kdwyer
11-15-2007, 05:43 PM
I've looked and looked... and come to the conclusion that I'll have to do it myself.:genmad:
The idea is to have a small parabolic dish, either functional (requires alot of calculations!) or just for show, that will be directional and/or rotate. I checked through numerous websites, looking at plastic space models, checking real antennas, scouring misc. parts bins etc. and found NOTHING that would be suitable. The closest I got was a real mesh antenna from www.antennasystems.com (http://www.antennasystems.com/) that is about $90 :eek: and about twice as big as I'd like - about 11 inches wide by 4 or 5 inches high, half a pound, and WiFi at 2.4 GHz. Very nice, but too big and too expensive for my tastes. (Though it would be WiFi...)
OK, I've got a good supplier of 4x10 aluminum sheets... but my tinsmithing skills are probably woefully inadequate. IMHO a bad execution will look worse than no dish at all.
A decent dish should be stiff but light, and should not look BULKY. I figure a good size for most bots would be no more than 6 inches across (from 3 to 6 would be best).
I thought a plastic colander (spaghetti strainer) with a horizontal mesh could maybe be cut to size and spray-painted. One with a respectable curve in 2 dimensions (L to R, and top to bottom) could maybe be found in a kitchen gadget store. Of course, this would be a non-functional type, but boy-o-boy would it LOOK cool. (And ain't that half the battle?);)
I have a few mini microphones, and thought about mounting them in a half shell, the kind that contain small toys, the ones you find in a supermarket bubblegum coin-op machine (25 cents or so). Cheesy, but might work for a small mic.
Does anyone have any better ideas on how to do this?:confused:
Note: see my blog entry titled "Regarding Radar Dishes..." - I may have stumbled on a cosmetic solution.
The idea is to have a small parabolic dish, either functional (requires alot of calculations!) or just for show, that will be directional and/or rotate. I checked through numerous websites, looking at plastic space models, checking real antennas, scouring misc. parts bins etc. and found NOTHING that would be suitable. The closest I got was a real mesh antenna from www.antennasystems.com (http://www.antennasystems.com/) that is about $90 :eek: and about twice as big as I'd like - about 11 inches wide by 4 or 5 inches high, half a pound, and WiFi at 2.4 GHz. Very nice, but too big and too expensive for my tastes. (Though it would be WiFi...)
OK, I've got a good supplier of 4x10 aluminum sheets... but my tinsmithing skills are probably woefully inadequate. IMHO a bad execution will look worse than no dish at all.
A decent dish should be stiff but light, and should not look BULKY. I figure a good size for most bots would be no more than 6 inches across (from 3 to 6 would be best).
I thought a plastic colander (spaghetti strainer) with a horizontal mesh could maybe be cut to size and spray-painted. One with a respectable curve in 2 dimensions (L to R, and top to bottom) could maybe be found in a kitchen gadget store. Of course, this would be a non-functional type, but boy-o-boy would it LOOK cool. (And ain't that half the battle?);)
I have a few mini microphones, and thought about mounting them in a half shell, the kind that contain small toys, the ones you find in a supermarket bubblegum coin-op machine (25 cents or so). Cheesy, but might work for a small mic.
Does anyone have any better ideas on how to do this?:confused:
Note: see my blog entry titled "Regarding Radar Dishes..." - I may have stumbled on a cosmetic solution.