Secret Monitor

After a trip into Headingly me and Mikey came across an old monitor in Oxfam for sale so decided to buy it and give the secret monitor ago. After an hour or so we managed to peel the polarizing layer from the screen. This was a pain to do and left glue marks all over the monitor. Mikey then spent a total of 4 hours cleaning off the glue residue to make the screen look more presentable.

Our original plan was to replace the lenses of 3d glasses with the layer we had removed however the film was too blurry to be used for a pair of glasses. We found that 3D glasses from the cinema worked but the lenses were the wrong way round to see the image clearly. 

Here you can see the screen in action after removing the polarizing layer. This film controls how light travels through it creating the image when the 2 are combined. The film essentially controls the flow of light waves to produce a clear picture.

Sourcing the Polarizing Sheets

After playing around with some 3D glasses it became apparent that they were built in a way that we couldn't replace the lenses. This was a bit of a problem as we needed a pair to add new lenses to. I spent a few days researching where we could get polarizing film. I found out that we needed circular polarizing film which mainly comes from America. it is also very expensive and there were few British companies which stocked it. The majority of places I cam across charged £20 for a 10cmx10cm sheet. After ringing several companies explaining the project I came across one British company called instrument plastics who agreed to send some samples for free. Originally they were going to send 1 credit card sized piece, but luckily I managed to charm the lady on the phone into sending 2 10cmx10cm pieces which should have been sold for £44 so I was extremely greatful!

If you don't ask you don't get is the moral from today!

Creating the Glasses 

 http://www.instructables.com/id/Laser-cut-foldable-wooden-glasses/

After having no luck modifying glasses we resorted to an alternative, I searched the web to find a template for some children's glasses. I took the template and modified it to make it fit for adults also adding a front panel to trap the lenses in. This was really handy as It is assembled using just wooden parts with no need for any other pieces like metal hinges.

Here you can see the glasses after being put together and the net which was cut out, the glasses are made up of several parts which slot together to create the hinges. the pieces have small teeth which are used to hold the bits together. The glasses work really well and the mechanism is relatively strong.

This is Mikey modeling the glasses and looking pretty swarve. All that is left to do now is wait for the film to arrive and cut it to size and glue the front on to trap the lenses in between.