Farnsworth Discussion

A little late for a few of you, but Allied Electronics (where many of us are getting the "center knob") also carries the red lens. It's a $0.42 part! As we can all see, the shipping costs on these few parts is getting crazy. If you order both parts from Allied, at least you'll save a few dollars. Red lens part number is 70152508

do you have the part number or link for the center knob at allied? Bought a black one when I ordered my left knob, but if this is more accurate, then thats better.
 
I got my box today and measured it against an earlier post of the wheatley dimensions. The wheatley box is 6 1/16" X 3 5/8" X 1 3/16" outside dimensions. 5 15/16" X 3 7/16" X 11/16" (to the top of the lip insert) inside dimensions. My box is 6 1/16" X 3 5/8" X 1 9/64" outside dimensions. 5.950" X 3.470" X .705" (to the top of the lip insert) inside dimensions. My box seems to be withing 1/32" on the critical dimensions to accept the faceplate made and sold on the junkyard but I still need to know the dimension of the corner radius. My box measures 15/16" radius for the inside of the corner. If anyone could check their wheatley box or faceplate and post the dimensions here it would be greatly appreciated.
 
do you have the part number or link for the center knob at allied? Bought a black one when I ordered my left knob, but if this is more accurate, then thats better.

I ordered the same center knob described in the first post (parts list) in this thread. Allied stock no. 70097791. It is black plastic, it will need to be painted and the skirt removed as previously noted.
 
I guess you didnt do well in reading comprehension in school. A person that newly comes to this thread and see's the first page of official links to parts is probably going to use them and as jedibugs also stated his build tally was $214.

So, you made a mistake, and will defend it to the bitter end, eh?

I also stated that I go to the flea market and check ebay for parts and look for alternatives to the higher priced parts. because I dont want to use your suggestions you are getting mad?

Mad? Pft. You claimed the cost was about 8 times higher than it actually was. If you choose to not take the advise and information available here and spend $200 more than you need to, please be my guest. But don't tell others who are interested in making thier own replica that its priced much higher than it actually is.

I got my box today and it was $8.77 shipped, that saved $43 dollars off my build.

So by your own admission, your price estimate I had an issue with is wrong. Correct? So I'm actually right then, correct? ;)

I have the link you left for the glass dome but I prefer to find one with a lip on it for mounting like the vacuum formed ones.

As I said, please feel free to spend 20 times more than you need to. But don't tell peopel they have to.

As for making the brass plate, the spot where the numbers are for the dial does not have to be made in 2 seperate pieces. If you put it in a mill and turn down a 1" circle about .010" deep it should more that creat the same effect and this is very simple to do for any machine shop and possibly done at home with a drill press and a proper sanding stone but I havent made any attempts yet.

Unless of course you are dealing with less expensive thinner brass.. in which case, double layering it becomes cheaper, and also allows you more space underneath for upgrade electronics down the road. the brass option I had at my engraver was probably 1 millimeter thick, IF that.

But again, please feel free to buy less accurate, heavier, and more expensive thicker brass stock, and share your build instructions here with others.

This site is about sharing information and advice and that is what I was doing. because I wasnt sharing YOUR information is no reason to bash my posts.

I couldn't care less if you took my advise or not.. because it wasn't mine anyway, it was information already in the thread posted by others.

But just because you choose to ignore the advise presented here, don't blow things out of proportion presenting your "facts".

If you choose to reply to me again about this, how about taking it to private messages, so people who are looking for the information here don't have to sift through your petty squabble with me.
 
I ordered the same center knob described in the first post (parts list) in this thread. Allied stock no. 70097791. It is black plastic, it will need to be painted and the skirt removed as previously noted.

ahh ok I thought a brown knob was found without the skirt. I ended up going with this which I got the same time as the left knob Pedal Parts Plus: Miniature Fluted Black Pointer Knob

After getting it though it seems a little tall to me, but will have to see once I get everything and start building.
 
So, you made a mistake, and will defend it to the bitter end, eh?



Mad? Pft. You claimed the cost was about 8 times higher than it actually was. If you choose to not take the advise and information available here and spend $200 more than you need to, please be my guest. But don't tell others who are interested in making thier own replica that its priced much higher than it actually is.



So by your own admission, your price estimate I had an issue with is wrong. Correct? So I'm actually right then, correct? ;)



As I said, please feel free to spend 20 times more than you need to. But don't tell peopel they have to.



Unless of course you are dealing with less expensive thinner brass.. in which case, double layering it becomes cheaper, and also allows you more space underneath for upgrade electronics down the road. the brass option I had at my engraver was probably 1 millimeter thick, IF that.

But again, please feel free to buy less accurate, heavier, and more expensive thicker brass stock, and share your build instructions here with others.



I couldn't care less if you took my advise or not.. because it wasn't mine anyway, it was information already in the thread posted by others.

But just because you choose to ignore the advise presented here, don't blow things out of proportion presenting your "facts".

If you choose to reply to me again about this, how about taking it to private messages, so people who are looking for the information here don't have to sift through your petty squabble with me.

Are you really that stupid? Reread this from an earlier post

"Sorry to be rude but you are the one that is way off. Going by the links to the parts on page 1 of this thread I checked on the prices of each individual part and as I stated above the cost of the box,faceplate, both knobs, the red lens, the glass dome (the ford auto glass), and the side jacks, all parts including shipping totalled over $167.00 and those prices were current as of yesterday. I didnt use substitutes like you talked about in your posts, those are the links from the beginning of this thread. Also, Im not on here to argue, Im just trying to give people some information and that is that this build can be expensive if you dont find alternatives to those officially listed. Jeez, chill out already"

Go to the 1st page and use the links to the items and check the prices for yourself and you will see that I am spot on. The fact that jedibugs backed up my estimate with the cost of his own build but you still wont admit it. And because you want to cheap out and use a plastic faceplate is your option but if my farnsworth ends up looking like yours I will be highly dissappointed. As for using brass WHY WOULD I DOUBLE LAYER IT? I was a mechanical engineer and designed hydraulic and pnuematic cylinders for one company and timing gears and oil pumps for another, I think I know a little more about designing and what materials to use for my build than you do. I never said I was going to use less expensive thinner brass, I plan on using .050" brass sheet and having it water jetted to make all the cut outs, you know what water jetting is? My brother owns a machine shop in chicago that has been in business for over 30 years where I plan on having these made, I think they know a little more about fabrication
than you do.

Bottom line-Dont comment on any more of my posts and i wont bother reading any more of yours.
 
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Since Eddie handles the actual props all the time, and mistook ours for improved QMX replicas (which are supposedly exact duplicates) we are quite satisfied with ours.

I'm going to take exception to the implication that the QMx one is inferior in some way, because I know first hand that they are indeed exact. First off, Eddie is certainly a great guy, and loves the props and such, but he's by far not an expert on the Farnsworth simply because he handles them. The QMx props (love or hate the price or the company) were built to incredibly exact detail right beside an original hero. Not from photos, or screen caps, or guesswork.

Lots of people are making great, impressive, Farnsworths here, there's no need to try to increase the value of one prop by tearing down another, the QMx ones were the hard work of RPF members too.
 
I wasn't meaning to disparage the QMX ones at all. The weathering on ours was pretty obviously not the same as the QMX farnsworths, indentionally so. I wanted ours to look more aged and weather worn, instead of looking realtively new.

My point was that my supposedly inferior cheap reproduction farnsworths were good enough to fool someone who handles the real deal all the time, and that you don;t have to spend more than $200 for a good prop.
 
I wasn't meaning to disparage the QMX ones at all. The weathering on ours was pretty obviously not the same as the QMX farnsworths, indentionally so. I wanted ours to look more aged and weather worn, instead of looking realtively new.

My point was that my supposedly inferior cheap reproduction farnsworths were good enough to fool someone who handles the real deal all the time, and that you don;t have to spend more than $200 for a good prop.

I should note that in my previous post I was in no way implying that your Farnsworth was inaccurate. I only meant that there are a lot of differing off-brand fly boxes and it's hard to find one that will properly fit the available brass face plates with certainty.
I also want to point out that my posting of my build cost was in no way intended to bolster or back up any side of any price debate. I just happened to have written down a list and thought I'd share for informational purposes since the discussion turned that way.

And I DEFINITELY want to distance myself from any comments that disparage your build, as I remember it looking pretty great. While I prefer a brass faceplate for my build, I thought yours looked excellent.


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Thanks! I couldn't have done them without the hard work and help from the people here.

There's too much negativity going on of late all over the place.

I asked the mods to com in and clean up the recent disageement (myself included) in the past few days, to make it easier for people to find the info they are needing.
 
Ok, so I got my wheatley lookalike box today and got the dimensions from the wheatley and this box is almost identical with the exception of being about 1/32 wider on the inside which is nominal. I still dont know the radius of the wheatley corners but looking at the pics on this thread, my best guess is they are very close. I got this on an ebay auction for less than $9 shipped so I am currently trying to see if I can get a per unit price shipped and buy direct from them without ebay. When I get some good news I will post a link. Also, I may be doing a faceplate run for these boxes if I can get an agreement with the box seller. Heres some pics of the box, I cut a piece of perfboard and put it in there for mock up.
img0306g.jpg

img0307xy.jpg

img0309pe.jpg


As far as any of my previous posts regarding the price of the build, I have posted this several times already but some people refuse to read it " Im not on here to argue, Im just trying to give people some information and that is that this build can be expensive if you dont find alternatives to those officially listed" . NUFF SAID!
 
Were you after the diameter of the whole light or just the clear part? I think it is still sitting in a drawwer here. As I said the "dome" is more pronounced on the tap light but it would work in a pinch. I think the Disney Snow White lights and a couple of others are the same units.

Im interested in the diameter of the clear part (basically the lens that will be used on the Farnsworth)
Specifically lens section that fits inside the circular opening on the face plate .

The lens I have right now on my farnsworth I got from a cheap alarm claock I found in a 5&10 store. It does have the drop-off and step, but the drop-off is a bit sharp. I would prefer the drop-off be a bit more curved and gradual.
While the diameterof my clock lens is nearly perfect it's still just slightly too small.


The circular faceplate opening is 76mm in diameter, which means the lens should fit snuggly inside that opening.
 
Oh, I've been through the whole thread with a fine-toothed comb. I know about all the parts you're referring to:

-I looked into a lookalike box, but I'd heard a lot of people saying that the corner radius was different, so I figured I'd pay a little extra to be sure that a faceplate would fit.
-Your faceplate turned out REALLY well, but I just prefer a real brass one. The tactile element of props is almost as important to me as the visual element is.
- I did pick up one of those glass lab dishes, but I think I prefer the Ford Glass. I do plan on using the one I got for an upcoming build, though.
-I looked up the part number on those side jacks a while back and, while they were close, I remember that there was something slightly off about them, so I just went with the ones in the first post.

All told, most of the price difference is down to the faceplate and the box. If you want a brass faceplate, you'll need to pay more. And if you're getting the faceplate from a run here (as it seems difficult for most people to find a local place that's up to the task) then you'll want an official Wheatley Box to ensure that it fits properly.

Your Farnsworth looks great and anyone that doesn't insist on a brass faceplate would do well to go your route. But that doesn't make spending more on the project wrong.


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Agreed.

Anytime you find a prop thread on the RPF the majority of the information is going to to be about how to make the most accurate replica possible....Not the cheapest.
THat's the way it has always been on the RPF.
In the case of the Farnsworth, the first 20 or so pages of this thread includes information on the most accurate parts to make the prop, which is a bit pricey unfortunately (but as Jedibugs said, a lot cheaper than QMX).

I really cant blame Cyborg for not being able to find info on a cheaper, albeit less accurate version, especially considering that this thread has ballooned to a whopping 76 pages, that seems to go in different directions every few pages.

And While Eddie MClintock may not have been able to tell the difference (or maybe he did notice the difference and decided not to say anything) that still doesnt change the fact that many RPF members have their own standards, which involves a certain amount of screen accuracy determined by them...Not an actor.
 
Agreed.

Anytime you find a prop thread on the RPF the majority of the information is going to to be about how to make the most accurate replica possible....Not the cheapest.

Yep.. however there is always a LOT of chatter about how to reduce costs and locate alternative for hard to find parts.

The only concession I made on ours was the faceplate, and I did that for very specific reasons. I've seen some pretty bad mangled cutouts on some people's efforts, and the difference in appearance from an $8 to a $80 faceplate is minimal. (Plus I needed two done for Dragoncon in a week's time.)

I've had many MANY PMs about offering our plastic faceplates for sale. Because of past issues people have had with that, I shelved the idea.

Without 100% confirmation on actual parts, its anyone's guess which parts are actually being used, or which were fabricated specifically for the actual props.

Compared with other prop replication out there, the farnsworth is a cakewalk, and is a great beginning prop maker project.

It looks like cyborg65 did find a great inexpensive replacement for the wheately, and I'm sure that info will help a lot of people out on thier own builds.
 
Ok, so I got my wheatley lookalike box today and got the dimensions from the wheatley and this box is almost identical with the exception of being about 1/32 wider on the inside which is nominal. I still dont know the radius of the wheatley corners but looking at the pics on this thread, my best guess is they are very close. I got this on an ebay auction for less than $9 shipped so I am currently trying to see if I can get a per unit price shipped and buy direct from them without ebay. When I get some good news I will post a link. Also, I may be doing a faceplate run for these boxes if I can get an agreement with the box seller. Heres some pics of the box, I cut a piece of perfboard and put it in there for mock up.
img0306g.jpg

img0307xy.jpg

img0309pe.jpg


As far as any of my previous posts regarding the price of the build, I have posted this several times already but some people refuse to read it " Im not on here to argue, Im just trying to give people some information and that is that this build can be expensive if you dont find alternatives to those officially listed" . NUFF SAID!

The radius of the inner aluminum band in which the faceplate fits is 2cm.


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I think 2cm is a little tighter than my box. Will have to make a few mock ups from cardboard and see how they fit. Could be the the factor that decides wether I buy or make my faceplate.

Also, I see alot of talk about using the winnie the pooh taplight for the screen. I have done some checking and they are hard to come by. It looks like alot of the manufacturers are going to the LED lights and making the domes smaller or molded with facets, making the pooh lights probably old sock or discontinued. I have also found that there are several different types you can get that are the same like cinderella, cars, spiderman, and disney characters. I havent had much luck with ebay or amazon so flea markets may be a good bet. Im heading to lowes today to see what I can find and hit the local second hand store and maybe big lots. Happy hunting.
 
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I ordered these and paid $7 for 3 shipped.

I also liked the idea of the dollar store alarm clock another user had posted, I did not think of that myself when I searched the flee market for possible donors.

The glass dishes from CTech were delivered fast and look to be good enough to do the job nicely. Waiting on the face plates from the junkyard thread like the rest of the guys so I can only assume they will work good until I have the plate in hand.
 
My knock off Wheatley box was 10 bucks, I bought the glass lens for $1.55, side jacks were $1.36, I believe I bought the faceplate and knobs and everything in a bundle for 35 bucks. I already had the paint from another project so if all goes well my Farnsworth will end up costing me $47.91 not including shipping.
 
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