thanks! yeah, its a relief to finally make this idea into reality.

yeah, that could be fairly easily fixed too, but the cost would be about $150 to get another sheet of aluminum and rivets. I decided just to live with it.

Fair! :)

I thought about that possibility. It could actually help regulate the temperature better that way as the stairwell makes the cold/hot air just drop through right now. That would have required some considerable modification to my house and re-engineering of the stairwell itself. Also, the wall on that stairwell is only about 4 inches thick, so the design of the iris, or the entire stairwell needs to be changed to make space.

Jeremy Cook's Projects *poke*

yeah, nothing beats the feeling of finishing a project that you've been fantasizing about for years.

thanks for watching!

wow, thank you!

Absolutely, I am looking forward to build this on my art studio! Since my studio has 15 foot old tin ceilings and with no real natural lighting coming in - I could see this Iris installed in my ceiling fixed with some strong LED light source to illuminate my work space. Thanks again for sharing this brilliant project!

Hi Caleb, I noticed that the Iris fusion 360 file does not include the "petal" parts. Are they some where embedded in that file?

I can still barely believe it is done!

thanks!

everywhere!

Lol my kind of logic 😂

Lot less work involved. But how costly is the polarized material

@@gleggett3817 I didn't think about it, but you can get 42/59 cm (16.5/23.4 In) on Amazon for $70. You could make two circles with diameter of 42cm for $140.

@@huscat1609 or one could harvest a lot of LCD displays.... make the joints a feature of the design.

@@gleggett3817 Good idea, though the connections should be really nicely incorporated into design. I see no feasible way of connecting them seamlessly.

thanks!

yup, makerspace to the rescue!

thanks!

yup, I talk about them in the end. I've actually completely removed them!

thanks!

yup, had a few people mention the millenium falcon!

haha, yup

it could, but the leaves would need some different material. they'd sag if they were much larger.

I think of Alien (79) - when Dallas armed with flame thrower is looking for the alien in the air shafts & wanted the tubes sealed off behind him to isolate areas once cleared & keep it contained. That aperture made an abrasive gritty metal sound as they opened & closed (see youtube). I'm sure it was meant to look and sound dangerous. There was a pinhole in the center of theirs but it was a lot tighter than this design. That middle opening bothered me as a kid - it didn't seem sealed enough for a space ship air tube hatchway....perhaps that was the intention - danger! Lol. As for the crank idea - Caleb don't be so literal - make it look however you want but make it technically loosely connected. What I mean is use an encoder at the end of a mock crank that then still cycles the stepper at a now an adjustable gear ratio - just like power steering is now a by wire control for all the related advantages. That would be less to take apart and keep flexibility yet with whatever actuation look you want (crank, chain, whatever including automatic open close cycles with any linear or nonlinear speeds). IMHO that makes more sense than ditching the motor even if you want a crank motion to actuate it....which you may not later. Hope you don't mind the suggestions. I also agree with the critiques of the 3 braces - they distract the beholder's eye from the iris as a feature (ironically). Think like an architect and where you want people to look when you are showing them your cool house, The brackets look like you failed in planning this & had to brace as an afterthought. Even if that is true don't make it look that way ;-) The bolts - I wouldn't do too much with them but at least dress them in some way that looks more in keeping with the house (i.e. staircase metal) rather than looking like Home Depot threaded rod. Again make it all look like it belongs not like it was just hacked in. Good job - what's next?

ooooh, good idea!

oooh, that's creative!

haha, you're all welcome to visit! Actually, maybe I should organize a youtuber meetup at my shop some weekend. I'm in southern missouri and I understand that there are quite a few within driving distance.

Caleb Kraft I'm gonna be in Fulton for the Solar Eclipse. Ross from the group is part of a science team releasing balloons up to image the Moons shadow as it passes over the US. Andy Birkey will also be there. How far are you from there?

fulton is 2.5 hours from me. I'm not sure what I have going on at that time, I'll need to check the dates.

thanks for pointing this out!

Also far warning to anyone who thinks they'll buy an old lens off ebay with the plan to take it apart to look at it in detail, then put it back together and sell it again... They are horribly finicky things and can be a pain to get back together in a working order. Think very hard before taking on such a project if you're not ready to wash most of the lens value down the drain. But they're also super fun to play with if you like clockworks and sorting through your entire room trying to find a single teeny tiny black spring that will probably somehow be hidden deep inside a dust bunny or something.

that's an idea!

SpeedrunnerG55 why not just put a real piston on it?

Because that's retarded, he already has an arduino.. Not only that, it would need an air supply, electricity, and a whole lot of other shit that is so out-of-the-way from this project that it totally defeats the purpose.

Brinkwolf "looks like" op isn't saying he should make an actual pneumatic/hydraulic system

My bad. It was 3am and I hadn't slept. GG.

thank you!

Caleb Kraft your welcome sexy hunk.

thank you!

is an iris possible with a square or rectangular window?

If you were creative enough, you could probably make something work. this specific design needs to be assembled in a ring, but the opening could be any shape. You'd lose on size though.

hmmmm it would be awesome to build such a thing for my room hahah.

that's a good idea! pulling a chain would be pretty cool and could be done from the floor below as well.

That is a fantastic idea. Like in the old Frankenstein movies!

Yeap! Imagine wearing an Igor costumer during a lightning storm =)

Ronald Jaramillo Haha...I can picture that. like a scene out of Van Helsing

haha, it may even be creepier if I just set it to random and have it move real slow. I'm enjoying playing with it.

At first I thought it was going to be used as a door, in the staircase. You go up/down and it detects you and opens, revealing the rest of the staircase. The little gap in the middle will not exist, as the centre of the staircase has a pole on it

yeah, turns out I don't need them at all. I could totally put something much more visually interesting there.

the skylight above it is frosted, but if it wasn't, that would rock!

I see. maybe your next project could be to replace the frosted glass with regular glass to make it work?

oooh yeah, draw your eye to it.

my wife drew it. I have 2 versions. If you really really want one, I might be able to talk her into selling one

My wife and I collaborated on that one. I did the outline and she did all the coloring. If you get close it is much more interesting as well, tons of swirls and lines.

wow! grate job /I like frogs keep on drawing more.Can you one day do a close up so I can see all the details.

I do make them for sale. I have one ready to go now but it is mostly ABS plastic so it can't lay down like this one. You can message me if you really want to buy one.

Caleb Kraft tank you for your reply. Can we mail us by '''''@gmail.coM?

its both!

I knew someone would complain about the wood!