Television for the common man
The television explained on this page is definitely one of (if not the simplest) television in the world. Most designs have at least one resistor, but this television requires no resistors , and with that almost no technological experience at all. Although keep in mind that in its simplicity this television may not be vary reliable
step one: the disk
The Nipkow disk is the most important part of your television as it is the part that will be reconstructing the image. A good quality printable disk can be found here:
http://www.sptv.demon.co.uk/nbtv/disk.gif
cut this disk out an glue it to a thin piece of card board such as a cereal box. Take a push pin or some other thin sharp object and poke the holes out.
Be sure to poke the holes as close to the centre of the hole as possible.
and don't forget the hole in the middle : )
step two: the motor
The motor should be easy to find. I would use one with a small plastic gear on the front much like one you would in an old portable Compact Disk machine. The motor should not be very hard to cut out while still leaving the Positive and Negative wires in tact. Take a tree volt battery pack and hook up the positive wire to the motor through a small toggle switch (any two prong switch will do). Then hook up the negative output of the motor to the negative input of the battery pack through a 10k potentiometer. The switch will allow you to turn the motor on and off at will while the potentiometer will allow you to regulate the speed of the Nipkow disk to see the picture.
Attach the Nipkow disk to the gear by centering it to the motor and melting the gear with the tip of your soldering iron.
Test the motor by flipping the switch. Turn the pot and see if the disk speeds up and slows down : )
step three: the driver
The driver is probably the most complicated part of the television to build. The first thing you will need is a junk audio tape player. You can find these anywhere such as a thrift store or even eBay (though eBay seems a little much for such a simple project). The second thing you need is a super bright LED which can be bought at any Radio Shack for less than a dollar.
Take apart the tape player so that the speaker is visible. Find the positive and negative output to the speaker and solder wires to them that are about 20cm (9 inches) long. Connect the positive and negative prongs of the LED to the positive and negative wires.
Mount the LED behind the Nipkow disk. Place cloudy plastic such as that of a milk jug in front of the LED so that the light is evenly distributed.
To test the driver stick any old tape into the tape player and slowly turn the volume up until the LED starts flickering. If you start it out on full volume you might blow out the LED (and your ears).
step four: testing your television
Try to find an audio sound wave file on the internet of a mechanical television signal. Find a blank tape and record the signal onto it ether by using a simple sound converter or by manually holding the tape recorder up to the speaker. Play back the recording and see of the LED flickers along with the mechanical t.v. sound wave.
Now simply set the LED driver behind the Nipkow disk and turn it on.
Push play and carefully turn the potentiometer until you get a ghostly image.
Your television is now finished! Have fun : )
More updates to come soon! -Attic