more than one person in the industry who also makes items for fans, but when he re-sculpts them he deliberately makes subtle changes or "tells" that differ from the original prop, so that if someone claims his mold was pulled from the prop or from their re-sculpted copy of the prop, he can point out his "tells" to demonstrate that the work is his own. If the person making the claim can't show that the new casting also has his tells, then he has no basis for argument.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top