When is a line not a line? When it’s a series of small dots, of course!
That’s the trick [Ed Nisley] Used to create an ultra-fine, colorful hairline on a piece of clear plastic – all part of his project to recreate a classic electronics analog calculator from the 1960s, but in a moment it’s more.
[Ed] Tried different methods and techniques, including carving a solid line with a laser and matching a line with a very small V-tool. The results were serviceable, but what Really The technique was a series of small laser-aided craters filled with a red marker. This results in what can be seen – with the naked eye – as a very fine hair line. But when enlarged, as shown here, anyone can see it is really a series of small holes. The color comes from painting the line with a red marker, then the excess is removed with some alcohol. The remaining pigment sitting in the holes gives the right amount of color.
All these parts [Ed]An attempt to recreate the electronics circuit computer, a circular slide rule capable of computing all kinds of useful electrical engineering-related things. And if you find yourself designing and creating your own round slide rules from scratch? We’ve got you covered.