Description:

This is an attempt to recreate the Alethiometer prop from the BBC show His Dark Materials. I have loved the Philip Pullman books for as long as I can remember, and this show is the first media representation that even comes close to doing the original books justice. Central to the success of the show is the incredible prop and costume design, most notably the Alethiometer itself (perhaps more commonly known as "The Golden Compass"). I am therefore going about modeling, 3d printing, and investment casting a replica of this prop to the greatest degree of accuracy that I am able from screen grabs. Additionally I intend to make this prop fully functional, a feat that the prop team was not entirely able to achieve. Notably, the original prop does function in that the "question" needles can be moved via the peripheral input wheels. However, the central "answer" needle was never able to move without, in the words of the prop's creator, "bolting a stepper motor to the back [of the Alethiometer] and only filming it from angles where the motor was not visible." I intend to incorporate a micro stepper motor, driven by an ESP-32 microcontroller and lithium ion battery housed in the top half of the device, to make the central "answer" needle move in response to given "question" needle user inputs (measured by a series of micro limit switches also wired to the ESP-32).

Updates:

• Had to completely restart CAD model from scratch as what I was working from originally could not be paramaterized and was not close enough to screen-accurate

• New FUSION 360 model almost complete

• Printing/casting of "symbol holder" brass component begun

• Symbols are ready to be printed

• ESP-32 coding has begun

• Wiring/sodering of a sufficiently small (4mm height) micro-stepper motor complete - now just to get it to micro-step (small the motor, larger the minimum step - micro stepper minimum step is 18 degrees, so only 20 steps per revolution. Need at a minimum a 36 step resolution, but ideally much much more to give "answer" needle a smooth swinging motion vs clock-like ticking motion)

• Found micro limit switches small enough to fit in the case - just 2mm thick. On their way from China