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Stock Ticker Machine

An old style stock ticker machine for the modern world

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I wanted to have a stock ticker, after seeing an article about how to value said mechanical marvel. I looked and thought: “Ooo! I’d like one of those, its like a teletype, but much smaller and cooler.”

Turns out the reason why nobody has one is because they cost >£4000 and rarely come on the market.

I think they are brilliant because they provide a log ordered history of the stuff you printed. Within reason you can roll the paper back up and keep it as a history. Sorta like blockchain, but without the obnoxious bits.

This is also my entry into the "Rethink displays" 2021 Hackaday prize

**Status** 98% complete. I need to re-think how I power the stepper drivers, as they are using linear regulators. I also need to tweak the firmware to catch when the type wheel become desynchronised

This project was a passion project. I really wanted to craft something that could look 1890s-1930s without looking steam punk. I also wanted it to be vague functional

I wanted something that looks like the ticker machine in the simpsons, but was able to be a bit more functional. Here is the (mostly) finished printer in action:

  • 2 × Nema 17 steppers
  • 1 × Embossing wheel
  • 2 × long nosed solenoids

  • Bugs Bugs Bugs

    secretbatcave06/13/2021 at 19:33 0 comments

    The problem with hardware is that bugs are much more of a pain in the arse. Unlike software you can't hide your hacks behind library boundaries

    Because the paper can move left and right relative to the presser plate, it gets pinched. Which makes everything go wrong. This took a lot of fiddling to correct, but in the end the solution is quite simple:

    The conformer makes sure that the paper can't move left or right, and surprisingly it works really well. It has lots of room for adjustment, which is a bit ugly, but means it actually works.

    The other mess was the electronics. There is nothing ground breaking here, just two stepper controllers, a solid state relay and an ESP8266(wildly over powered). As we are dealing with 24v and lots of noise from the solenoids, I used a beefy SSR, so I didn't run the chance of accidentally shoving -32v through a USB line.

    Its messy though

    but with a bit of wobbling, it was tamed. Plus with this lid on, you can see it. Perfect is the enemy of good and all that.

  • Main plate design

    secretbatcave06/13/2021 at 17:31 0 comments

    Its not overly obvious in the hand drawn design, but the main point of the main plate is as follows:

    • Host a printing wheel that has the letters on it
    • contain a paper feeding mechanism
    • Be solid enough to cope with the hitting and pressing of the paper

    Because aluminium is expensive, I started prototyping in plywood, to make sure my assumptions were correct, and that it all fitted inside the jar

    Even though I had the mechanical drawings of the motors, I hadn't allowed enough space to fit all the paper handling bits in.

    The other mistake I had made was not accounting for the width of the metal plate that holds the solenoids. Having learnt from my mistakes, and making some tweaks, I finally milled the aluminium plate

    You can see some scratches in the black gloss, note to self, always finish your aluminium properly.

    Its starting to look really nice now.

  • Logos are important

    secretbatcave06/13/2021 at 17:16 0 comments

    Normally I'd not bother with a logo, but as I've been given a Illustrator license through work, and the explosion in cheap heritage style clip art, means that its easier than ever for me to make a logo. Not only that, with the workbee its trivial to get that logo engraved in brass.

    When engraving its really really important to make sure that your workbed is parallel to the spindle *and* that you've clamped your workpiece properly. As the depth of cut is <0.25mm it makes all the difference. TLDR: make sure you've surfaced your spoilerboard.

    When I was designing the logo, I realised that the stock base that comes with the HÄRLIGA isn’t tall enough to house the solenoids. So I need to mill a base extension:

    This is useful because I now have a form to hammer the logo plate into.

    Here is the finished logo in place.

    Indian ink and acrylic gloss makes it much more believable:

  • Biscuit buttery base

    secretbatcave06/13/2021 at 11:20 0 comments

    Its time to cut the base. If you look at the hand drawn designs you can see that lots of attention is spent on making the base/stamping mechanism. I need to mill pockets to accept the solenoids and solenoid plate.

    The great thing about having a workbee is that its trivial to cut wood with reasonable accuracy.

    As good as the CNC machine is, it doesn't make up for user error, or my inability to measure.

    The pressing foot is fitting really well

  • Initial Design

    secretbatcave06/13/2021 at 11:09 0 comments

    As I can't buy a stock ticker, I need to make one. The first step of course is designing what I want it to look like. I bought a bell jar from ikea years ago, and this seems like the best thing to design around

    Roughly working out how the print mechanism will work

    A more reasoned design with ideas about ink holding

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farwaarubab wrote 04/14/2023 at 12:43 point

The Stock Average calculator calculates the average value of the stock when you repeatedly buy the same stock. A stock calculator provides a way to create the cost basis for all the stock. This is very important to understand and calculate the average value you pay for the shares of the stock and see eye to eye. This will help you to analyze that you are getting the accurate opportunity cost for purchasing the stock at its recent price; you can say that again. https://stockaveragecalculator.org/averaging-in-the-stock-market/

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Robb Smith wrote 06/22/2021 at 20:14 point

As a teen I used to muck around with teletypes so I know how hard it is just to keep one running, much less build one from scratch.  So well done!  The engraved logo plate was a really nice touch.

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