IMHO, a key element to making a good looking HAL 9000 panel is the lens. The lens options are the hardest part and the lens must protrude in true fisheye fashion. Options for correct size, good looking and inexpensive camera lens are few and far between. When you search eBay for fisheye lens, you end up with a lot of flat faced "fisheye" lens. The term "fisheye lens" describes the shape, maybe more-so, than the view. But I digress...
The Thingiverse build uses clear plastic Christmas ornaments which works and seems to work well from pictures ... but ... I really like the look of glass and especially the look of a multi-coated lens. Note that I'm interested in close, not necessarily 100% screen accurate.
As such I've done a LOT of searching and found glass lenses for LED lights that may be of interest to you all. Search eBay for "
led lens (reflector, glass) (65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74) -microscope " (
If you want to tighten the search for fewer sizes, delete the sizes you don't want from the above search string). I cannot tell for sure if the flat side of the lens is truly flat or a bit concave but the front portion looks to be close or even ideal. The best part is that they are cheap.
eBay item number:232906649140 has a particularly good chart of the lens dimensions. Per the chart, here are the dimensions:
- The 74mm diameter lens has a curved area that is 69mm wide (2.5mm flange on each side) and has a height of 21mm (not including the flange height ... 25mm with flange height).
- The 77mm diameter lens has a curved area that is 69mm wide (4.0mm flange on each side) and has a height of 18mm (not including the flange height ... 22mm with flange height).
- The 67mm diameter lens has a curved area that is 61mm wide (3.0mm flange on each side) and has a height of 17.5mm (not including the flange height ... 22mm with flange height).
NOTE: the above may not apply to all lenses offered on eBay. Also, wider angle beams are shorter lens height.
Some come with lens, reflector collimator base and a base mounting ring. The mounting ring may be handy especially if painted black. Search eBay for "
led lens bracket (reflector, glass) (65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74) -microscope "
I then searched for short lenses that can be installed behind the LED lens found above. A short lense is desirable when you don't want the panel to have a lot of depth (for some reason, the wife doesn't want a hole in the wall for the lens rear protrusion). There are "pancake lens" and prime lenses can be relatively short but the lense that may work the best are "enlarger lens". I have one from a Vivitar enlarger that is 25mm/1" long. Another option is to buy a damaged or cheap lens and use it for parts.
I ordered eBay item#: 222391255364. I can follow up when I get this but it will be a while before it arrives from China. I also considered eBay item number:372312503331 but it may be too wide.
I wanted to post this for the community to see where the community can take this. There is some really amazing talent herein. Maybe someone knows
- a good way to give the clear glass a multi-coated lens treatment look
- some suggestions to build up a lens look under the LED lens.
BTW ... for the black anodized panel look, I think I'll use "black anodized aluminum" car vinyl wrap in over the base material (plastic. wood, metal, etc).
Now for the kudos:
This thread contains some amazing work ... THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!
Also, there is good work building off this at
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1805762 ... THANK YOU!!!!
372312503331
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