Building a Warehouse 13 Farnsworth

[gman13579]

I just found this site and I want to construct a farnsworth. I know were to get all the parts other than the face plate and the screen. I want to make it into an actually farnsworth. I will be making two-four so I can communicate with someone over say skype or facetime with it. It will have to be wifi or sim card enabled. I need help constructing it. I'm not very good with constructing these electronics just the ideas and parts. I will also need help finding a good working screen and understanding the wiring for the knobs and the camera. If we can accomplish this then many people can build their own warnsworths.

 

[gman13579]

I was thinking maybe of taking a iphone 3gs apart and using the screen and camera for the video chat. I would just have to figure out how to wire the controls to work for the knobs.

 

[exoray]

You are basically asking someone to design a custom cellular or network phone for you... That is a tall order and a costly one...

Now you can kit bash some over the counter parts in there and get something working but doing this you will run out of room real quick, unless you compromise and fit in an existing all in one unit like say an ipod... Getting just the basics sounds and even a real video screen working isn't all that hard, but there will be compromises, mostly in the screen area as you are not going to find an affordable round screen, and even going with a 4:3 screen you can't fill the entire display area properly... You almost need to design an optical magnified lens that allows for a smaller screen to project over the entire area...

 

[gman13579]

All I really want is something that allows video chat in the farnsworth format. I wouldn't be using a round screen, too costly. I just need to take apart like an iphone for the screen, camera, and other parts. It's programing it and getting the electronics correctly thats difficult.

 

[deck5]

It's no simple project, however you look at it.

 

[gman13579]

I understand that. That's why it'll take time and understanding to get it right

 

[exoray]

gman13579 I don't believe you have a solid grasp of what is involved in what you want... Nothing about it is simple, in fact just about the entire thing is highly technical... You have about 10mm of space to work with between the faceplate and the back of the housing... The iPhone 4 as the touted thinnest smart phone is 9.3mm thick, that means you need to create a video phone as compact if not smaller then the iPhone that is no small task even for professional electronics engineers...

Can it be done, yes it can but it's a tall order no matter what angle you look at, there is nothing simple about creating a working video phone in such a small compact pre-defined space...

 

[TheDoctor]

Well... if it doesn't necessarily have to have a cellular component... If you make it WiFi, it's a matter of a crappy IP Web Cam and a receiving screen. You would probably even be looking at something that only works on the same WiFi network.

If you want to build one that will work over cellular networks, then that's a no-go. First off, you're going to run into Cellular troubles, not to mention what you're doing would most likely be illegal (FCC).

With a WiFi model, there's a number of ways to do it, but finding an old Pocket PC (the iPaq 1910 would probably be ideal - small enough to fit, but powerful enough to display network video. You can get these on eBay for between $10 and $60.

Now, two issues: ONE - you need a program to display IP video on a PocketPC. There's a number of such programs out there and they shouldn't be too hard to find with a quick Google. TWO - You're going to have two WiFi signals in one box - one wireless web cam video, and one PPC serving as the monitor. This is the "out of the box" way to do it. Make sure there's a PocketPC software for your wireless webcam (it'll probably be web-based). Worst comes to worst, since it's an IP web cam, you will probably be able to stream the video through Windows Media Player Mobile.

It can be done, and you probably don't need a lot of electronics expertise to do it, but it's going to be costly and it won't look much like the Farnsworth - at least not the interface side.

 

[exoray]

but finding an old Pocket PC (the iPaq 1910 would probably be ideal - small enough to fit, but powerful enough to display network video.

They are too thick, you are working with 9mm height max (conductive metal top and bottom so you need buffer space to avoid shorts) , you would have to totally disassemble a pocket PC and hope you could ram it all back in there in pieces, but there isn't that much room in there after you kill the bottom 1/4 of the unit with working knobs and buttons... Not to mension that you also need to get a camera in there and interface that as well... You also have to deal with the whole antenna issue as you are putting this all in a solid metal enclosure...

 

[TheDoctor]

They are too thick, you are working with 9mm height max (conductive metal top and bottom so you need buffer space to avoid shorts) , you would have to totally disassemble a pocket PC and hope you could ram it all back in there in pieces, but there isn't that much room in there after you kill the bottom 1/4 of the unit with working knobs and buttons... Not to mension that you also need to get a camera in there and interface that as well... You also have to deal with the whole antenna issue as you are putting this all in a solid metal enclosure...

The cases are metal? Huh, for some reason I was thinking they were plastic.

Obviously this isn't going to be "screen accurate", so you would need to make adjustments. If the guy is looking to make a "screen accurate" version... then I would suggest a four year degree at a good engineering school.

I guess I should say up-front that my suggestions were operating off a number of assumptions:
1 - Function would be second to form/screen accuracy.
2 - Since no one is selling faceplates, you would need to make your own
3 - The case needs to be plastic or wood - metal would interfere too much with a WiFi signal (esp. with cheap electronics)
4 - You need to be comfortable with taking the casing off electronics and making your own mechanics for button interface (not especially hard, but could be daunting for someone who has never done it before)
5 - For some reason, it would be REALLY worth it for you... because there's plenty of out-of-the-box solutions that just work (though, most of the fun comes from making it...).

 

[gman13579]

I wonder if I could just get two wireless CCTV cameras and/or pen camera and/or cell phone camera, a wifi unit from a cell phone from the inside parts, and a small LCD screen to connect it too. I could change the setting on the screen for only black and white and cut a oval shape out of the back of the time for antenna so no interference with the case could occur.

 

[gman13579]

This picture even looks like the one Claudia uses

 

[exoray]

I wonder if I could just get two wireless CCTV cameras and/or pen camera and/or cell phone camera, a wifi unit from a cell phone from the inside parts, and a small LCD screen to connect it too. I could change the setting on the screen for only black and white and cut a oval shape out of the back of the time for antenna so no interference with the case could occur.

If you can find some that are say 8-9mm total height and fit it all in there possibly...

I don't want to sound rude but are you grasping just how little space you have to work with in one of these unless you really deviate from the original design? You have 8-9mm of headroom in the unit, less than 3/8"... Most flat Lipo batteries used in phones are 6mm or so leaving you with 3mm or about 1/8" of space left over for the screen, electronics and what not... Even stacking a standard micro LCD screen on the battery with no electronics is pushing your 9mm height, forget about the electronics to drive the whole thing...

I don't want to come across as totally negative but you need to learn to walk before you learn to run and jump... Sit down and get a grasp of the cavity that you have to work with and then work out the logistics of getting everything in that space... As I have said the iPhone marketed at the thinnest phone would be pushing the limits, you could cram it in there but there wouldn't be much space left, and the level of design and electronics layout that goes into modern cell phones is well beyond most professionals let alone the DIYer...

That device you linked to is a wireless camera detector, not exactly what you need unless you want to snoop on baby monitors, but regardless it's 35mm in height and that simply isn't going to fit in a 9mm tall cavity, and it's width and length are nearly the same as the Farnsworth @ 129mm x 74mm so you can't really redistribute the components to lessen the height... It's basically 3 times to big...

Wireless Camera Detector - Detailed info for Wireless Camera Detector,Wireless Camera Detector,Wireless Camera Detector,KDM-6086 on Alibaba.com

In the end if you want the functionality you desire you are either going to have to drastically compromise the screen used design (basically just make a new design), or you are going to have to really do some top notch engineering work... Getting some basic functionality isn't beyond grasp, but as I said walk before you jump and run...

 

[Teletran]

I was thinking of just making a facade farnsworth case for my iPhone, I don't think it would need any other modifications but I don't have any plans or specs for the prop.

 

[Gordon Gekko]

Yeah, too bad there's not a huge thread on this subject.

Oh wait, there is. http://www.therpf.com/f9/warehouse-13-prop-research-farnsworth-65867/

 

[Ljrash]

Hello. I am also thinking about making a wh13 Farnsworth and I was reading the thread and I was wondering if there was a way to connect a webcam to the pocket pc with a chord