The old DIY super8 film scanner project rides again !

Well I've been at home this last month and sorting through a lot of old things. High on a shelf in my studio I found a plastic box with my abandoned cine film digitizing project inside; so I dusted it off a bit and decided to see if I could get it running again.

Amazingly it DOES seem to be working!

I documented this project a bit back in the day. I stopped working on all this cine film stuff around 2014 when I had more pressing work/life commitments to attend to.

So not only have I now got it up and runnig again, but I've even made some small improvements! I've got the device working now with my newer Panasonic GH4 camera rather than the Canon 600D DSLR I was using before. I figure that the smaller micro 4/3 sensor is better for this application requiring less extreme macro magnification than the larger APSC sensor needed. Also the GH4 has an 'electronic shutter' mode which should be a lot more durable than the all-mechanical shutter on the Canon DSLR.

The electronic triggering circuit of my device needed a slight modification to trigger the shutter of the GH4. But I got it working after some web searching and a few hours of further tinkering.

So to show the world the current status of this project I've made this short video...

Further Adventures in 3D Printing: 16mm Film Scanner Parts.

So a while back I spent a lot of my 'spare' time building a DIY Film-scanner for 're-photographing' the tiny frames of Super8 film. Suffice to say that now I'm starting to dabble with a 16mm film camera, I am ultimately going to want to digitize this larger film too.

This could be a long and possibly fruitless endeavor, but I'm making a start on it. This time I'm thinking about making a film gate with a claw action to pull the film strip through one frame at a time. As before, I'll probably use my DSLR camera with some macro rings to re-photograph the frames as digital stills.

First of all I found the specifactions for 16mm movie film online, here's the dimensions I am working with.

Here's a first look at my prototype film gate mechanism. I'm designing this in Cinema 4D, outputting .stl files and sending these off to Shapeways to have them 3D printed from black 'detail' plastic.

This version of the mechanism is made of 3 parts, a film channel (shown in yellow), a moving bar with two claw teeth (grey) and a top plate (green) to apply some downward pressure to the film. This is probably the simplest kind of mechanism to go for, although more complicated (and precise) mechanisms than this tend to be used in proper film equipment.

I've already got the first couple of parts back from Shapeways (from a slightly earlier design), Here they are.

These parts do seem to fit the film quite well which is encouraging. As I've found before, getting things 3D printed is very much an iterative process, you design, you make you test; then you do it all again... it's not exactly cheap either.

I've now ordered some more parts to make the mechanism shown above, so maybe in a couple of weeks time when the parts come back I'll have a little more to show here.

London 3D Print Show 2013

Last Friday, I had a quick scoot around the 3D Print Show. I'm not going to write so much of a review of this event as last year... I only had an hour and a half at lunchtime to look around, but fortunately for me, this year's event was held at the Business Design Centre, a mere stone's throw from TANDEM's studio in Islington.

3D printing has been all over the news again this year, and the exhibits; printed objects and technologies on show have certainly moved on over the last 12 months too. One of the cooler things to see was a gallery of 3D printed objects made for the movie business. That's costume items for big Hollywood movies, Pacific Rim, Iron Man etc. and even Thor's hammer. The film people (in this case Legacy Effects) have been quick to embrace this technology, being ideal for one off, or small runs of high-detail custom manufacturing for props and costume elements etc.

Another trend this year seems to have been ever-larger printers taking on larger scale projects. Here we see a prototype for the 3D printed 'Urbee 2' car project with its designer Jim Kor.

As well as the varied prototyping and commercial applications on show, there's a smattering of 3D printed art on display too, I especially liked this reproduction of a Parisian headstone sculpture, the bust of George Méliès. The original sculpture (Renato Carvillani, 1951) has been laser scanned in situ then reproduced as a 3D print by Cosmo Wenman.

I then headed towards the Ultimaker stand to go and kick the metaphorical tyres of their new Ultimaker 2 printer... Christmas is coming up soon dear readers, and I'd really quite like one of these...

And here are some 3D prints they made earlier...

More Adventures in CAD

For the last few weeks, I've been getting to grips with a trial version of Geomagic Design (formerly known as Alibre).

This is a CAD package that goes a lot further than the free Autodesk 123D Design I've been using previously. The main advantage seems to be the parametric structure to the programme which allows each part to have a complete history of non-destructive changes. Parts are initially designed separately, then brought  together to create an assembly. There are lots of alignment and constraint tools available to do this to a high degree of accuracy.
 
My plan is to at least learn at least enough CAD to be able to draft my projects and have them 3D printed from time to time. Here we see a plan for a very simple (and probably somewhat naive) device to help me digitize 8mm movie film. I've been messing about with something like this made of card and foamboard, so getting it made in plastic ought to be something of an improvement.
 

Geomagic DesignCAD drawing of assembly. Motor, sprocket, film channel and film strip combined.

So it's a stepper motor with a sprocket wheel attached and a film channel to guide the film through. Maybe not rocket science, but it's a mechanism and will need to be made with some precision if it's to work in any way at all. One day I'd like to 3D print this at home, but in the meantime, it's off to Shapeways.com with my .stl files again... 

CAD drawing of 25 tooth sprocket wheel to fit on motor shaft.

CAD drawing of film channel (guides the film by its edges) and housing for motor.

Spiral 002

Here's what that 8mm film developing spiral might look like.. .should somebody try to CAD model it in Geomagic Design...

I'm currently trialling this software and making some progress with it... The most basic version of this software is called Geomagic Design (Personal Edition), and I'm thinking this is a pretty good tool for this kind of work, and certainly a whole lot better than the Autodesk 123D Design (free) application I've been using so far.

This model is the lower half of the film spiral only. There will need to be a top plate to keep the film held in place, but that part will be of a much simpler design.

I uploaded this as an .stl file to Shapeways.com, the estimated price to make this part would be about £80. Just at the moment this seems a little bit too much to spend on this project, so I'm hoping to find a service / 3D printer owner who could help me make this for a little less.

Further Adventures in 3D Printing

I've revised the 3D design of my 6 tooth super 8 film sprocket wheel slightly, and had a pair of these new ones printed at Shapeways.com
I reduced the size of the sprocket teeth this time and ordered 'fine detail white plastic'. Here's the result, and this time, the teeth do seem to mesh with a piece of film. Encouraged by this, I've just sent away my design for a 20 tooth sprocket...

Pocket Sprockets

Well I've had bumper Friday of exciting things coming in the post today, first up here are my very first 3D printed objects. I present 2xDIY 8mm film sprockets. I only sent these to Shapeways.com on Monday night, and here they are in Friday's post! Much quicker than the 10 days Shapeways quote for turnaround time. I think it's pretty impressive that one can design a custom item and have it manufactured and returned within the same week. Here are the little fellas...

Now these are tiny, the hole in the centre of these is only 2mm in diameter, so you get some idea of just how tiny these are. I wanted to test the process with something small. Well I'm pretty impressed these came back, with all the features intact; maybe without the sharpness in definition I had hoped for. There 's no sign of the layering effect one sometimes sees in 3D prints, but there is a 'grainy' or slightly 'powdery' feel to these; they aren't smooth to the touch.

It remains to be seen whether my design and the manufacturing are fit for the intended purpose...

LATEST NEWS 16/02/13+++

Ok, these just don't seem to engage the film sprocket holes at all. It seems the 3D printed sprockets are just too big and fat to fit in the holes... However, I've just noticed that Shapeways offer a 'fine detail' plastic material that's 'slightly shiny'; that sound more like what I'm after. I think I'll redesign a bit on 123D Design and send off another print job soon.

My First 3D Print Job

Well, there it is! This evening I designed this small sprocket wheel in Autodesk 123D Design, a free and very basic solid modelling application, available here.

Why did I choose to make this for my first foray into the future of manufacturing? Well, it's small, simple and if it works could become a little cog (quite literally) in my ongoing DIY film scanning endeavour. That's if it comes back and engages the film properly. I've referenced the SMPTE super 8 dimensions, so I've got to hope it will. I'm keen to see if this method of design/manufacture will enable me to make the small pieces for this project with anything like the required precision.

I've sent this off to Shapeways.com who knows what I'll get back in 10 days time, stay posted...

3D Printing The Future...

3D printing seems to big news at the moment. 'One day...' they say, 'we'll all be downloading our shoes from the internet.' The idea of little domestic robots manufacturing stuff for us is certainly intriguing, so yesterday I made a trip to the London 3D Print Show to find out more...

 

Makerbot were promoting the UK launch of the Makerbot Replicator 2, and had four of the machines in action. This device (like most of the entry level 3D printers) uses extruded molten plastic to 'draw' the image layer by layer. The Makerbot 2 uses PLA plastic which has a lower melting temperature than other plastics, PLA is sourced from corn and is claimed to be biodegradable too.

The UK price of the Makerbot 2 will be £1800. Makerbot seem to be the most-established of the pro-sumer level 3D printer firms, and this could be the release which begins to capture wider public awareness of 3D printing. 

Around the halls, there were many other 3D printers on show of course, and there are many smaller operators in this field hawking their contaptions too. It'll be interesting to see if the larger printer manufacturers (HP, Epson, Canon etc.) ever decide to bring this technology to the mass market, or if it remains something of a niche technology served by smaller specialist suppliers.


Many exhibitors had 3D printed samples on display and in some cases it was great to be able to pick up and handle the objects.

 Most of the exhibitors were showing plastic objects, but certain machines offer the possibility of working with resin materials with ceramic or metallic finishes too. 3D printed models can also be used as moulds, so even bronze sculptures can ultimately be cast from your 3D data.

For those looking to get something printed but not ready to buy into the hardware, there are many online service facilities available, and these were represented at the show too. Companies such as  Sculpteo will take your 3D .stl files, print them on their machines and send you back your model through the post. You can even create your 3D model using simplified online software like Tinkercad and Sketchup.

As well as 3D printing, some vendors were showing 3D scanning technology; the ability to scan people or objects and instantly create detailed CGI models from the captured data. Europac 3D had a scanning tent which included four DSLR cameras for capturing human subjects from every angle simultaneously.

Another impressive scanning system comprised of a laser scanner mounted on a jointed robotic arm which could capture 3D data and instantaneously add this to a CG model in real time; great for scanning hands and car tyres :)

Combining the 3D scanner and 3D printing technologies obviously leads us to the 3D copier; a device for replicating things...














3D printing is already proven as an invaluable prototyping tool for product developers, architects and model-makers, but will this ever become a consumer-level technology?

I got the impression that this is an industry on the cusp; offering interesting creative possibilities to design professionals, whilst not quite ready for mainstream use just yet.



Like personal jet-packs and moon holidays we could be waiting a while longer for the promise of 'home manufacturing' to fully materialize... But I can't help thinking there is potentially something in this for some of my projects.