Anyone heard from Alan Graves lately? (update: he's ok)

[Steve E.]

Last I knew (circa January or February), our esteemed Presto expert was spending some time on the East Coast (maybe in Maryland?), and had a temporary number, which I seem to have lost. He last logged in here in June.

If anyone has current contact info or news, please private message me. thanks!

[Steve E.]

Alan wrote me. He's fine!!

[EpicenterBryan]

Alan wrote me. He's fine!!

Great news! Let him Know I bought the Martindale Presto 8D system and it's at my place in Eugene.
Hope the family is well.

[EpicenterBryan]

Alan wrote me. He's fine!!

Great news! Let him Know I bought the Martindale Presto 8D system and it's at my place in Eugene.

Interesting update: Alan and I have been communicating via his new E-mail address. As it turns out the Presto 8D I recently acquired was once owned by him, and the stand that came with it Alan made himself. It's also the one shown on his web site! What a small world this is! When he sold it, the heater and variable pitch mods were removed, and the stock pulley access door was put back on. Like all new owners, we need to put our own twist on things. So I added some LED lighting last week under the overhead and under the scope swing arm.

I like it! What say you?

[Aussie0zborn]

Nice. Do the LEDs change colour?

[EpicenterBryan]

Nice. Do the LEDs change colour?

They don't. They are just single color warm white LED's.

But that brings up an interesting idea though!
How about some up lighting under the platter, so the platter would ride on a light cloud spilling light out from underneath and on the wall behind. And the color could be based of the signal strength. Like a simple VU meter (green / yellow / red and a few transition colors). Perhaps variable intensity of green based on signal below warning / yellow range.

It would be simple - an arduino processor an opamp or two, a few FET's and an RGB LED strip segment. I did something similar last year in at a friends house for accent lighting in his kitchen. The color was controllable via an iPhone, but in this case the color could be controlled by signal strength just as easily with a little extra "electronic component secret sauce".

Here is a (too long) video about that project. Skip into it a bit and think about the possibilities.

[Aussie0zborn]

What a great idea. Don't forget the fog machine for added effect.