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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 6, 2022 15:54:34 GMT -7
Probable most of you know this story but I will build it back slowly as it is a fairly long thread. Enjoy the ride.
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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 6, 2022 15:59:43 GMT -7
Posted by: Ron Walker Jul 4 2008, 09:08 AM OK folks, the entire story of a lifelong dream come true. (Or at least well along the way.) Those that have followed my strange odyssey in the world of planetariums well know my affliction with the disease planetariumidious. I will not rehash my life story as it appears here and there in these pages. Suffice it to say that this journey began over a half century ago with the first viewing of the Adler Zeiss II in Chicago. The trials and tribulations of first trying to build from scratch to re-building commercial projectors is again well documented here. The "holy grail", the Zeiss itself, will never be. Not only could I not afford one if it could be found, I couldn't provide it a home where it could once again perform. Perhaps someday I will be allowed access to one and be able to document its wonders, but I'm not holding my breath, life's too short. One can get caught up in this "hobby" (as with anything, I guess) to the extent of obsession. What started out as a rebuild of an Goto E-5 Viewlex immediately escalated to the addition of a Spitz A3P star ball which was to be attached to the E-5. Opportunity allowed completion of the mechanical portions of the A3P and my expansion continued. The electronics of the E-5 proved worthless, and everyone said, "Just throw them away", how true. Work began immediately to build new drive electronics. Reviewing the electronics of the A3P via schematic diagrams and the cost at the time to purchase them, led me to rebuild the entire drive system mechanics and adapt my new E-5 electronics to also run the A3P. More, more, I want more! blink.gif A 512 would be nice as I really like the optical projection of the coordinates etc.. Suddenly it hit me!!! STOP!!! This was getting out of control. What did I really want from all of this anyway? I really want to be able to introduce the wonders of the night sky to others. The E-5 would be a perfect "outreach" tool with inflatable dome, and the A3P would make a great base projector for a more permanent location. I realized that I could be very happy with this scenario. If there was something "more" for me out there, it would present itself. If not, I was content. It is so strange that when one stops chasing a seemingly hopeless dream, that dreams come true. No, not a Zeiss II (as I've said, I want this to work again, to educate, to instigate wonder, to start minds thinking) but a Minolta/Viewlex Series II B. Basically a baby Zeiss in most every way. Literally a half scale model. And talk about whirlwind, the availability, bid process, removal, all taking place in a three week period. No time to think about it, just do it. All I can think is this was meant to be.  Plus, I really like the way it looks just like the Zeiss, a weird kind of fulfillment for my inner being. (Do you at all understand what I'm trying to say here???) |
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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 7, 2022 10:56:22 GMT -7
Posted by: Ron Walker Jul 4 2008, 09:40 AM I will thank Brent once again. He found this projector over a year ago and has been doggedly following it. When the budget for a new Digistar 3 became available, well.... as I've said, the rest is now history. Brent has removed several of the Spitz class projectors and I helped him with the 512 in Peoria, Illinois, but this was a different animal. Not more complicated but just larger and much heavier. To add to this we had only two days to remove it. A little thinking and a couple of visits to a "Harbor Freight Tool Store" and we were out in the time allowed. The first day started with my meeting Bryan Snow, the director of the planetarium and the fellow who originally picked the Minolta to replace their A3P in 1976. He has now picked the Digistar 3 and will retire next year.  The first day, all of the auxiliary projectors were removed as well as the star globes and planet cages. The most difficult part would be the central core which is built like a tank and weighs several hundred pounds. Also the first day began the removal of the electronics for the device. I have often been told that my wiring is not the most beautiful but no one can fault its functionality. After looking behind the control panel, I will never take any grief again.  Note the large black transformer to the right. The heat sink is a corning ware dish. Hay, if it works....... |
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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 7, 2022 10:59:07 GMT -7
Posted by: Ron Walker Jul 4 2008, 09:52 AM The second day was the big one. Removal of the central core. Brent had brought some scaffolding in his well equipped truck and trailer. On that we placed an hydraulic table which allowed us to lift the central core off of the projector supports.  After a complete check to make sure everything was stable, the final bolts were removed and the central core was jacked up off its mount.  Once raised, the entire central core was rolled to the front of the scaffold to clear it from the mounting.  |
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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 7, 2022 10:59:47 GMT -7
Lowering the table brought the central core down enough to be able to bring a small engine hoist into play.  |
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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 7, 2022 11:01:51 GMT -7
Posted by: Ron Walker Jul 4 2008, 10:03 AM Once attached, we were ready to lift the central core off of the table.  Once on the engine hoist we placed the hydraulic table on the floor which would be used to move the central core to the van.  Again I cannot thank Brent enough for all of his help in allowing this dream of mine to become a reality. I also want to thank my brother who also helped in the removal of the projector. He also took these pictures and recorded to paper the tons of data required for correct and timely reassembly of the machine. After two days we were finished, leaving only the base support which will become the home of the Digistar 3.  |
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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 7, 2022 11:02:23 GMT -7
Posted by: Owen Phairis Jul 4 2008, 10:05 AM QUOTE(Ron Walker @ Jul 4 2008, 09:08 AM) * OK folks, the entire story of a lifelong dream come true. (Or at least well along the way.) Those that have followed my strange odyssey in the world of planetariums well know my affliction with the disease planetariumidious. I will not rehash my life story as it appears here and there in these pages. Suffice it to say that this journey began over a half century ago with the first viewing of the Adler Zeiss II in Chicago. The trials and tribulations of first trying to build from scratch to re-building commercial projectors is again well documented here. The "holy grail", the Zeiss itself, will never be. Not only could I not afford one if it could be found, I couldn't provide it a home where it could once again perform. Perhaps someday I will be allowed access to one and be able to document its wonders, but I'm not holding my breath, life's too short. One can get caught up in this "hobby" (as with anything, I guess) to the extent of obsession. What started out as a rebuild of an Goto E-5 Viewlex immediately escalated to the addition of a Spitz A3P star ball which was to be attached to the E-5. Opportunity allowed completion of the mechanical portions of the A3P and my expansion continued. The electronics of the E-5 proved worthless, and everyone said, "Just throw them away", how true. Work began immediately to build new drive electronics. Reviewing the electronics of the A3P via schematic diagrams and the cost at the time to purchase them, led me rebuild the entire drive system mechanics and adapt my new E-5 electronics to also run the A3P. More, more, I want more! blink.gif A 512 would be nice as I really like the optical projection of the coordinates etc.. Suddenly it hit me!!! STOP!!! This was getting out of control. What did I really want from all of this anyway? I really want to be able to introduce the wonders of the night sky to others. The E-5 would be a perfect "outreach" tool with inflatable dome, and the A3P would make a great base projector for a more permanent location. I realized that I could be very happy with this scenario. If there was something "more" for me out there, it would present itself. If not, I was content. It is so strange that when one stops chasing a seemingly hopeless dream, that opportunity arises. No, not a Zeiss II (as I've said, I want this to work again, to educate, to instigate wonder, to start minds thinking) but a Minolta/Viewlex Mark II B. Basically a baby Zeiss in most every way. Literally a half scale model. And talk about whirlwind, the availability, bid process, removal, all taking place in a three week process. No time to think about it, just do it. All I can think is this was ment to be. Plus, I really like the way it looks just like the Zeiss, a weird kind of fulfillment for my inner being. (Do you at all understand what I'm trying to say here???) I think it is terriffic that you were able to get the Minolta! I am sure with the care and attention that you will give it, that it will once again shine, and teach as well. Although my personal goals for the display of my projectors differ from yours, it is all good and working together the entire planetarium community will benifit. Owen Planetarium Projector Museum www.pictorialism.com |
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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 7, 2022 11:03:09 GMT -7
Posted by: Ron Walker Jul 4 2008, 10:29 AM
Now that we are all back work must begin on a place to use this. Hopefully this projector will again be projecting for the year of astronomy 2009. Time will tell. All I can promise is that it will be up and working again. As I clean and review the many parts of this grand machine I will continue to post pictures and my thoughts. Also, comparisons to pictures I have of the various parts of the Zeiss II should prove interesting.
I placed the north star globe in the center of the floor of the living room, turned out the lights and cranked up the voltage. Spectacular.... a lump in the throat, thinking of what I would say at the grand re-opening, wondering if I could say it or be caught up in the moment of it..... wondering what music would accompany the starry night. Julie and I stared at this sky, distorted by four walls and a ceiling, and were mesmerized. We could see things out of the corner of our eyes that just disappeared when we looked directly at them. A result of the magnitude 6 skies no doubt. We soon got a pair of binoculars and started looking at some of these indistinct areas of the sky. Some revealed themselves as groups of several independent stars and others as small distant galaxies or star clusters. I wanted to grab a control and move through time, but that will take a bit of time. A time to look forward to.
On a more technical note. Optical projection of the stars is and will probably always be one of the best available. The star globe contains a 500 watt 120 volt lamp which makes for a very realistic reproduction. On upkeep, this machine is a dream. The Spitz A3P arc lamp costs the better part of $1K and last about 1000 hours. The lamps in the Minolta (and yes there are two so you must double the price) last about 2000 hours (they have only been replaced twice since 1976) and cost about $15 each.
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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 7, 2022 11:03:36 GMT -7
Posted by: Ron Walker Jul 4 2008, 10:40 AM QUOTE(Owen Phairis @ Jul 4 2008, 10:05 AM) * I think it is terriffic that you were able to get the Minolta! I am sure with the care and attention that you will give it, that it will once again shine, and teach as well. Although my personal goals for the display of my projectors differ from yours, it is all good and working together the entire planetarium community will benifit. Owen Planetarium Projector Museum www.pictorialism.comThanks Owen, I couldn't have said it better! smile.gif |
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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 7, 2022 11:04:02 GMT -7
Posted by: SteveDurham Jul 4 2008, 07:54 PM
I'll not spend much time with this...It is enogh for me to say...
Good things come to good people! Congrats on another baby step to the dream!!
me
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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 7, 2022 11:04:23 GMT -7
Posted by: Ron Walker Jul 5 2008, 12:42 PM
QUOTE(SteveDurham @ Jul 4 2008, 07:54 PM) *
I'll not spend much time with this...It is enogh for me to say...
Good things come to good people! Congrats on another baby step to the dream!!
me
Thank You, Steve!
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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 7, 2022 11:04:50 GMT -7
Posted by: Owen Phairis Jul 5 2008, 03:25 PM
Hi Ron,
I would like to hear more about problems with the removal, also pictures of the control panel and would love to hear about what aux projectors came with it. Did you get a complete set of manuals too?
Thanks,
Owen
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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 7, 2022 11:08:37 GMT -7
Posted by: Ron Walker Jul 5 2008, 05:52 PM QUOTE(Owen Phairis @ Jul 5 2008, 03:25 PM) * Hi Ron, I would like to hear more about problems with the removal, also pictures of the control panel and would love to hear about what aux projectors came with it. Did you get a complete set of manuals too? Thanks, Owen Actually, there were no real problems with the removal. The big problem, moving the large and heavy central core, never really materialized because we spent most of our off time looking for a small engine hoist. Luckily (or was it ordained) we found a Harbor Freight in town and they had the parts in stock. As we needed parts one of us would go off and get them while the others continued working on the machine. We could probably remove this entire projector now in half the time since we know how to do it. There is some printed information that came with the projector, the most useful on setting up the various projectors in the dome. There is no operators manual but most of that is intuitive. There are some schematics but much of the origin Viewlex electronics was dumped and replaced with a system from Joe Hopkins Engineering. My understanding is that Joe is retiring and all of the schematics for his systems are in his head. I had tried to do as much documentation as possible but time was a consideration so there was a bit of cutting. I'm not all that worried as I can again re-design my control system to run this projector as well. The projector contains in excess of 100 separate optical projectors (that really sounds good for advertising purposes [ remember 32 are for just the stars]) and there were no extra aux projectors. I would call an auxiliary projector as ones for meteors, orreries, satellite, those kinds of things. Since I've been collecting those types of things from Spitz, they will be most useful. I guess variable stars and constilation outline could be called auxiliary and there are a few of these. There are three projectors for constilation projectors and 24 "slides" to use in them. The control pannel has six large readouts and they as well as the switches are all back-lit. Unfortunately I have no power connected so I cannot show this right now. Each of the readouts has a selsyn motor connection from the main drives of the projector itself.  |
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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 7, 2022 11:08:56 GMT -7
From left to right we have: Latitude readout  |
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Post by Ron Walker on Sept 7, 2022 11:11:25 GMT -7
Posted by: Ron Walker Jul 5 2008, 05:56 PM Followed by the Moon phase  Then comes the year month  |
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