revlmwest mentioned he wanted a lense that was easy to change. Something just dawned on me. SLOT LOADING LENSES. Check it:



Ok, so that's my 30 second hack of Brian's lense pic (Brian, I'm sorry, I stole it in the name of innovation. Usually I wouldn't do that). There is one problem. The bottom right screw hole would have to be clipped like the rest... um... so would all the holes. Well, you get what I'm getting at, right? Also, below the right button would be bare in my model. Perhaps there could be a method by which the lense doesn't drop in, but is rather swung in, catching the spot under the right button. The lense would be held in by the top button and the knob, really.

And the drop in part? Just mod the fascia to have a slot in the top. A little hacking will fix that in no time. Steve (Darkstorm), care to manufacture some drop in lenses? I know I'd be game. But, um, maybe we'd better make some back up fascia's before we go hacking ours up.

Lastly, any interest in constantly color changing lenses?

I'm starting to like this idea. See, this is the kinda money making scheme that I'd like to just DO. David, do you have any spare fascias that I could butcher? Then, I'd bring it to a meet and show everyone. Kinda like Rob's <?> mirror face (which ROCKS!). That's one of a kind, right?

Well, maybe I can get the color change face idea in motion if I suddenly become an electrical engineer overnight or something.

Kinda like Rob's <?> mirror face (which ROCKS!). That's one of a kind, right?

It wasn't supposed to be one of a kind, but I am having trouble sourcing the material. When I can get more, I will send it down to DarkStorm to make aviailable to the community. Right now, I am not using the clear mirror lens so I may be willing to sell it if anyone's interested.

I don't think you would have to hack up the fascia at all, just unscrew the screws a bit, and you should be able to turn the empeg upside down, and shake it a tiny bit and the lenses should just come out. The only thing that would hold the lenses in is the edge on the fascia. You wouldn't want to hack that off!

EDIT: there would also be a gap under the right button in the lenses.

Now that I read rev's original post closer, he mentioned this idea before I did. So, props to that.

oliver: It would be nice to not have to unscrew anything. But yes, loosening the screws would drop the thing right out!

My tendancy to make everything needlessly complex is making me want to hack the top off my fascia (if I can get a spare, that is) and then implement some kind of locking mechanism for the lense which can be easily slid out of place.

A thought I had today while falling asleep at work was: Gee, as it is, the lense rattles enough in there if all four screws aren't really tight. How will it work with NO screws holding it in place. Solution? Some felt on the inside of the fascia and against the body of the unit to keep the lense pressed in place. That or some kind of plastic runners or something. That or little U-clip kinda things (on the bottom of the inside of the fascia) that would catch the unit and hold it in place (on the bottom anyway).

See, I can dream but I'm all talk. Maybe I'll make some kind of plexyglass lense and test out my ideas.

This is exactly what I was looking for but I was too chiken to try it... Kudos to all of you.

What about attaching the fascia magnetically?

Interesting idea...when you take it further.

I wonder if is possible to make this *really* easy to 'change' lenses.

Take a standard clear or smoke lens, embed 4 tiny magnets into it, within the area normally visible when mounted behind the fascia, but obviously not obscuring the VFD itself, or the IR transceivers.

Now mill a color lens so that it sits nicely in front of and flush against the current lens, and can be inserted from the front. There is enough depth in the fasica that this should be possible. It would take a mill to get the edges angled correctly to account for the fasica's bevelling.

The issue here would be to make part of the new color lens ferrous somehow so that it is held by the magnets.

The other thing to think about with any magnetic scheme is how strong to make the magnets. Ideally, to allow for bumps in the road and the fact that we'd want to make the magnet area as small as possible, we'd want to use tiny rare-metal magnets....but I don't know know whether that's a very good idea due to the proximity to the hard drives.

but I don't know know whether that's a very good idea due to the proximity to the hard drives.

It is my understanding that the magnets would have to be enormously powerful and located within a few millimeters of the hard drive platter before it could have any effect on the hard drive. See Hugo's reply and Rob Schofield's reply to a similar question I had six months ago about placing my player in close proximity to my center channel speaker.

tanstaafl.

That seems like a lot of work...I was thinking more along the lines of 4 magnets mounted in the holes on the fascia.

Interesting idea with the magnets. But again, I'm worried about it staying in place.

I'm still considering the drop in model using U-clips to hold it in place in the bottom. Yeah, it could use pressure to be held in place in the same way that the empeg is held into the sled. I'll toy with it and see what I can come up with.

Again, anyone have an extra fascia that I could hack up?

Again, anyone have an extra fascia that I could hack up?

Ah, there's the real problem. Those are rather rare, and as I understand it, the original mold is unusable. So I wouldn't recommend doing anything that might potentially destroy the fascia...

Of course, if you're making your own fascia, that's a whole new story. Then it becomes a question of design.

Still don't see the point in the fascination with quick-change lenses....

Because the red (or whichever) lens looks perfect in the car, but it's impossible to see during the day. Being able to change them out quickly would mean being able to see it during the day, but still look good at night.

Seconded... I got a near perfect inkjet match with VW Blue, but removed it due to sunlight concerns. Now I have the stock blue, which is non-optimal in either.

If an removable color addition were possible, I'd use a smoke lens for daylight, and have a perfect match for night-time use.

I agree. (With your agreement to me. )

I think the correct solution would be quick-release fascia.

My idea along these lines is to replace the screws with something like those two-part plastic fasteners where there's a split barrel that would be placed through the fascia and into the holder on the empeg, and then a pin that's placed into it that forces the split part of the barrel outwards.

hey could you make that hack to scale...

I really like the Darkstorm Smoke Lens because it works well in sunlight and it matches the other equipment in the car (ie computer, headunit etc) which also have smoked lenses.
To get the exact match without losing the smoked lens, I opted for the Darkstorm gel. Now I have an exact match with the smoked lens. Just another option to consider.

I've been thinking about this even though I really don't have much desire to do it myself. I've still never even taken the fascia off, so I don't have a compleet idea of we're dealing with.

My solution would be to assume everyone had a clear lense on their empeg, and then make quick snap-in lenses that went over the clear one on the main display area. You'd probably have to make some small slots in the fascia so that tabs from the colored lense would fit in, but that would be minor and not too visible. This would basicaly be modeled after the plastic that snaps in to cover things like lables on office phone speed dial buttons and such. It seems like it would work, but I'm not staring at my empeg right now, so perhaps there's something I'm not thinking of.

Matthew

Ah. That does make sense. Just slice an occasional thin slot out of the back side of the fascia to snap a thin sheet of plastic into. This would totally work with the stock lens, however:

I don't have a Darkstorm lens, but from what I gather, this might not be possible because Darkstorm mills his lenses so that the fascia sits down into it a little. Otherwise, that's a very good idea. Can someone confirm or deny that the Darkstorm lenses are embedded in the way that I'm thinking they are.

the colored lenses are made from thicker material, hence the cutout of the facia in the material. the clear and smoke lenses are identical in form to the OEM lenses.

btw, i've bought several of darkstorms smoke lenses, and both the product and service have been top-notch.

--dan.

I was thinking it was t'other way 'round.

That's very cool. I see no reason why you couldn't get a smoke (or clear) lens and pop in a somewhat flexible plastc sheet over the top of it, once you rabbeted out two or three slots to hold it in place. And you needn't bother with anything other than the central part of the fascia, either, unless you really cared about getting the LED to blink the same color.

I'm off to find some stiff gels! RobRicc, were you still selling gel material to us, or did you decide to market exclusively to Darkstorm?

Interestingly the industrial designers behind the Mk.2 fascia wanted to go for a slot in screen. I seem to recall we had to drop the idea due to EMC requirements (the back of the screen is conductive to reduce RF emissions).

Third party screens are not coated so that is a non issue.

Rob

Third party screens are not coated so that is a non issue.

Or more precisely... their issue.

rev: I'm sorry, what do you mean "make that hack to scale"?

Tony: thanks for the tip on the fascias. I have a crazy notion that I might try to make one. I've wanted a wood one since I saw Paul's.

everyone: I have had some crazy ideas about this. Drop in slot load would be tough to get out without shaking the damn thing. Also, I'm worried about it staying in place. So, I had the overly complex ideas of using notches in the side of the lense to snap it in place. Yeah, it's hard to describe, but if I feel motivated, I'll make a pic.

Better yet (and more complex), how about a "door" on top? The door would kind of cover the slot in the fascia. Best thing about it is, the door would be hinged and have some kind of pegs extending off of it. The pegs would rest just above the hex screws. Purpose? The drop in lense would sit on the hinged pegs. So, when you open the hinge, it leveraged the pegs up and lifts the lense up just enough for you to get a grip on it.

To solve the problem of the blank spot under the right button, you could modify the above idea a little. In this case, make the latch only have a peg on the right side of the unit. Thus, when you open the latch and drop the lense in, the left side will drop straight to the hex screw but the right side will be held up at an angle. With a little geometry and planning, it could work that closing the latch would drop the right side of the lense, hooking the under-the-right-button part right into place. The only problem with that is there isn't a whole lot of clearance for the right side of the lense (over the IR) to swing without hitting the side of the fascia.

Yeah, it's all just brainstorming right now. No, it's not really in such great demand. I do have a "color change lense" idea that would be WAY cooler, but it would cost hundreds and is technicaly far beyond me. Anyway, I might make some 3D renders of my ideas and try to animate them. Well, first I have to get some sleep and pay some bills and junk.

Basically I'm wanting a pattern to set down on top of a lense so I can hack it.... Engineering and hacking are not my speciality so I'm a bit concerned about butchering a lense and having nothing to show for it....

Hm, my "actual size" on the computer could be different than your "actual size" on the computer. My "actual size" at 1600x1200 on a 21" monitor, that is.

I could try to make a Photoshop PSD file that is formatted to print out actual size. I've never been good at that (which is a lie) but I'll see what I can do.

I was drooling at work today while thinking about how I wanted to make a 3D model of the fascia to play with lense ideas. Ooh, that would be so nice.

The Empeg guys have the Fascia as a 3D Solid Model (SolidWorks I think). They wouldn't release it to me when I started to look at designing a custom Fascia over a year ago. However they did release it to one person on this BBS at the time who was making replacement fascias. Maybe they'll let us have the solid models now it EOL'd? I've had to design my Fascia from scratch so the dimensions probably don't tie up exactly with the original CAD design dimensions. If we can't get the original I could probably knock something up. What format would you want the 3D model in?

beaker: Thanks for the offer, but I don't think this I (for one) will continue with this quick-swap lense idea. It would be fun, but there are a bunch of problems and I don't think there is much demand for the idea.

Of course, I'll be the first to say "No demand? Who cares, I want to try anyway." But that leads to my second problem; I need a spare fascia to work on. I could try to hack it out of wood (which I am considering), but it would take forever. And even then, the quick-swap lense idea has problems (ie: covering certain areas of the fascia) which will be tough to resolve.

So, no need to create a fascia in 3D. It had no bearing on the project idea and I was only going to do it for kicks in my spare time (which I have none of). But if I do get a wood fascia made and try to hack the quick-swap lense idea, I'll let you all know.