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new ALCS crystal sync motor for Eclair ACL


Aapo Lettinen

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On 10/19/2022 at 10:54 AM, aapo lettinen said:

I am planning on making 4 or 5 pieces of the "main version" of the motor in November and they will be shipping in December. Two of them are already reserved so I would recommend contacting me asap if interested in this motor type so that I can put you on the waiting list and reserve enough parts for the batch

Three "Main version" motors are reserved from the first batch now so I will make a batch of 5 or at most 6.

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"built-in" version is NOT AVAILABLE anymore or at least will be really expensive to make because I had some counterfeit Atmel microcontrollers in storage and thus there is no enough chips available to make the built-in versions (the Chinese scammed again, this time via a German seller so it was more difficult to detect and the counterfeits were really well made).

I only have two genuine microcontrollers of the required type it seems and can just make the built-in controller for the one camera I am finishing at the moment but further ones are not possible to make without ripping apart some Arduino boards to try to extract the component out of them undamaged (I can do it if needed but will charge a lot). Let's say, 1600usd for the built-in version or something like that if needing to tear apart Arduino boards to get the needed components ?

 

THIS DOES NOT AFFECT THE "MAIN" VERSION OF THE ACL 16-SPEED CONTROLLER BECAUSE IT USES A DIFFERENT MICROCONTROLLER OF WHICH I HAVE 30 GENUINE ONES IN STORAGE. THE "MAIN" VERSION DEVELOPMENT AND SALES CONTINUE AS PLANNED AND THE PRICE STAYS THE SAME :)

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I am waiting for the final circuit boards for the "built-in" version to arrive.

I already built a working prototype of the "built-in" system into a oversized aluminium box and it is tested with the camera and works. I let Heikki borrow it until I get his camera finished and he will probably do some testing with the prototype motor. The current software version is not finished yet so the menus can be a bit unresponsive at times but that does not affect crystal sync or framerate accuracy and will be corrected in the final software version.

I have a about 1 hour long testing/tutorial video of the prototype but it is in Finnish and I probably don't have time to add subtitles any time soon. If someone wants to purchase the motor system and is unsure what it is about and how it works, I can dm the video to prove that it works and to show how the menus work and what features there is... should be easy to figure out from the video even without subtitles because the menus are in English.

Let me know ASAP if wanting to order the "main version" of the ACL motor as I will only make a single batch of them and only couple of them are available.  I will want to get at least some of my money back from the project before the WW3 starts so that I can buy food and survival gear ?

 

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It looks like there is a maximum of TWO acl motors still available which can be ordered. Price 1100usd + shipping per motor and shipping will be between 15th December and 20th December.  Deposit of 300usd will be charged before 28th November so that I can secure enough motor drives in time to be able to deliver the finished crystal motors in mid December.

Please note that only one batch will be made and the next product will be a different more expensive ACL controller made in November/December 2023 so one needs to wait up to a year if missing out this first version.

Please let me know before 28th November if wanting to order this product. We can discuss by DM about the details and I can link the video of the prototype working.

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On 11/16/2022 at 2:21 PM, aapo lettinen said:

Please note that only one batch will be made and the next product will be a different more expensive ACL controller made in November/December 2023 so one needs to wait up to a year if missing out this first version.

Changed plans on the possible "Updated 2023 version" of the ACL controller.  It is very likely that the "expensive version" would never  get enough orders to make it financially possible to make (would need to collect from 10k to 15k to be able to start the project because of the amount of custom cnc machining needed which makes the starting costs high. and the individual controllers would cost from 1600 to 2000usd a piece) and thus I am sceptical if there will ever be any "better and updated more expensive version" of this controller, OR if there even will be another batch made of this first 16-speed version after the December2022 batch.

I will likely have a simpler "built-in" version of the ACL controller available sometime later, maybe next year, which does not have any display at all and has a traditional 12-position rotary switch for selecting crystal speeds. This system can use the existing circuit boards I already have and is a little bit cheaper than the original "built-in" version. I think this style of version is what some users are expecting from an ACL motor (really simple, very fast to use, no extra features at all, no displays or menus to "complicate things") so it is possible that I will make something like that next year if having enough time and money available. 

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got a batch of the first front panel version for the "Main" controller (aka "the external control box version"). No switches, screen protector glass or the finishing lacquer yet. The screen is of the same size than the final will be, the edge will just be masked to look nice and to hide the gap.

Looks pretty promising by my opinion. The panel is made of aluminium and is very durable.

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Taking the last orders now when needing to order the last components for the manufacturing batch next week to get them in time.

I will only assemble the amount of motors which are pre ordered so there will be no extra ones available later and it is likely to lose the opportunity to get one then.

Let me know before December 1st if wanting to order a ACL motor from the first batch. We can discuss about the details by DM and I will showcase what the motor will be. You can contact me even if not being able to fully pay for the motor right now. If at least the 300usd deposit can be paid for to cover most of the material costs, it is possible for me to assemble your motor in the December batch and then wait with it until you have a possibility to get the rest of the purchase price paid ?

Deposit is 300usd with the total motor price 1100usd + shipping costs.

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Ordered the rest of the components now so the batch size is locked. I will make 4 motors total of which 2 are of the "Main version" external box ones and two are of the "built-in" version of which one is for my own use. All of these motors are already reserved and partially paid for and will be sent to the customers as soon as they are finished.

I will likely assemble one or two extra control boxes if I have enough time and parts available, so if someone is interested in ordering one of the "Main version" controllers later in December it should be possible though has much longer delivery time of about 4 weeks. Price is the same 1100usd +shipping, just takes longer to deliver because I will only order the expensive bldc motor and connection parts if the order is actually paid for to avoid stocking expensive parts unnecessarily

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Assembling the first batch of motors now. Will have ONE extra control box available so there is one extra Main Version motor which can be ordered this month (if ordering the extra one I am able to ship it about 3 weeks after the payment clears. need to be paid in full if ordered that late). Additionally it MIGHT be possible to make another extra controller but can't promise that.

I made calculations and I will discontinue this Eclair ACL controller (both the "Main" and "Built-In" versions) after this first batch is complete and delivered to the customers.

There is just too large financial risk making these in post-Covid world and the R&D costs so much and takes so long that it is not possible to get any revenue from them and the huge costs have ruined couple of my other crystal sync projects as well as completely ruining one of my short film projects too, effectively preventing me shooting any film by myself this year. Every one of these crystal sync projects generates financial losses even if being able to sell couple of the end products which is why this "business model" does not work anymore and I have to figure out something else. This is why I am now assembling the first and only batch of the ACL controller and when having used all the parts currently in storage, there will be no other batches of that device. I need to concentrate on developing desktop apps and iot devices in 2023 and would not have much time for crystal sync projects anyway.

It might be possible that I will make some kind of KickStarter project sometime later which is of a different kind of Eclair ACL motor but not promising anything and don't have any schedule for that. If it ever realizes, it will likely be a simpler motor system with very simplified controls, less features and maybe even no display at all or just a simple 7-digit led display. I think the kickstarter model is better for these projects anyway and would greatly reduce the financial risks, hopefully making it possible to continue developing crystal sync controllers in the future.

All in all, if there is anyone desperately wanting a ACL crystal motor for one's camera, there is still that one "Main Version" controller possible to order and I might be able to assemble another one if knowing early enough that it is needed. I mentioned early on that these things have limited availability for sure and now can confirm that they are not available forever and I won't make more of these in 2023 so this is the only manufacturing batch. Please let me know in December2022 if wanting to order one of those still available "Main Version" controllers. There will be more test material and photos shown when getting the devices fully assembled so that it is safe to make the purchase decision, but please don't delay it to January/February if wanting one as it is very likely that they are not available then anymore or someone else had already bought them

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9 minutes ago, David Sekanina said:

Hey Aapo, wouldn't a Kickstarter campaign for the most popular controller be of help? I mean you have the prototypes to show.

I considered that option but to me it seems that the current batch size might be pretty close to market saturation already for the first versions of the controller as these are low demand products and people may hesitate for years before making a purchase decision (after which time there would be nothing available anymore anyway). This means that the Kickstarter project would be too small to make it sense to arrange a new batch in 2023 as only 2 or 3 motors extra motors could be sold even in the very best case.

I would want to make some things differently if making a new version of the motor, especially by trying to make it much easier to manufacture and make the mechanical inching better. The current system needs tons of manual finishing which takes lots of time and makes it impractical to make these in smaller batches than about 5 at a time.

I calculated that a Kickstarter project would need to be at least from 6 to 8 motors, ideally from 8 to 15, to make it viable in any case even if no redesign is needed (by just making more of the existing model) and in this market situation that would mean that a new motor model would very likely be needed to justify trying to sell so many extra motors. In that case I think the best route would be to try to make the system simpler and a bit smaller but keeping the price about the same (between 1.2k and 1.5k) and concentrate on making it more compact and faster to use instead of having lots of nice features like the current model has.

the current batch size of model v1.0, as I see it, just barely covers the urgent motor needs of the users who have a broken original motor or no motor at all on their ACL.  If making the Kickstarter batch of from 6 to 15 motors, that would likely cover the rest of the users in the World for the next 10 years who still want to use their ACL and have a original motor failing in the near future or already failed but still hesitate to purchase the v1.0 of my new ACL 16-speed motor.

This would mean that the possible Kickstarter project would need to be expanded from the start to cover all the in-use ACL cameras which likely have a failing original motor in the next 3 - 5 years time range. No extra motors would be made in the Kickstarter batch because stocking them is impractical and creates losses. When calculated this way I would need to wait from 2 to 3 years for more original motors to fall apart so that a large enough batch size could be made to cover the costs of making a new batch of motors. In that case the product would likely be very different from this original v1.0 version anyway (completely different hardware and software and user interface) so I don't need to count on the v1.0 and can as well discontinue it already. I calculated it MIGHT be possible to sell about 2 extra pieces of v1.0 model in 2023 and 2024 but that small batch size does not cover the costs of making a new batch which is why it does not make financial sense.

So I see the most practical route is to finish this first batch of v1.0 controllers, then discontinue v1.0 immediately and if there magically would be enough interest towards ACL replacement motors later in the following years, I could as well design a new one and make a single batch of them too, hopefully a little larger batch than this current one. After that possible new batch of the v2.0 version the motor needs for ACL would be completed in any case and it does not make sense to design anything for this camera model anymore as I would likely be retired before anyone needing more ACL motors ?

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2 hours ago, aapo lettinen said:

Assembling the first batch of motors now. Will have ONE extra control box available so there is one extra Main Version motor which can be ordered this month (if ordering the extra one I am able to ship it about 3 weeks after the payment clears. need to be paid in full if ordered that late). Additionally it MIGHT be possible to make another extra controller but can't promise that.

The one extra control box I mentioned is RESERVED now so the whole batch is sold now

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I will assemble the first "built-in" ACL 16-speed controller in the next days and should have the finished one to show in the end of the week. The "Main" version controllers will be assembled next week because needing to wait some special screws and other parts to arrive. I will finish most of the circuit boards tomorrow and after that it is mainly mechanical assembling, testing and finishing.

This is the only batch of these controllers made for now and I will concentrate on other projects next year. If there is enough interest I might design something new for the ACL in 2024 but not guaranteed. There was pretty limited interest towards the 16-speed model during the past year so it is likely that there will be no other dedicated motors for the ACL as it is very expensive and time consuming to make even the very basic ones... but you never know ?

Will post images when getting the exterior of the built-in version finished this week

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Built-in version finished and shipped now. Took lots more time to assemble than expected because there is very little room to fit the wires inside and had to rearrange the boards couple of times to be able to fit them correctly.

Will post a video of the built-in system at some point. I will finish the "Main" versions of the motor first to be able to ship them asap.

At this point I can say that the user interface works and is easy enough to use so it was a successful design by my opinion. Not the fastest one to change settings with but has better and more extensive features than a faster-to-use interface would have had.

It is likely that I will have one "Main" version motor with a lower quality "Chinese" motor drive available in January for about 1k+shipping if anyone is interested. The ones with the higher quality "German" motor are sold out so if anyone still needs a ACL crystal motor the "Chinese" motor drive version is the only option which is still possible to get. Let me know asap if interested as when these are sold out there will be no more of them (and if I ever will make more ACL crystal motors they will be of different model, costing between 1500 and 2000usd a piece and you will have to wait until mid 2024 to get one)

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Some quick photos of the finished Built-In version of the ACL 16-speed crystal motor. I only made one of these for a customer and likely will make another for my own camera later. Not available for further orders because I ran out of parts for making these built-in ones. Will machine the selector knobs later in the same batch than the knobs for the "Main" version controllers.

 

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I am building the Main Version motors now (the ones where the crystal sync controller is in a separate box). The first three (presold ones) will be finished in about a week. Will post images of them as soon as finished assembling them. I was originally going to make 4 of these but one of the bldc drives broke when machining the axle so just making 3 overall.

Additionally I will have THREE PIECES of Main Version motors available in the next couple of weeks with the lower quality "Chinese" motor drives. It is exactly similar than the normal "Main Version" , only the motor drive itself is slightly lower quality than the "German" motor drive I use on other versions. This may affect noise levels just a tiny bit but no other difference. These cost 1000usd a piece and they are still possible to order. So let me know ASAP if wanting to order one of these as I will not make more of them and this is the only model still available for a short time and they will likely sell quickly when being finished

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The external speed controller will be delayed a lot like I mentioned earlier as I had to move it aside because the CP16R project did not sell well enough and not having time to finish it this Spring.

I have simple and neat 12-speed external crystal speed boards available which have a simple rotary switch for selecting the desired framerate and which are programmed to work with my ACL 16-speed crystal motors. This kind of external control board with a rotary selector is useful if one needs to change the camera framerate very quickly and often because the rotary switch allows doing this in seconds whereas it takes a while to unlock the screen on the 16-speed crystal motor and going to the menu to change the framerate preset from there. I use the 12-speed boards to test the external inputs of the crystal sync motors which is why I have them available. I might have time to make some kind of housings for the boards but at least the boards themselves are available and one could easily make a suitable housing by oneself at home with basic tools. so this kind of board kit includes at least the 12-speed board and the rotary switch and the necessary wires to connect them. price range is about 200usd.

the speed presets on the 12-speed external speed board:

8fps

12fps

16fps

20fps

24fps

25fps

30fps

33.333fps

40fps

48fps

50fps

64fps

 

As said this is a external circuit board which can be built into a separate housing and which is able to feed a framerate signal to my ACL 16-speed motors via the 5pin/6pin IO connector my ACL motors have. The accuracy of the framerate is about the same than with the internal crystal generator of the 16-speed ACL motor, the main idea is that the rotary switch of the 12-speed board makes it very very fast and easy to change framerates if that needs to be done very often on the fly

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Finished building the first "Main Version" controller now. Will assemble three more in the following days and then finish the same number of motor drives for them.

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THE FINISHED CONTROL BOX LOOKS LIKE THIS:

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THE FINISHED CONTROL BOX WITH ALMOST FINISHED MOTOR DRIVE MOUNTED ON THE ACL CAMERA.

The motor drive will look very similar but will have some finishing touches and one additional support plate. The connectors are pointing upwards to make handheld operating easier (tested this extensively, it looks weird but is the best solution for this application) . One thin 4-pin cable connects the control box to the motor, and a 2-pin power cable is connected to the motor drive to power the system. The control box has 1/4" mounting holes so that it can be easily mounted to the most ergonomic position for each shooting situation by using an articulating arm or similar to for example mount the control box on top of the camera, over the lens, etc.

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This unfinished motor drive is with the "Chinese" type of motor and does not have the manual inching slot manufactured to the axle yet. The "German" motor drive looks very similar but has black screws and some other minor differences. All the ones with the "German" motor drive are already sold but if someone wants to purchase a system with the "Chinese" motor drive I will have one or two available later this month, contact me asap if interested.

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I have ONE motor kit now for sale. Price is 1000usd + shipping.

It has one year limited warranty (covers repairs but not shipping costs).

I have parts to make a total of two more of these motors in the future but have no time for assembling more before August2023 earliest so if wanting a motor this Spring this is likely the only one available for now. I was originally assembling more of them this Spring but that was not possible due to scheduling conflicts so this is the only one available for now and I will build the two remaining ones sometime later when having time for it.

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On 2/9/2023 at 2:49 AM, aapo lettinen said:

I have ONE motor kit now for sale. Price is 1000usd + shipping.

It has one year limited warranty (covers repairs but not shipping costs).

I have parts to make a total of two more of these motors in the future but have no time for assembling more before August2023 earliest so if wanting a motor this Spring this is likely the only one available for now. I was originally assembling more of them this Spring but that was not possible due to scheduling conflicts so this is the only one available for now and I will build the two remaining ones sometime later when having time for it.

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Still for sale.  If you want to purchase this item but have any questions or want to negotiate the price (possible if you for example make a video review about the system), please let me know ?

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