fader project in works *edit* (it works)

[Easttex]

My set up is almost complete. It uses a small gear motor much like Lastone's rig but with a lever and a cam setup that raises and lowers the part on the dye tank. Constant motion will yield no gradient lines or hard breaks from color to color. The stroke begins with the lever in the horizontal position, any of the part that is submerged at this point in the cycle will be at Dmin. This way you can easily control the position in the cycle where the fade actually gets the least dye. As the irregular shaped cam rotates slowly it slowly raises and lowers the part from the Dmin to the Dmax point. The rigs mount is over the line of tanks, (three on each level), the rig can slide side to side or move forward and backwards on variable position mount bars. The stroke is adjusted by the cams you mount on the drive arbour of the gear motor. By doing it this way your time in the tank should remain more consistent over a large range of part sizes rather than time being determined by the length of the part being faded. As I mentioned it is not yet finished but almost there, I've been working on it for a couple of weeks now in my spare time (HA HA). I'll get pics posted in the next couple of days. My rig should be pretty automated and very controllable and consistent if my theories are correct. It will be up very soon.
EasTTex

[lastone75]

easttex sounds cool but seems a little more compicated then mine. with my setup i can look up parts to make it easy for people to build with plans.

seems to me you have alot of michining time into your design. not breaking balls are anything like that.

but mine went way off the origanal design. ran low on miteral and didn't feel like setting up the big lathe either.

if any one is intersrested in my design i will find the time to get part numbers and part list to make this set. easy for you guy to build.

[Easttex]

Actually its not complicated at all. A motor that turns an off centered cam and a lever that raises and lowers on it. The end of it is fixed on a bearing so it just raises and lowers the part continually, while the middle of the lever rides on the cam that is rotating. Not to tough of a concept........ EasTTex
P.S. I've been so busy working on the air system, I haven't got the finishing touches put on the fader. I'm digitally impaired as well. One of these days I'll break down and buy a digital camera.