Eccleston/ Tennant Console at Doctor Who Experience

[wayne venomous]

Hmm... I would've bet rather a lot of money on those parts with "Toughened" being hydraulic rams. Maybe I should stick to identifying car parts... speaking of which, that variable resistor pic above has a car brake hose underneath it. In fact although it looks quite new, it's got a very old pattern on it (possibly some old stock that was too dangerous to use on a car?)

I agree that pic you posted above there certainly appears to be a variable resistor or "Rheostat" here's the closest one I can find:

It says it's a "Biddle Rheostat", not sure if that's the type or the manufacturer.

[Kingpin]

I think the glass item is a Sight Glass, it looks pretty similar, even down to the release valve:

[timegalaxy5]

hey i found one of those, it has the green glass tint to it like out of the show, i googled it under "gauge glass"


timegalaxy5

[Organic Mechanic]

Well, I'll be darned. I would have never found those. My first impression of a hydraulic cylinder was instant, and 'certain'.

[galacticprobe]

hey i found one of those, it has the green glass tint to it like out of the show, i googled it under "gauge glass"

timegalaxy5

AGH! Do you know how many of those things I've seen in the engine rooms of the ships I've been stationed on?! And I didn't recognize it! Now the rheostat I knew. I've seen those on the LORAN systems the Coast Guard used to maintain until they shut LORAN down. And that compass could also be a gyro repeater from an old ship. I saw one almost identical to the one on the console in an antique shop about a year ago; it even had those three little spindly legs on it. Trouble is I could have bought a full dining room set for what they wanted for it. (And with the old chairs falling apart and the table de-laminating, I did buy a new dining room set.)

Dino.

[wayne venomous]

Spotted something else! Strangely, it's not a car part this time though.

The keypads:

They're manufactured by Storm Interface (not Stormageddon! ) and are 16 key vandal-resistant keypads:

They're not cheap, but they do appear to be available all over the world!

UK Distributor:
http://uk.farnell.com/storm-interface/1k160101/keypad-storm1000-16way/dp/9809830

US Distributor:
http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/1K160103/MGR1601-ND/151518

Australian Distributor:
http://australia.rs-online.com/web/p/keypads-keyboards/0199431/

[superrichi1a]

Excelent find!

[museumdave]

Hello All - My first ever post
1st thanks these images are Incredible.     A great resource for those of us who are itching to build one.

Found a couple of things that may already be common knowledge, and if that is the case please excuse me


The large disks on the console panel and the arm -with added handle are large hard drive hubs.  Plus I was just in the in the basement of the museum looking at a sewing machine in its case and found a handle that looks like this....
now if only i could find a good source for about 8 of them.

Cheers
MD [attachid]singer handle.jpg[/attachid][attachid]imagesCA.jpg[/attachid]

[galacticprobe]

You might have to attach the images one at a time. Select one image, click the "Save Draft and Continue>>" button, and then select the second image and repeat. Then use the "Post" button to post the images. Nothing came through last time, and I'm itching to see what you've found!

Dino.

[whofan88]

hey i found one of those, it has the green glass tint to it like out of the show, i googled it under "gauge glass"


timegalaxy5

From what I gathered these are water gauges from steam engines.  I think they were used to check the water level in the boiler on-board the engine.  If you google "steam water gauge" some interesting images come up in the image search.  Edit: According to Wikipedia the water gauges are also called a sight glass.

[museumdave]

Heh heh.. oops
lets try this again



thanks dinofor the advice, and patience

Dave

[galacticprobe]

Nice pic of the handle! I think you can find something close to that "ribbed" look in the wood section of the average craft store, and a little reddish-brown paint should take care of the color. The side bits will be a little trickier, depending on how sturdy you want it to be. A cruise through a hardware/home improvement store might yield something suitable in the cabinet door-pull area, or if you're cleverer than I am you may be able to work something out of wooden dowels.

The hard drive hub is a different story. I suppose one could fashion one out of wood for a pattern, and then make a mould to cast replicas from resin. And to think back in 1994 when I first reported to the electronics support facility where I spent the next nine years of my career they were in the process of disposing of the old VAX computer - hubs very similar to that up to your eyeballs! (Oh, if only I'd known what was to come I'd have stashed the lot in a box and tucked it into a corner of my closet! )

Dino.

[exleo]

The handle is off the lid of an old portable manual sewing machine (probably a Singer in make). There would have been a large Dome like lid that sat over the top of the machine and locked onto the base to carry it around by......I'll see if I can find a picture


found one

[museumdave]

Heh Heh..
That is great that is identical to the sewing machine that prompted my comment 
About the hub... your 20 year old opportunity is pasted, any idea where one might look for one of these bits of surplus nowdays?

M.D.

[museumdave]

I think I found another bit,

There are a number of silver push button looking bits on the console. The panel with the crystal thingy in the centre of the wheel spacer has 3, the panel with the two key pads has 1.  I think the are likely hard drive motors. The come in different sizes and look a little different depending on the maker, but here is a pic of one

let me know what you think.

Cheers

M.D.