Evil Bob's Tom Yardley Jones Build

[galacticprobe]

I also thought that I could strengthen the glass with clear casting resin.

This could work as the inside of a real Fresnel lens is smooth and straight. (Well, there is a light taper to the inside making the bottom a hair thicker than the top, but unless you're using a micrometer to measure things, the difference is negligible.)

If you put a cylinder inside the Vermont "lens" to give you that form for the resin, you can pour the resin between the "lens" and the cylinder to get the thickness of an actual Fresnel lens. If the glass is clean the resin should stick nicely to it, and depending on what you use for the cylinder for the inside it should slip out easily enough, especially if you coat it with a cooking spray before inserting it. (I've heard from professional modellers that cooking spray works just as well for a release agent as the expensive release agents; the only difference is in the price.)

When that is done, the Vermont lens should be quite sturdy, and have all the aspects of a proper Fresnel lens. Well, almost all of the aspects; it won't have the sharp, angled prisms, but then again those won't be there to get chipped if they get bumped.

Dino.

[karsthotep]

Holy smokes.  If they're out, that's the end of an era. 

NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...drops to knees!!!!!!!

[Volpone]

Yeah, when you consider how many years the TARDIS had what appeared to be basically Tupperware (or other egregious monstrosities) for a lamp, the Vermont Lantern chimneys aren't a terrible option. 

As far as sturdiness, I'd have to check my build log to see when I got mine, but it's still in 1 piece. 

Since I've got a solar lamp for the lamp housing, a lightbulb was strictly optional.  At one point I experimented with things that might enhance the light from the solar LED (jars filled with water, etc) before taking the easy route of sticking a burned out lightbulb up into the housing.  This may have saved my glass because one winter we had winds fierce enough that they blew the rain cap part off and into the neighbors' yard.  But because I'd mounted a lightbulb coming up from inside, that kept the glass from blowing away with the rest of the lamp. 

I've since re-engineered the assembly so HOPEFULLY it is less likely to blow off. 

Actually a burned out lightbulb works pretty well for reflecting the solar lamp.  Kind of a moot point because the solar lamp seems to have died in my cross country move. 

Anyhow, I've also toyed with putting some kind of liquid (or resin) sleeve inside the glass to give an actual lens effect but worried that expansion differences in temperature changes would shatter the glass. 

One day I want to get one of those plastic magnifier sheets and stuff that inside the chimney, but on the scale of things I need to do, that's way low. 

[evil bob]

If you put a cylinder inside the Vermont "lens" to give you that form for the resin, you can pour the resin between the "lens" and the cylinder to get the thickness of an actual Fresnel lens.

This was what I'm thinking.  But I'll examine the Vermont lantern chimneys when they come today. They may be fine by themselves. I will be using a 4200 lumen LED bulb so you'll be able to see it in the daytime. The nice thing about full sized TARDISes is that you really can't get a good look at the lanterns. As you can get close to them, the lightboxes and roof hide the lantern.

[evil bob]

The lenses came today from Vermont Lantern. The smaller one looks like the winner. A little over 5" in diameter.

[handofomega]

Larger one looks right for a Met Box though...

[evil bob]

It's about 7" at the thickest. So yes.

[evil bob]

Looks ok.

[Volpone]

I have the Vermont Lantern chimney glass too.  It's not perfect, but unless you're going to sit it right next to an actual Fresnel lens it looks just fine.  And once you put it in a housing and on top of a TARDIS it looks perfect (again, unless you happened to have, say, Matt's Crich replica sitting right next to your TARDIS, but then I think the lamp would be the least of your disappointments.) 

[karsthotep]

I agree, it looks much better in person, and as its been said,  unless you get right on top of it, you aren't going to really tell when its on the top of the box.  Just another variation.  I retract my previous statements, it appears to be a good buy after all. 

[evil bob]

Most of the lumber purchased.

[Volpone]

This was my first "holy crap, what have I gotten myself into?" moment on my build.  Doing some math in my head about what everything was going to cost but being too stubborn to put it all back and chicken out. 

[evil bob]

This one is fully budgeted and I'm actually in the black so far.  The 1" x 10" x 10 feet lumber was less than half the price of the 1" x 12" x 8 feet ones so I saved a bunch there.

Likewise, the 1/2" x 4' x 8' a/c plywood was a couple of dollars a sheet less than when I budgeted them.

I (hopefully) over budgeted the signage, but I won't find out until I visit the sign shop on Wednesday.

[evil bob]

Signage ordered. The shop said it will be ready by Thursday.

[evil bob]

Lumber delivered.