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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:24:31 GMT -7
Posted by: James Hicks Apr 9 2009, 05:16 PM
QUOTE
I had written letters and/or emails to both Jim at Jeffco and the Oregon Science Center as both were listed in the IPS directory as once having GOTO MARS M-1 instruments. I was interested in locating the other GOTO MARS survivors after obtaining a portion of the machine once installed at Lakeview Museum in Peoria, Illinois.
I was unsuccessful in locating the GOTO MARS that was once located at the Chaffee Planetarium. It was transferred to the Detroit Science Center some number of years ago, so I am told. Last summer it was purchased by a private party after the Detroit Science Center considered a number of other disposal options. I have been unsuccessful in contacting the individual who purchased this projector. I was hoping that they would post pictures of the Chaffee GOTO MARS M-1 machine in our forum.
Perhaps someday this person will read this and share what they know. Jim has been instrumental in providing many of the missing pieces to the "where's the projector puzzle" for the machine that was once installed at Jeffco and another machine that was retrieved from the Smithsonian. Jim is sympathetic to our preservation cause and has been very helpful!
Hello!
My name is James Hicks. I am the person in California with the Goto Mk1 Jim Beaber disassembled with Bruce Spainhower.
As I write this the bulldozer is grading the building site for a 36-foot Geodesic dome on my property. Inside will be a 33 foot dome and the Goto M1.
It is now completely disassembled and crated. Many parts have been cleaned, restored and re anodized in preparation for a complete restoration. Fortunately, I have all of the original prints and assembly drawings for the disposition of the parts. Developing a control console shall be challenging.
I would like to thank Owen Phairis for directing me to this forum. I found him by searching "Planetarium Projector" in Google and clicking deep into the search results. As I begin the restoration and construction process I will be documenting it in a web page with links. So far I do not have any pictures.
All I know is that this projector was used as a "Spare" in the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. When I picked it up it was in pieces on pallets behind the OMSI Omnimax dome. I purchased it for $1,500 dollars through Jim Todd, the new planetarium director at OMSI it appears to be complete with some additional modifications of individual star projectors for the brighter stars. It is only missing the daylight lamps and control console. It was then moved to storage at Laseronics (My old light show business) in LaCenter Washington, where some of the restoration was begun. From there disassembled, parts cleaned, organized and crated and moved with me to Florence Oregon, Placerville California and is now resting in crates at my property in the mountians in Lewiston California, west of Redding on Hwy 299.
Email me with questions or comments
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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:26:21 GMT -7
Posted by: bjsullivan Apr 9 2009, 07:00 PM
QUOTE(James Hicks @ Apr 9 2009, 07:16 PM) *
Hello!
My name is James Hicks. I am the person in California with the Goto Mk1 Jim Beaber disassembled with Bruce Spainhower.
As I write this the bulldozer is grading the building site for a 36-foot Geodesic dome on my property. Inside will be a 33 foot dome and the Goto M1.
Hi James, I was so thrilled to read this, and wanted to say thanks. It is satisfying to know this great instrument is in good hands, owned by someone who cares about it as you clearly do. And for me, to finally fill in another piece to the "where is the projector puzzle" !! I for one, express best wishes for your project and of course the burning desire to know more about it. There sure is a connection between your historic projector and the instrument that resides in Ft. Lupton. Touched by the same skilled hands. Two thumbs up!
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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:26:29 GMT -7
Posted by: Ron Walker Apr 9 2009, 07:44 PM
QUOTE(James Hicks @ Apr 9 2009, 05:16 PM) *
Hello!
My name is James Hicks. I am the person in California with the Goto Mk1 Jim Beaber disassembled with Bruce Spainhower.
As I write this the bulldozer is grading the building site for a 36-foot Geodesic dome on my property. Inside will be a 33 foot dome and the Goto M1.
It is now completely disassembled and crated. Many parts have been cleaned, restored and re anodized in preparation for a complete restoration. Fortunately, I have all of the original prints and assembly drawings for the disposition of the parts. Developing a control console shall be challenging.
I would like to thank Owen Phairis for directing me to this forum. I found him by searching "Planetarium Projector" in Google and clicking deep into the search results. As I begin the restoration and construction process I will be documenting it in a web page with links. So far I do not have any pictures.
All I know is that this projector was used as a "Spare" in the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. When I picked it up it was in pieces on pallets behind the OMSI Omnimax dome. I purchased it for $1,500 dollars through Jim Todd, the new planetarium director at OMSI it appears to be complete with some additional modifications of individual star projectors for the brighter stars. It is only missing the daylight lamps and control console. It was then moved to storage at Laseronics (My old light show business) in LaCenter Washington, where some of the restoration was begun. From there disassembled, parts cleaned, organized and crated and moved with me to Florence Oregon, Placerville California and is now resting in crates at my property in the mountians in Lewiston California, west of Redding on Hwy 299.
Email me with questions or comments
Hi James and welcome to OCP.
It's great to hear about another save of another classic planetarium projector. Congratulations on your purchase. I was beginning to think I was the only "nut" planning to build a private planetarium. I can't wait to see pictures of your progress.
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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:26:55 GMT -7
Posted by: moonmagic Apr 10 2009, 07:53 PM
Ron- You are NOT the only "NUT" out there. You have company in several places. I, for one, just have not figured out the money side of the issue YET. The day WILL come!
Also - welcome to James- sounds like a great endeavor. How excitiing to actually be turning some soil for your own planetarium and to have a machine available.
James - what type of dome will you be installing? (commercial or are you making one?)
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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:27:57 GMT -7
Posted by: James Hicks Apr 10 2009, 11:02 PM
QUOTE
Also - welcome to James- sounds like a great endeavor. How excitiing to actually be turning some soil for your own planetarium and to have a machine available.
James - what type of dome will you be installing? (commercial or are you making one?)
Hi Moonmagic!
Thanks for the welcome! I have been waiting for this since I was 13 when I built my first planetarium/laser show in my parents garage. I used a parachute for the dome, and an old 12" cardboard globe for the star ball with a little xmas tree lamp turned up bright. I had to replace them about every 4 hours. It worked... I wish I had pictures...(sigh)
I had a 1mw SpectraPhysics He/Ne laser and pretty elaborate motor based cycloid/spirogram generator that I built for it. I have since moved on to 3 phase 5 watt mixed gas systems, white light systems and state of the art galvanometers.
But my heart has always belonged to the Goto M1 projector. Oh, I am rambling...sorry.
To answer your question, I will be making a fabric dome from nylon tensioned and structured with PVC pipes. I have acchieved good results this way for various shaped screens, domes and inflatables for my laser light shows. Ideally, I would like to have a new 33' Spitz "Premium Seam" dome but that is light years beyond my financial resources. So, considering accoustics, albedo of the surface and seam quality, fabric appears to be the best choice. Maybe I'll win the lottery and I can upgrade later... or perhaps beg, plead and grovel in the reception area of E&S Spitz until they give me a dome wink.gif
All the best!
James
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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:28:51 GMT -7
Posted by: Ron Walker Apr 11 2009, 11:53 AM
I am moving James material to this new location. I am looking forward to learning about his construction and design.
My first is about the geodesic dome. Did you get it as a kit? The designer and builder? I'm really interested.
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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:29:13 GMT -7
Posted by: Ron Walker Apr 11 2009, 12:56 PM
QUOTE(James Hicks @ Apr 10 2009, 11:02 PM) *
Hi Moonmagic!
Thanks for the welcome! I have been waiting for this since I was 13 when I built my first planetarium/laser show in my parents garage. I used a parachute for the dome, and an old 12" cardboard globe for the star ball with a little xmas tree lamp turned up bright. I had to replace them about every 4 hours. It worked... I wish I had pictures...(sigh)
I had a 1mw SpectraPhysics He/Ne laser and pretty elaborate motor based cycloid/spirogram generator that I built for it. I have since moved on to 3 phase 5 watt mixed gas systems, white light systems and state of the art galvanometers.
But my heart has always belonged to the Goto M1 projector. Oh, I am rambling...sorry.
To answer your question, I will be making a fabric dome from nylon tensioned and structured with PVC pipes. I have acchieved good results this way for various shaped screens, domes and inflatables for my laser light shows. Ideally, I would like to have a new 33' Spitz "Premium Seam" dome but that is light years beyond my financial resources. So, considering accoustics, albedo of the surface and seam quality, fabric appears to be the best choice. Maybe I'll win the lottery and I can upgrade later... or perhaps beg, plead and grovel in the reception area of E&S Spitz until they give me a dome wink.gif
All the best!
James
Hay, we love rambling here!!!! I would love to hear the story of your heart won by the M-1. I think it does all are hearts good and is certainly a positive force in all of our various endeavors.
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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:29:48 GMT -7
Posted by: Ron Walker Apr 11 2009, 12:56 PM
QUOTE(James Hicks @ Apr 10 2009, 11:02 PM) *
Hi Moonmagic!
Thanks for the welcome! I have been waiting for this since I was 13 when I built my first planetarium/laser show in my parents garage. I used a parachute for the dome, and an old 12" cardboard globe for the star ball with a little xmas tree lamp turned up bright. I had to replace them about every 4 hours. It worked... I wish I had pictures...(sigh)
I had a 1mw SpectraPhysics He/Ne laser and pretty elaborate motor based cycloid/spirogram generator that I built for it. I have since moved on to 3 phase 5 watt mixed gas systems, white light systems and state of the art galvanometers.
But my heart has always belonged to the Goto M1 projector. Oh, I am rambling...sorry.
To answer your question, I will be making a fabric dome from nylon tensioned and structured with PVC pipes. I have acchieved good results this way for various shaped screens, domes and inflatables for my laser light shows. Ideally, I would like to have a new 33' Spitz "Premium Seam" dome but that is light years beyond my financial resources. So, considering accoustics, albedo of the surface and seam quality, fabric appears to be the best choice. Maybe I'll win the lottery and I can upgrade later... or perhaps beg, plead and grovel in the reception area of E&S Spitz until they give me a dome wink.gif
All the best!
James
Hay, we love rambling here!!!! I would love to hear the story of your heart won by the M-1. I think it does all are hearts good and is certainly a positive force in all of our various endeavors.
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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:30:05 GMT -7
Posted by: bjsullivan Apr 11 2009, 10:38 PM
QUOTE(James Hicks @ Apr 11 2009, 01:02 AM) *
I had a 1mw SpectraPhysics He/Ne laser and pretty elaborate motor based cycloid/spirogram generator that I built for it. I have since moved on to 3 phase 5 watt mixed gas systems, white light systems and state of the art galvanometers.
James,
Been waiting a long time for someone to mention laser equipment in this forum.. you are much further along than I am.. I too wish to combine laser and planetarium equipment.
I started with a 5mw Melles Griot HeNe in 1981, then ALC-60X air-cooled argons.. later, cambridge galvos, Lasermax software (no Pangolin!). Not long ago found a Lexel 95 argon surplus from the entertainment industry complete in road cases. When finances permit I would like to get a generator to run this thing.
Your incredibly powerful white light laser, blended with stars from your GOTO and a real dome, wow, that's a dream come true. Sorry for the aimless ramble but I couldn't resist another post. I hope to someday run the STP hybrid 600 watts and the Lexel 95, I think mine is 4 watts, but may have to settle for this 26' vaulted ceiling. I hope to read more about your project, and take notes.
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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:30:20 GMT -7
Posted by: moonmagic Apr 12 2009, 10:45 PM
james-thanks for the reply. Everyone here is very interested in your project and its progress. Right now you are fullfilling the dreams of a number of people, myself included. I know several on this forum who would like to be breaking ground for their own planetarium building. There are also several who have been bitten by the laser bug. I still remember the excitement when we moved from the traditional "liquid" light shows to laser shows (Kozmic Koncerts) in the mid-late 70's as a form of additional programming. PLEASE KEEP US INFORMED.
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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:30:39 GMT -7
Posted by: bjsullivan Apr 18 2009, 08:13 PM
QUOTE(Owen Phairis @ Apr 11 2009, 02:58 PM) *
Hi James,
Glad you found your way here. I really like your idea of having Ohira make new starplates for the M1. Perhaps he could make two sets and the Museum could retrofit our M1 starglobes as well. Hope you can make it down here to the Museum on your next trip to the LA area. We are about 2.5 hours east of LA in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Thanks,
Owen-
One of the Museums M1 Starglobes with Goto Mercury in background-
See pic below for one of the six GOTO MARS M-1's, this one formerly of Chaffee Planetarium / Detroit Science Center. I tracked it for awhile, it was sold to an unknown private party some time back when they were cleaning out the basement. Last spotted briefly on (Detroit?) Craigslist about a year ago, for 32,000. This is the same image that was posted on the Craigslist ad, which I was lucky to snag at just the right moment because it vanished from Craigslist a short time later. Perhaps someday the current owner will find this forum, and post pictures of it. There is another fantastic M-1 in Australia, I have pictures they sent me somewhere. It's on static display in the foyer. I think there were even more M-1's in Japan, I wonder what happened to those. Perhaps some guys in Japan who collect them also. If I recall correctly, Sheldon, director of Lakeview Planetarium in Peoria Illinois told me that they purchased their M-1 directly from the display booth at the New York World's Fair. They got a good price since it was a demo unit but it was still very expensive. Owen has what's left of it. Ron found it stashed in a dark corner of the planetarium attic, in pieces. The console, planet cages and well, most of the rest of it was dumped in the trash! Sigh. I have also looked for the other M-1's, without success. For example, the M-1 from the Bridgeport Museum. I have written them letters and sent emails to them some time ago, but there was no response.
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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:31:00 GMT -7
Posted by: James Hicks May 4 2009, 12:48 PM
QUOTE
Glad you found your way here. I really like your idea of having Ohira make new starplates for the M1. Perhaps he could make two sets and the Museum could retrofit our M1 starglobes as well. Hope you can make it down here to the Museum on your next trip to the LA area. We are about 2.5 hours east of LA in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Thanks,
Owen-
Hey Owen!
I have emailed with Alexander Adli at Ohira Tech about the plates. It would be a very difficult proposition for them without having the entire machine there to study. Since I am not about to ship my M1 off to Japan, that is off the list of possibilities.
However, I shall not be defeated! Since I have a KTP/YAG laser that runs in either mode, I can easily route the high-power output through a fiber. So I have been looking into micro-positioning XYZ motorized stages, drivers and software so I can make my own plate machine. Setting up to get the thing going is not so hard, but I, as of this moment, have no clue how to take something like the Hipparcos Data, correct it for projection on a dome and automate the data entry process unsure.gif
If anyone reads this and can give me some guidance I'd appreciate it! This probably is not going to happen for quite some time. I have my plate full with our business and buiding the dome, not to mention resoring the GOTO into its original working state.
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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:31:21 GMT -7
Posted by: James Hicks May 4 2009, 01:04 PM QUOTE(bjsullivan @ Apr 11 2009, 10:38 PM) * James, Been waiting a long time for someone to mention laser equipment in this forum.. you are much further along than I am.. I too wish to combine laser and planetarium equipment. I started with a 5mw Melles Griot HeNe in 1981, then ALC-60X air-cooled argons.. later, cambridge galvos, Lasermax software (no Pangolin!). Not long ago found a Lexel 95 argon surplus from the entertainment industry complete in road cases. When finances permit I would like to get a generator to run this thing. Your incredibly powerful white light laser, blended with stars from your GOTO and a real dome, wow, that's a dream come true. Sorry for the aimless ramble but I couldn't resist another post. I hope to someday run the STP hybrid 600 watts and the Lexel 95, I think mine is 4 watts, but may have to settle for this 26' vaulted ceiling. I hope to read more about your project, and take notes. Hey BJSullivan! I started with almost the same thing...G120s instead of Cambridge. Then I moved from Lasermax to LaserCAD from Precision Projection. Lasercad is pretty powerful but not easy to program. Since I was doing laser shows professionally for so many years, we became Pangolin users. I am using LD-2000 with 3D Studio Max which is an awesome combination. However, I am one of the few people that really understands analog image programming with analog synthesis. In my opinion lasers are more suited to those types of effects, lumias and optical effects and beams. I am very hands on and like to "play" the laser images like an instrument. It is the only way to get that truly "live" feel in the light. Laserium, and Laser Fantasy in their prime, were the best at this. There is a new company Emerging called 'Laserdome'. They were artists / enthusiasts that built a vdieo game parlor and 50-foot monolithic dome to do laser shows in. The video games support the laser business. Their stuff is MIND-Boggling. Probably the best these days. www.laserdome.com/index.ihtml?page=lasershowsI'd be happy to share any of my experience or knowledge. Don't hesitate to ask. James |
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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:31:43 GMT -7
Posted by: James Hicks May 4 2009, 01:09 PM Hi All! I have a web page here www.jhicksplanetarium.webs.com/that I will posting to as the project moves along. There is'nt much to see yet but pay it a visit and let me know what you think! See you soon! James |
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Post by Ron Walker on Apr 18, 2022 17:31:59 GMT -7
Posted by: Owen Phairis May 4 2009, 01:54 PM
QUOTE(James Hicks @ May 4 2009, 12:48 PM) *
Hey Owen!
I have emailed with Alexander Adli at Ohira Tech about the plates. It would be a very difficult proposition for them without having the entire machine there to study. Since I am not about to ship my M1 off to Japan, that is off the list of possibilities.
However, I shall not be defeated! Since I have a KTP/YAG laser that runs in either mode, I can easily route the high-power output through a fiber. So I have been looking into micro-positioning XYZ motorized stages, drivers and software so I can make my own plate machine. Setting up to get the thing going is not so hard, but I, as of this moment, have no clue how to take something like the Hipparcos Data, correct it for projection on a dome and automate the data entry process unsure.gif
If anyone reads this and can give me some guidance I'd appreciate it! This probably is not going to happen for quite some time. I have my plate full with our business and buiding the dome, not to mention resoring the GOTO into its original working state.
Hi Jim,
Congratulations on your website!
It will be nice to be able to monitor your progress. I worry about using electrical conduit as a structual component....
Not to worry on the star plates, time has a way of providing solutions....
Owen -
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