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When you figure out how to 3d print a birefringent material, let me know. In fact, when you get a hobby-grade 3d printer to print something you can actually see
by jff 14y ago
When you figure out how to 3d print a birefringent material, let me know. In fact, when you get a hobby-grade 3d printer to print something you can actually see through, let me know.
- contingencies 14y agoSure. Obviously not everything comes from a machine. One can probably rely on people finding some crystal separately and/or if feasible order bulk-printed 3D transparent material (no idea of light properties of those, though I know they exist... just saw some this morning!).
- jff 14y agoIf you find the crystal separately, there's nothing left to print. The tool is fully functional as nothing more than a lump of crystal.
- contingencies 14y agoMy understanding from the image is that the operation is based upon the combination of two directional light beams through holes driven by an opaque piece with a rotating disc. Whether this was used at the time or not, it still seems a clear way to demonstrate the concepts. At the very least the operation could perhaps be usefully modelled three dimensionally using raytracing, perhaps also with the capacity to vary basic optical properties of the transparent crystal feature such as reflectiveness, refractiveness and average opacity, as well as atmospheric conditions encountered in the seas ancient European seafaring peoples are known to have sailed.