Mylar film vendors

[FI marco]

Hello to all,

My name is Marco, and I own a small company in the Netherlands that produces gauges and other components for simulation, both for the 'hobby' and professional market. We have a KA350 sim (with 2DOF motion) for demo purposes and are currently in the process of upgrading the visual system from direct projection (via a spherical mirror) to a collimated display system. As you can see in the picture below we have a polystyrene vacuum chamber(lightweight so the motion system can handle it) The polystyrene chamer is made by a company that specializes in large polystyrene shapes (CNC milled)


Colli 2.jpg



The 'backscreen' will also be from polystyrene, and 3 Full HD beamers will be used for front projection.

Colli 1.jpg

The only thing is that we're having a realy hard time to find a supplier for the Mylar mirror film, so here's my question: does anyone here know where to find 0.5 mil Mylar with a minimum height of 55"? Any help is much appreciated!

Marco

[FI marco]

Thanks for all your potential help , but it I have found the right material overhere in Holland. If anyone needs Mylar in europe I can give you the info.

Marco

[geneb]

Marko, great job!

You have one tiny, little problem however.

See those curved bits at the end of each side of the mirror cell? That's a patented feature. Unless you've taken out a license from Rockwell-Collins, I strongly suspect they're going to turn you into a smoking hole in the ground as soon as you try to sell one.

Here's a copy of the patent:
https://docs.google.com/a/google.com.../US6050692.pdf

Good luck!

g.

[FI marco]

Hi Geneb,

Thanks, I just had a look at your project(s): simply wonderul! Our 'hardware' seems very much alike, but we had the luxury that we only needed to design it and had someone made it for us. That's because it had to be lightweight.

As far as the patented feature you're right, thanks for pointing it out for me. As our project will not become a commercial 'product' in our range but is only intended for use on our own sim I quess there will be no problems. We were not planning to offer it as a product because it's not good enough for certification (to small anyway) and too expensive for the hobbymarket. We use our sim for demonstrating our gauges and controls (that is our core business) and also use it as a testing platform. And also for fun of course

Here's a video of our sim as it currently is (no collimmated visual yet): Flight Illusion Turboprop full sim setup - YouTube

I'll be followingg your next project with great interest!

Thanks,
Marco

[kermit]

Hi marco ,
Can you give me the Adress for the mylar?
also can I have a copy of the drawing for making the cell,
or the adres

do you have the measurements in and outside
greetz vriendelijke groet
Henk

[FI marco]

Hi Geneb,

Thanks for the info, I didn't know that the 'ears' are a patented feature. As our system was not intended nor is designed to become a commercial product I believe there won't be any problems with Rockwell-Collins. We're only going to use it for our own sim. We use our sim as a testing & demonstration platform for our gauges and controls. And for fun of course

We considerd turning the design into a sellable product but realized it's not good enough to get certified and too expensive for the hobby market.

I just had a look at your collimated display system: amazing job! Must have been a lot of work to build it? (we had the luxury of only having to design it) I'll be following your next project (the big mirror) with great interest!

Thanks,
Marco

[FI marco]

Hi Henk,

Here's the adress for the Mylar is hififilm.com (HiFi Industrial Film Ltd)They have a salesoffice in Holland (in Hoorn) and sell metalized Mylar with a gauge of 0.5 mill and a (roll) height of 140 cm. Remember that we haven't tested the Mylar yet so I can't garanty 100% it is the right stuff.

I'm not sure if I can give you the drawing because that's against company policy, but I talk to my colleagues. I can tell you the mirror radius is 240 cm and the maximum outside (width) of the mirrorcell is 260 cm.

Marco

[FI marco]

Hi Henk,

I tried to send you a PM, I'm not sure it worked...

Best regards,
Marco

[FI marco]

Sorry for the double replies, it took a while for the first replies to get approved (because there are web adresses in it?) Patience is not my strongest point

Marco

[geneb]

Excellent job on your sim cab! I love the engine gauges. Those dot matrix displays are very nice. I just wish they had one that could fit 5 digits in the same space.

I strongly suspect that by the time the patent expires (another four years I think), projector systems will make them a no-brainer buy for the people that have the room for them.

How was yours constructed?

What are you using to manage the mirror shape?

g.