Farnsworth Discussion
- Thread starter Gordon Gekko
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- warehouse 13
Serenity
Master Member
Man, if you can do a Claudia plate in black plastic, that would be great.
BeachcomberBob
Active Member
I made my 'Farnsworth's Farnsworth' plate out of chemically etched brass, then painted it black, Jump over to http://beachcomberbob.tumblr.com/ to see my progress on the build. Because they're bass ackwards, showing the latest first, you will have to scroll down about half way to see the project from the beginning.
hi i just joined this forum for this thread, even though the series got cancelled i still love all the props in it
i am currently building a couple of farnsworths and i have almost all the correct parts except the faceplate and i wonder if anyone have a good template for etching (can't find one in the thread but i could have missed it) and any tips for cutting the speaker hole would be appreciated
too bad i was a few years late for the faceplate orders :rolleyes
i am currently building a couple of farnsworths and i have almost all the correct parts except the faceplate and i wonder if anyone have a good template for etching (can't find one in the thread but i could have missed it) and any tips for cutting the speaker hole would be appreciated
too bad i was a few years late for the faceplate orders :rolleyes
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BeachcomberBob
Active Member
It depends which case you're using, but I have artwork for both types Farnsworth, that I used to chemically etch out of brass sheet.
zenmechanic
New Member
Beachcomber: do you have any spare faceplates you'd be willing to sell? I'm currently in the process of gathering up all the supplies and this would be the only thing I would be missing.
BeachcomberBob
Active Member
My faceplates only fit into the cheaper 'clone' cases I source from Ebay, so if you've already got a Wheatley tin it'll be the wrong dimensions. The dimensions are 88mm x 151mm with a 71.3mm lens hole. Having said all that, I do have a ready aged faceplate and case combo all painted up in 'Warehouse Brown' all ready to go.
zenmechanic
New Member
PM'd you.
darrenp
New Member
Some awesome bits of work in this thread, just spent the last couple of hours reading through it. Currently on a W13 rewatch and its triggered my urge to build a farnsworth again. 
I've managed to source most of the bits, but having trouble with the red bulb cover, at least here in the UK. Most places are out of stock, or want to charge £15+ for delivery of a 30p piece. Anyone in the UK have a couple of spares from a bulk order and fancy selling to recoup the cost of shipping a little?
Not sure how far I'm going to go with the gadgetry, but I am thinking at the moment of seeing if I can fit a Raspberry Pi Zero in. At the very least it'll give me an excuse to buy one! (when they come back in stock)
Cheers,
Darren.
I've managed to source most of the bits, but having trouble with the red bulb cover, at least here in the UK. Most places are out of stock, or want to charge £15+ for delivery of a 30p piece. Anyone in the UK have a couple of spares from a bulk order and fancy selling to recoup the cost of shipping a little?
Not sure how far I'm going to go with the gadgetry, but I am thinking at the moment of seeing if I can fit a Raspberry Pi Zero in. At the very least it'll give me an excuse to buy one!
(when they come back in stock)Cheers,
Darren.
NakedMoleRat
Legendary Member
That looks amazing, mate.
FINALLY getting close to rebuilding myself a much better Farnsworth than the one I started back at the beginning of this thread. Technology has gotten better since 2010 and the available sound module can be much more complex now. I really wanted to fill this thing up as much as possible, so here is where I'm at right now.
There will be 4 dial settings, each with their own set of sounds with multiple pushbutton presses. Luckily I still had some fun old sounds from the original SyFy website with Artie welcoming you to the warehouse and going through some dialog.
There will be 4 dial settings, each with their own set of sounds with multiple pushbutton presses. Luckily I still had some fun old sounds from the original SyFy website with Artie welcoming you to the warehouse and going through some dialog.
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I realize not many will probably care about this at this point, but I think I have determined that the Switchcraft button we have all been using is the wrong model entirely.
Every photo of a screen used Farnsworth and screenshots from the show have the visible threading above the hex nut on the button as only 2-3 threads. Which means MOST of the large button is under the plate. But as many of you know, with that button you cant get the plate to sit lower than the top lip of the flybox. Even if you bend the contacts around to try getting the profile lower, nothing will get those buttons short enough to allow the plate to sit as low in the flybox as we've seen in the show.
SO how is this possible? Well obviously they could have chopped the bottom of the push button off to jam it in there. But what if you want it to still be a functional button? Well, they could have used this...
"But that's really tall too!" you may say. However, you can remove 2 screws and remove all but 1 of those spacers and simplify the connections. The part of the button that is visible above the plate is IDENTICAL to the normal 201,202, 203 Switchcraft buttons we have been using, indented button and all. The threaded section is even shorter than any other normal Switchcraft button I've seen, allowing more room under the plate. I could provide a bunch of screenshots to show why I think this makes more sense to be what they could have used, but I think it makes sense either way.
Every photo of a screen used Farnsworth and screenshots from the show have the visible threading above the hex nut on the button as only 2-3 threads. Which means MOST of the large button is under the plate. But as many of you know, with that button you cant get the plate to sit lower than the top lip of the flybox. Even if you bend the contacts around to try getting the profile lower, nothing will get those buttons short enough to allow the plate to sit as low in the flybox as we've seen in the show.
SO how is this possible? Well obviously they could have chopped the bottom of the push button off to jam it in there. But what if you want it to still be a functional button? Well, they could have used this...
"But that's really tall too!" you may say. However, you can remove 2 screws and remove all but 1 of those spacers and simplify the connections. The part of the button that is visible above the plate is IDENTICAL to the normal 201,202, 203 Switchcraft buttons we have been using, indented button and all. The threaded section is even shorter than any other normal Switchcraft button I've seen, allowing more room under the plate. I could provide a bunch of screenshots to show why I think this makes more sense to be what they could have used, but I think it makes sense either way.
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Neither the QMx ones or the screen used props used ball headed pins.
Then what are those in the photos above? The second photo is from QMX's own website. It sure looks like a sphere to me. I put them on my plates and it matches the photos exactly. The main point is, they certainly arent flat or even domed nail heads. I mean I suppose they could have come from anything, a bead, something else, but these match the look, size and shape.
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The pin you're looking at isn't pushed in all the way so you're seeing the slightly lighter area under the pin where the patina isn't as dark.
I built the ones for QMx. Some were also used for the show in later seasons and also saw one of the original hero props. No ball headed pins, just large regular head pins.
I built the ones for QMx. Some were also used for the show in later seasons and also saw one of the original hero props. No ball headed pins, just large regular head pins.
