The Wand Company TOS Tricorder is coming!

Craqigbob said:
I have to say that I'm quite surprised that no one has made a Bluetooth earpiece in the design of a Star Trek Comms earpiece yet.
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A valiant Fan attempt……



Below is a drawing someone did of the ear piece …… I’m almost sure, a 3D printed version ( here’s one example 3D print Uhura Comm Ear Piece ) would have room for a micro Bluetooth ear piece stripped of its manufactured plastic housing ……

In other words, get a micro small Bluetooth ear piece and gut it from its housing to use the electronics in the Uhura ear piece 3D printed housing.

Perhaps a Bluetooth Uhura ear piece hasn’t been manufactured is because of overall weight issues causing the ear piece to not stay plugged into the ear on its own for a length of time…..hmmmmm. Also, uneven and different size ear canals would be a fitting problem. You’ll have to do how Uhura is often seen using it…..she holds it to her ear with her left hand. Doesn’t seem practical as a hands free everyday use Bluetooth ear piece…

31D0BE6B-B0FB-4482-954E-A61537574275.jpeg


Peace
 
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An accurate made earpiece is very light to wear. I have a good replica and problem with many is they do not machine the grooves even close to being deep enough. So the end up weighing way too much. In some shots from the show you can see light passiing through all the fins. The drawing above is dated to the seventies from the old Technical Manual so cool for the time, but not a representation of the actual prop. The insert part to the ear are from hearing aids of the time. They were custom made for the user. Usually you can find them on ebay from estate sales and buy an old hearing aid and remove it. Won't fit perfect but close enough for most. Of course I cleaned the one I got very well. LOL I don't care it was fifty years old. No reason why Blue Tooth couldn't work in one, but my concern is metal will interfere with signals. So it might have to be made out of plastic at least partially. I'm all for it!

tpNWmBl.jpg
 
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CessnaDriver said:
my concern is metal will interfere with signals. So it might have to be made out of plastic at least partially.
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Two-component construction. Stem with vanes is single milled piece of aluminum, hollow through the middle down to the intact bottom. Can house an antenna. Don't think there are batteries quite that small, but maybe. Main housing is aluminum shell over insulating plastic liner. Electronics, maybe battery, contained in that part. Milled threaded nub the antenna screws securely onto.

I may or may not have done preliminary work on how to at least make the functional shell of one of these, as well as a Bluetooth TNG commbadge with galvanic fingerprint coding, shaped sound, and combination mic setup. I may or may not have suggested these to the Wand Company some years back and gotten a "we might if there looks like there might be a sufficient market" response. They're... *sigh* ...pretty niche. :(
 
Gregatron said:
Yes, Uhura wore it in her left ear, but Spock, Lt. Bailey, and Lt. Palmer wore it in their right.
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The ear insert part just snaps on, so it's concievable each actor had their own ear insert and could have shared the disk/antenna portion. As far as how may of them were made??? Nichols said she kept hers, there is/was another in the Pop Culture museum or whatever it's called now. On screen I recall Nimoy with a funky sort of flesh colored ear insert instead of clear, Checkov, the blond woman (Palmer?) who was in for Uhura sometimes, I think maybe Scotty???? Can't recall. Maybe some of the lesser characters too. Maybe up to five made??? Not a prop that got a whole lot obsession over the years.
 
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Gregatron said:
Yes, Uhura wore it in her left ear, but Spock, Lt. Bailey, and Lt. Palmer wore it in their right.
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I think that we can speculate that there were at least 2 created for the show, based on The Making of Star Trek book…

E5D9EB78-491F-4453-8CC5-86F53142B42B.jpeg


Though…each piece sort of had to have the plastic ear piece fitted for the individual…I guess that they could have shared the plastic ear bases, without swaping out the plastic part but that would be…well, just gross.
 
ALLEY said:
I think that we can speculate that there were at least 2 created for the show, based on The Making of Star Trek book…

View attachment 1635791

Though…each piece sort of had to have the plastic ear piece fitted for the individual…I guess that they could have shared the plastic ear bases, without swaping out the plastic part but that would be…well, just gross.
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That may well be two photos of the same prop from different angles.


Also, legend has it that they found an old TOS earpiece in a storage box on the lot when they realized they needed one for the filming of TMP...yet the TMP earpiece as seen in the film is clearly not the same as one from TOS. A tall tale, it seems.
 
2 different 3D Freebies……

4CDA8FDD-5765-4589-BF72-2418E37DC234.jpeg
25DF787A-5195-439D-848F-83C26B661FCD.jpeg



Use “Silk Silver” Filament…..for a shiny metal look

4C82BDAE-2D58-46B9-9F01-730A3D188399.jpeg


And yes…..this is a Tricorder thread……lol

Peace
 
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Gregatron said:
That may well be two photos of the same prop from different angles.


Also, legend has it that they found an old TOS earpiece in a storage box on the lot when they realized they needed one for the filming of TMP...yet the TMP earpiece as seen in the film is clearly not the same as one from TOS. A tall tale, it seems.
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The plastic earpiece does not appear to match (albeit, we are at the mercy of some very sloppy trimming in these photos).

The one on the right also exhibits a pronounced bend of one of the rings that does not appear on the one one the left.

8838574A-BB43-41FD-9D51-D3F395089AF4.jpeg
 
CessnaDriver said:
Just one more since I have it. The one in the museum.

View attachment 1635841
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Interesting……we could all probably agree that there are a total of 9 disks overall…..8 of uniform diameter’s and a 9th at the end being of a smaller diameter.

Your right! This one shows 7 diameter’s being the same, and a smaller 8th diameter, and finally an even smaller 9th diameter.

Visually, that would show as a bullet tip shaped end when looking at a side view.

If you get my meaning.

I’ll try printing one out in the coming day’s with those 3 different diameter’s disks and post to this Tricorder Thread as a follow up…….lol

Hey Wand! Where’s my Tricorder!

Peace
 
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FANATICO said:
Interesting……we could all probably agree that there are a total of 9 disks overall…..8 of uniform diameter’s and a 9th at the end being of a smaller diameter.

This one shows 7 diameter’s being the same, and a smaller 8th diameter, and finally an even smaller 9th diameter.

Visually, that would show as a bullet tip shaped end when looking at a side view.

If you get my meaning.

Peace
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That’s correct. I have a very accurate machined replica from a TPZ run, and the last two discs are increasingly smaller in diameter, while the rest are identical.
 
CessnaDriver said:
The shadow says it all. And of course there was more than one prop for other actors I'm sure so probably some subtle differences.
D4atbvQ.jpg
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Quick question....is there anyone actually old enough to have seen 1966 TOS live and wondered if she was supposed to be part machine? Cyborg. Was it explained that this is just an insertable earpiece? In 1966 there was not all the Sci Fi there is today.....what would have been the FIRST impression on seeing this?
 
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