Shadow wars/solar site survey Shade Finder tool

[ErnstHot]

Brilliant :) 

[SlowDownSmutty]

WOW nice work

[johnfarmingdale]

Excellent, good job.

[RimstarOrg]

@johnfarmingdale Thanks!

[magna59]

Very impressive ... who need magic eyes, light sensors etc.when you can have shoe laces.

[RimstarOrg]

@magna59 Thanks. Yeah, the simplicity of it is part of its beauty.

[edmacmahon]

How did you ensure the pencil lifts the right amount relative to the angle of elevation? Is it determined by the radius of the curve?

[RimstarOrg]

@edmacmahon Yes. The arc made by the curve that's needed to raise the pencil is 1/4 the circumference of a circle (0 to 90 degrees.) That arc needed to be the same length as the height of the chart. Therefore the circumference of a full circle would be 4 x chart_height. And the formula for the circumference is: circum = 2 x pi x radius = 4 x chart_height. So rearranging, radius = (4 x chart_height) / (2 x pi).

[jwes421]

Very cool

[RimstarOrg]

@jwes421 Thanks! I had fun designing and building it, fun using it, and fun making the video (but that last one's probably obvious :)).