Yesterday I was able to do my first working test and you can see the results in the video below:

After running it for a while, I realized that the transformer was getting very hot. I took out the original cylindrical spinning fan thinking it wasn’t necessary anymore and it looks like I was wrong.  Because I’ve now used that area where the fan was for power input, I’ll have to install a new fan in another location. I’ll likely use a PC computer fan to keep things cool.

Another thing noticed was that the mechanical arm that drops the slide into place seems to be sticking before it bottoms out. The result is the slide isn’t in proper position when the photo is taken. To fix this, I’ll glue a small chunk of steel weight the leaver and let gravity do it’s thing.

I’m still waiting for a new lens for the LED, but I have now 2 of the original glass lens I can use in the meantime. I’m also using 2 transparent diffuser sheets to even out the back lighting. I’m hoping that with a better lens, I’ll only need the one.

Lastly, the inside of this thing is a huge mess of wires and ac-dc, dc-dc power converters. I’m going to finally replace all that with a small custom PCB that rectifies and steps down the voltage directly off the many coils on the original transformer.