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Hackaday Podcast Episode 389, published October 2, 2026, pairs a maker-built spinning light-field display with Jenny List’s visit to a preserved ironworks in Germany’s Ruhr region. The display uses a rotating perforated drum to direct different image views toward different angles; the destination story explores Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord, a public park on the site of the former Thyssen ironworks.
What Episode 389 covers
The episode page names Elliot Williams and Jenny List as hosts and highlights the spinning light-field display and List’s blast-furnace visit. Its show notes also list projects involving interferometric synthetic-aperture-radar drones, a home-fabricated microprocessor, DOOM on a database server, an open-source tricorder, Vim as a whole computer, a Cheap Yellow Display PDA, a JavaScript operating system for ESP32, quick hacks, and space coverage. The episode page is the source for that lineup: Hackaday Podcast Episode 389.
How the spinning light-field display works
The project adapts the idea of mechanical television to show a three-dimensional light field. Rather than using a flat Nipkow disk to scan an image, it spins a perforated drum. Stationary LED matrix panels provide image data, split into views so that each opening in the rotating drum sends the appropriate view toward a particular angle. The result is an image that changes with the viewer’s position, creating a light-field effect.
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Hackaday’s September 29, 2026 feature describes a demonstration with three 32-by-64-pixel LED matrix displays arranged as half of a hexagonal prism. Because the arrangement covers only part of a circle, it does not provide a full 360-degree view; more screens would be needed for that. The article reports an effective resolution through the drum of about 100 pixels by 48 pixels per eye. Those are project-reported specifications, not independent measurements. Read the feature: Electromechanical TV Goes 3D With This Light-field Display.
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- Getting as close as possible to the item being tested for test improve sensitivity
What the design trades
- Viewing coverage: The documented half-prism arrangement has limited angular coverage, unlike a hypothetical full-circle arrangement with additional screens.
- Resolution: The reported per-eye effective resolution is about 100 by 48 pixels, a modest figure that should be read in the context of a mechanical demonstration rather than as a general display benchmark.
- Mechanics: A rapidly rotating perforated drum is central to the image-forming process, so the approach has moving parts and associated mechanical design and safety considerations.
- Stationary panels: The LED matrix displays stay in place while the drum rotates; Hackaday describes the approach as avoiding a costly laser projector.
- Build information: The feature does not give a complete parts list, total build cost, measured refresh rate, or a full comparison with commercial displays. It identifies no specific LED panel model or supplier.
Where Jenny List visited: Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord
Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord is a public park in Duisburg, Germany, built around the remains of the former Thyssen ironworks. The works ceased operation in 1985. Three blast furnaces remain, alongside ore-handling and gas-processing structures that show the scale and interconnected infrastructure of the industrial site.
In her September 28, 2026 article, List says visitors can climb blast furnace number 5. That is a report about the site at the time of publication, not a guarantee of present access. Check the park’s current visitor information for opening hours, access conditions, and safety rules before planning a climb. Her account is here: Places To Visit: Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord.
Quick Recap
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- Parameters: The detection of field is 1V/m~1999V/m, accuracy is 1V/m and the is 40V/m. The detection of is 0.01 μT~99.99 μT,accuracy is 0.01 μT and the is 0.4 μT. The detection of temperature is 10℃ ~ 70℃ and the accuracy is 0.1 ℃/℉
- Description Of Selling Points: a comprehensive functional and electromagnetic radiation detector, whether you are using it industrially or at home, it can meet your needs.,
- Reading: Digital display together with data locking function enables easy reading, which also largely simplifies the operation.
- Clear In : With 0.4s sampling time, the EMF meter with high sensitivity will automatically send sound and light for safe.
- Testing: Able to for test field, and temperature, this EMF wide for test and high accuracy.
Rank #3
- Feathure: Flat Top, Does not Rotate
- Easy to Use: Click Switch to Change Lighting Colors and Power Off, the Item does not Rotate
- 6 Color Lighting Modes: Colors Slow Flashing, Colors Quick Flashing, Constant White Light, Constant Red Light, Constant Blue Light, Constant Green Light.
- Power Supply: 3 AAA Batteries (not Included), Or, USB Power Cord (Not Include Charger)
- Multi Functional: Be Used to Display Crystal, Glass, Acrylic, Crystal Statues, Jewelry and Other Items.
Rank #2
- Feathure: Concave Surface for Ball, Does not Rotate
- Easy to Use: Click Switch to Change Lighting Colors and Power Off, the Item does not Rotate
- 6 Color Modes: Colors Slow Flashing, Colors Quick Flashing, Constant White Light, Constant Red Light, Constant Blue Light, Constant Green Light.
- Power Supply: 3 AAA Batteries (not Included), Or, USB Power Cord (Not Include Charger)
- Multi Functional: Be Used to Display Crystal, Glass, Acrylic, Crystal Statues, Jewelry and Other Items.
Episode details
- Episode: 389
- Published: October 2, 2026
- Hosts named on the episode page: Elliot Williams and Jenny List
- Featured subjects: a spinning light-field display and a visit to Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord
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