william degnan via vcf-midatlantic writes:
On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 3:08 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
Vaxman -- thank you for the idea; we might revisit it when there's more > time post-VCF. > > For now I've gone to A.C. Moore and purchased gold tape. It's actually a > pretty good watch for bare wire color and has shiny (ooooh shiny) lines > down the middle. >
I actually once painted an entire room gold, and then covered with blue painters tape to make traces. I painted over the traces with green. When the whole thing dried, I pulled off the tape voila a giant room-sized circuit board.
I ended painting over it though, long story. I don't know if I have any photos. Fun project.
The trick is to be sure the painter's tape is highest quality and stuck so the paint does not bleed over the edges.
That's why I mentioned 3M #2080 (blue tabe with orange labeled core). It's also got an adhesive that won't mar the paint it covers nor does it leave a residue that must be removed. *IF* a paint has excessive solvent nature, I go with automotive masking tapes but interior latex wall paint is not that type of paint.
I would suggest enhancing this 'mural' into something more photogenic. This is going to be a museum, so make something which exudes a living presence. I help out doing this with our local Science center whenever they want to make a new exhibit. And that is, combining artwork, woodworking, electronics, etc, into a "sculpture" to express an idea. One of the examples, and this goes back to making theater stage productions, is 2.5D artwork Taking something is flat, eg only 2D, and give the illusion that it is 3D. This will go along way to making a professional exhibit display. Now, after getting the background painted, I would consider a way to enhance the pcb traces. To keep it simple and I would first dispense with the duct tape. You can use very inexpensive, eg $1 per 8ft, 1"x 2" furring strips to create the pcb traces. All you need is a miter saw to cut the 45deg angles - maybe a tablesaw. Because PCB traces just look cool when you have 45deg angles, that's why. There should be somebody at Infoage who has one already. And it doesn't take months to do this, cutting wood is very quick. Make sure you pick out wood which is smooth, with few knots, chips, etc - so the paint is finish looks decent. And paint it before you attach it to the wall - I suggest using a gloss finish, not some drab matt finish. You want the ceiling lights to accentuate the features, not some dreary lump of wood stuck to the wall. Just layout a diagram first with dimensions on where you want the traces to flow on the wall. As for the pictures, I surmised you had something in mind to represent the objects. Something at each end of the traces, so how about the most typical example of technology. Well, a "Computer chip", this is again where some creativity comes into play. Then you can post each photo on top of that "computer chip" to represent the history. How can you make this very cheap and quick, but still look creative. There's multiples ways, and all of it can be found at your local art store, such as Michael's. This is not rocket science, just some plain ol' artwork and patience, one example is styrofoam. You can also continue making this with wood too, just showing you options here, and wood will last for years. A black rectangular shape, with several, short, stumpy grey legs, make it 40pins long too, just like ol' 70s micros. The shapes are in stock at the store, just cut them to length And Hot Glue is not your friend here with styrofoam, should be self-explanatory -- just use any inexpensive glue such as white glue or rtv Just make it at home, let it dry overnight, and so you don't have to wait another week to build it for the wall. And so this doesn't take months to make either. Now you need to be aware that you cannot use just any paint on styrofoam The safest is water based paint, acrylic and latex, any others will simply cause a chemical reaction and melt. And for this you want to use a semi-gloss paint this time. Even though the paint will create a layer to fill in the pores, the glossy finish will make this moot. The ceiling lights always help accentuate the features, but you don't want the wrong features to stand out. just my $0.02 Dan
On Mar 9, 2016, at 8:29 PM, Dan Roganti via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: I would suggest enhancing this 'mural' into something more photogenic. This is going to be a museum, so make something which exudes a living presence. I help out doing this with our local Science center whenever they want to make a new exhibit. And that is, combining artwork, woodworking, electronics, etc, into a "sculpture" to express an idea. One of the examples, and this goes back to making theater stage productions, is 2.5D artwork Taking something is flat, eg only 2D, and give the illusion that it is 3D. This will go along way to making a professional exhibit display. Now, after getting the background painted, I would consider a way to enhance the pcb traces. To keep it simple and I would first dispense with the duct tape. You can use very inexpensive, eg $1 per 8ft, 1"x 2" furring strips to create the pcb traces. All you need is a miter saw to cut the 45deg angles - maybe a tablesaw. Because PCB traces just look cool when you have 45deg angles, that's why. There should be somebody at Infoage who has one already. And it doesn't take months to do this, cutting wood is very quick. Make sure you pick out wood which is smooth, with few knots, chips, etc - so the paint is finish looks decent. And paint it before you attach it to the wall - I suggest using a gloss finish, not some drab matt finish. You want the ceiling lights to accentuate the features, not some dreary lump of wood stuck to the wall. Just layout a diagram first with dimensions on where you want the traces to flow on the wall. As for the pictures, I surmised you had something in mind to represent the objects. Something at each end of the traces, so how about the most typical example of technology. Well, a "Computer chip", this is again where some creativity comes into play. Then you can post each photo on top of that "computer chip" to represent the history. How can you make this very cheap and quick, but still look creative. There's multiples ways, and all of it can be found at your local art store, such as Michael's. This is not rocket science, just some plain ol' artwork and patience, one example is styrofoam. You can also continue making this with wood too, just showing you options here, and wood will last for years. A black rectangular shape, with several, short, stumpy grey legs, make it 40pins long too, just like ol' 70s micros. The shapes are in stock at the store, just cut them to length And Hot Glue is not your friend here with styrofoam, should be self-explanatory -- just use any inexpensive glue such as white glue or rtv Just make it at home, let it dry overnight, and so you don't have to wait another week to build it for the wall. And so this doesn't take months to make either. Now you need to be aware that you cannot use just any paint on styrofoam The safest is water based paint, acrylic and latex, any others will simply cause a chemical reaction and melt. And for this you want to use a semi-gloss paint this time. Even though the paint will create a layer to fill in the pores, the glossy finish will make this moot. The ceiling lights always help accentuate the features, but you don't want the wrong features to stand out. just my $0.02 Dan Seconded
enhancing this 'mural' into something more photogenic. This is going to be a museum, so make something which exudes a living presence.
There will be plenty of the 45-degree angles, but cutting and painting would take too much time right now. However I definitely like your idea of raising the images by using Styrofoam or whatever, and having thick background images of circuit boards. We own a few Android tablets and kiosk stands. Might put one in front of the exhibit so visitors can touch the screen for more information about each obsolete product. I bet plenty of kids never heard of a Rolodex. :)
You want the ceiling lights to accentuate the features
Speaking of which: InfoAge took the cheapest/fastest route to getting a Certificate of Occupancy for the building, which meant ugly fluorescent lights on the ceiling. :( Post-VCF season, when we (hopefully) will have more money and (definitely) will have time to spend, we can look into proper lighting.
participants (4)
-
chrisjpf33＠gmail.com -
Dan Roganti -
Evan Koblentz -
VAXman＠tmesis.org