Aperture (electronic iris) manufacturer?

Hmmmmm.... I don't think I've ever seen these stand-alone for sale on the retail market, but you'll find them in some surplus CCTV and camcorder lenses. Maybe a junker camcorder. You'd have to take the lens apart to get to the iris, of course. How many do you need?

Thomas Register would be the place to find manufacturers, and I would assume most of these will be in Japan, Taiwan, or China.

-- Gordon

I'll probably need about a dozen - various sizes - initially. I found a company who's worked with them before

What is difficult is that the prototyping iris units out there are non linear, and typ have a 90 degree throw. Iris units from SLR lenses will be burried inside the lens, but need a short linear throw.

If you can motorize your own, go with the latter. GO on ebay, find a power seller, and see where it goes. It will likely be cheaper than other routes.

Mike

And huge! I didn't even ask Pete what the size of the objective lens would be. I sort of guestimated he's working on something for the 1/4" to 1/3" imager size.

Pete, I'm glad you found a source. Finding a dozen surplus camcorder lenses might be tough, but if anyone has this sort of thing, you're likely to find it at:

Electronic Goldmine American Science & Surplus Herbach & Rademan

...and in about that order of increasing cost.

-- Gordon

Thanks Gordon.

The source turned out to be a dead-end. Oddly enough, the requirement wasn't related to optics. I was thinking an aperture / iris diaphragm could be used as a very lightweight miniature air flow control. One with a built-in servo/stepper was so appealing, I just had to find out more. Looks like I'll have to go back to the drawing board with this one.

-Pete.

Why not use a butterfly valve or a"Venetian blinds" approach? I realize that a completed unit is nice, but sometimes we're forced to make things. Another thought is that video camera repair shops often have broken units that they might be willing to part with.

Cheers!

Sir Charles W. Shults III, K. B. B. Xenotech Research

The air, unless but a whisper, would blow out the blades.

But now I know what you're work> >> Iris units from SLR lenses

I think the word for it these days is "Bluetooth." That's all anyone ever talks about.

Not knowing your application, of course, but how about a micro servo that pinches off airflow in a neoprene tubing? Maybe a little larger than your iris, but prolly as expensive. You can count on at least $20-30 for a good micro servo. This is actually a method used in some factory automation, but in a somewhat larger scale. A bar squeezes off a liquid going through a tube in order to start and stop it. The tube is positioned over a V-grove, to facilitate the valve effect. Could be used for air, but is also good for viscous material.

-- Gordon