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We worked on several split-flap art projects: mostly with sourced pieces… We managed to get our hands on the old main display of the Zürich train station (a be

by agys 5y ago

We worked on several split-flap art projects: mostly with sourced pieces… We managed to get our hands on the old main display of the Zürich train station (a beast of 7 tonnes). Most of the elements aren’t alphanumeric but larger words with the destination and departure station names written entirely. The readability was excellent as the text was silkscreened on the PVC blades. We reprogrammed it and created a choreography without altering the elements (we just measured the “width” of each word to be used as graphical elements) [1] The new display in the station is now obviously LED based and has many graphical errors and a much sloppier layout (mimicking the old one). The worst part is that now 1/4 of the panel surface is dedicated to advertisement… [2] [1] https://vimeo.com/224913612 https://vimeo.com/224913612 [2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zuerich_HB_tabellone_040316.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zuerich_HB_tabellone...

agys 5y ago
Assembly time-lapse at the museum [1]. The elements just slide into place… They can be pulled out for maintenance even when the display is running. [1] https://vimeo.com/220072274 https://vimeo.com/220072274
- itsjloh 5y ago
  Amazing you could hot-swap it even back then. I guess being able to change single rows when new stations get added and other things was a must.
  - agys 5y ago
    That’s not how they work: each row must be able to display the same information as it will slowly shift towards the top of the billboard. To add a new station (not such a frequent event in Switzerland) you need to modify the blades of -each- element.
xtiansimon 5y ago
RARARARA.. Brilliant. Such physicality and noise. I wish I could be there to experience it. I live in the NYC metro area and PENN station changed their display in 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/24/nyregion/penn-station-departure-board.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/24/nyregion/penn-station-dep... Looking for the date, I found this nice article about an Amtrak sign in Baltimore which was replaced in 2010: https://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bs-xpm-2010-03-22-bal-md-cm-sign22mar22-story.html https://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bs-xpm-2010-03-22-bal-... _“In January, Penn Station said goodbye to the old sign - known as a Solari board after the Italian company that introduced the machines in the 1950s. Like so many other familiar inventions of the Industrial Age, the flip-flapping signboards are going the way of the steam engine in rail stations around the world…”_
- agys 5y ago
  To clarify: the split-flap elements used by the Swiss railway (SBB/CFF/FFS) were produced by Omega Electronics and had the controlling hardware embedded on each element, controlled via RS-485; the older Solaris needed an external controller that drove the stepper motors.
hobo_mark 5y ago
Ah, MuDA! Too sad the place shut down before I ever had the chance to visit...
subpixel 5y ago
Wow, those sounds bring back memories of traveling Europe by train in the 80s. Is it just me or do I smell some stale urine and some pretzels?
sorokod 5y ago
[1] is awesome!
seanmcdirmid 5y ago
Ah, they had one of these at the Bern train station as well back when I was living in Switzerland (back in 2005-7). Lausanne already had an LED based one, it was kind of a luxury to have an analog display even back then.

by agys 5y ago

agys 5y ago

Assembly time-lapse at the museum [1]. The elements just slide into place… They can be pulled out for maintenance even when the display is running. [1] https://vimeo.com/220072274 https://vimeo.com/220072274

itsjloh 5y ago
Amazing you could hot-swap it even back then. I guess being able to change single rows when new stations get added and other things was a must.
- agys 5y ago
  That’s not how they work: each row must be able to display the same information as it will slowly shift towards the top of the billboard. To add a new station (not such a frequent event in Switzerland) you need to modify the blades of -each- element.

xtiansimon 5y ago

RARARARA.. Brilliant. Such physicality and noise. I wish I could be there to experience it. I live in the NYC metro area and PENN station changed their display in 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/24/nyregion/penn-station-departure-board.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/24/nyregion/penn-station-dep... Looking for the date, I found this nice article about an Amtrak sign in Baltimore which was replaced in 2010: https://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bs-xpm-2010-03-22-bal-md-cm-sign22mar22-story.html https://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bs-xpm-2010-03-22-bal-... _“In January, Penn Station said goodbye to the old sign - known as a Solari board after the Italian company that introduced the machines in the 1950s. Like so many other familiar inventions of the Industrial Age, the flip-flapping signboards are going the way of the steam engine in rail stations around the world…”_

agys 5y ago
To clarify: the split-flap elements used by the Swiss railway (SBB/CFF/FFS) were produced by Omega Electronics and had the controlling hardware embedded on each element, controlled via RS-485; the older Solaris needed an external controller that drove the stepper motors.

hobo_mark 5y ago

Ah, MuDA! Too sad the place shut down before I ever had the chance to visit...

subpixel 5y ago

Wow, those sounds bring back memories of traveling Europe by train in the 80s. Is it just me or do I smell some stale urine and some pretzels?

sorokod 5y ago

[1] is awesome!

seanmcdirmid 5y ago

Ah, they had one of these at the Bern train station as well back when I was living in Switzerland (back in 2005-7). Lausanne already had an LED based one, it was kind of a luxury to have an analog display even back then.