INTRODUCING – SPIDER

Surface-Penetrating Imaging and Dimensional Electromagnetic Radar

 

3D MODEL

This is the second prototype I’ve created within a month. (See my Centrifuge) While the details will remain sketchy for the moment due to some supply issues and details I want to update, the basic idea is a Ground Penetrating Radar that the Adventure Team can use to locate buried objects. In crime, searching for bodies is often a use. But for an Adventure Team, searching for underground buried dinosaur skeletons or buried statues might be a good use.

This has been an idea I have had for years. A GPR normally is a box that you’d push around with handles, but every time I think about it all I see is a lawn mower.

I spent a fair amount of time trying to come up with a handle system that would fold down over the body, and I had it all figured out, then I realized that this is the Adventure Team we’re outfitting, not some amateur or government organization. Huxter Labs would create an Autonomous Ground Penetrating Radar. No need for handles, any more than you’d need one for a remote control car.

As a detail, I added a heat sink to the top, to imply that the energy source needed to power the powerful ground penetrating radar needs a set of cooling vanes. (My Atomic Charger also has vanes, an homage to the Trouble Shooter radio.)

And when I designed it it really looked a lot like a spider. So I decided to call it the SPIDER. And to add some realism to the concept, I added a red hour-glass-like black widow marking. (These will act as a send/receive radio pair.)

 

COMPLICATION!

Dollar Tree, once again.

Last year I bought a couple of head lamps that were readily available at Dollar Tree. (This is where I say again that I should buy up about 40 of anything I see that I even remotely suspect I can use.)

So I prototyped this SPIDER to fit these head lamps:

Now Dollar Tree has none. NONE.

And I’ve visited quite a few around me. So I went online and ordered 48 to come to my nearby store. A week later, the order was cancelled claiming the local distribution center didn’t have enough in stock to fulfill the whole order. However, they made no attempt to inform me of whether they had ANY in stock anywhere. I figured since I used the “deliver to my local store” option, that they were only looking in the local distribution center. So I re-ordered with a shipping to my house option. Still waiting to see if that got through.

So the whole prototype is done and works, for this head lamp I may never be able to get anymore.

However, in a weird twist, a new version of this head lamp is making the rounds. They are easily found online, and so I ordered a bunch.

And how weird is this? I drop into a local store, and there they are on the shelf! Packs of two. So I bought a pack to test. And they are quite a bit smaller than the first ones, and rounder, and the real sticky problem is that they moved the switch.

The switch of the originals was on the side, making it simplicity itself to push a button into the body of my SPIDER and it would push the button perfectly.

The new one – the button is on bottom.

So I have to make a lever that you can push down, and it pushes UP on the button. This is fine. I can deal with that. It’s not a deal breaker.

And since it is smaller, I can compact the design a little if I wish.

 

UPDATE: Aug 18, 2024

I got an e-mail from Dollar Tree with a tracking number. Apparently, my second order worked, as not having it delivered to the store meant they didn’t have to rely on a local distro center! Here’s hoping I get the whole order. Then production can begin in earnest.

 

FEATURES

The lamp itself has 3 settings. Bright. (I mean don’t look directly into it bright. It hurts.) Less bright. And flashing. (Not great if you have epilepsy or are triggered by flashing lights, but you can quickly cycle through that setting to off).

The hinged top secures with magnets.

The body hinges up from the front to allow you easily remove the light, and change batteries (3xAAA).

The wheels are free-rolling, and feature the Huxter Labs logo on the hubs.

It will come with a control tablet. I may make a little carrying slot on the body for it.

This is the screen. If you need a copy of the sticker, download this and print it.