Dear members of the sundial community, Recently my DeltaCad macro for drawing a Polar Box Dial without gnomon was added to the DeltaCad library on the NASS web page http://www.sundials.org/links/local/deltacad/ Inspired by the positive reaction of several sundial people (Thanks to all of them!) I decided to use it as a basis for a new macro. This time it is again a BOX SUNDIAL, but the new thing is the ARBITRARY ORIENTATION. In the opening screen the user can give much more parameters: old: - name of the place - latitude - longitude - central meridian of the time zone new: - declination of the plane of the box - inclination of the plane of the box - rotation in the plane of the box - number of lines per hour - to include or not the EOT correction - to include or not the longitude correction Excluding the EOT and the longitude correction allows to show the local solar time. Another new useful thing is that the hour lines are drawn only if the box is illuminated. Let me mention that particular orientations give the three possibilities in my previous macro. Then the parameters are as follows: - main position declination=0, inclination=latitude, rotation=0 (Northern hemisphere) or declination=180, inclination=-latitude, rotation=0 (Southern hemisphere) - East face declination=-90, inclination=90, rotation=-90+latitude (Northern hemisphere) or declination=-90, inclination=90, rotation=90+latitude (Southern hemisphere) - West face declination=90, inclination=90, rotation=90-latitude (Northern hemisphere) or declination=90, inclination=90, rotation=-90-latitude (Southern hemisphere) In my opinion the best thing about the new macro is the possibility to combine boxes with different suitable orientations and to make a SELF ORIENTING SUNDIAL, i.e. to use the combination also as a COMPASS!!! I am sure that everyone from the sundial community knows the classical combination of a horizontal sundial with polar gnomon and an analemmatic sundial, which has been very popular. Rotating until having equal readings, one finds both the time and the N-S direction. I can suggest here to make something similar using three boxes with the following parameters: 1) declination=0, inclination=0, rotation=0 (horizontal - read from S) or declination=180, inclination=0, rotation=0 (horizontal - read from N) 2) declination=0, inclination=90, rotation=0 (vertical -read from S) 3) declination=180, inclination=90, rotation=0 (vertical -read from N) Unfortunately this combination of boxes is SUITABLE FOR LATITUDES BETWEEN 30 AND 60. In fact Box 1 and Box 2 are needed if the azimuth of the sun is between -90 and 90 measured from South (from E trough S to W as it is accepted in the gnomonics), otherwise Box 1 and Box 3 are needed. In the northern hemisphere the combination 1-2 covers most of the time, but in the southern hemisphere 1-3 makes the same. In fact only the boxes 2 and 3 give together an azimuthal dial, but it is needed to know the N-S direction. Adding Box 1, which is a horizontal dial with horizontal gnomon, you can find the N-S direction and the time. For places CLOSE TO THE EQUATOR the combination of boxes suggested above gives ugly patterns with unreadable hour lines. Therefore my proposal for boxes 2 and 3 changes as follows: 2) declination=0, inclination=45, rotation=0 (read from S) 3) declination=180, inclination=45, rotation=0 (read from N) This combination was proposed first to my sundial friend Wee-Meng Lee (see http://leewm.freeshell.org/origami/) who lives in Singapore (latitude only 1 degree N). He is one of my judges and tests my models practically at the equator, for which I am grateful to him. It is sure that there is a suitable combination for any place, so if you vary the parameters, you will find the most convenient combination. I included 4 pieces for perpendicular joining the two vertical boxes 2 and 3 (inclination 90) to the horizontal one, and also 4 pieces for the equatorial zone (inclination 45). The pieces can be kept in the folded box. An interesting open question is what would be the simpliest and most reliable joining of the boxes at suitable angles (90,45,etc), wnich allows simultaneous folding of all of them. I have in mind a few possible constructions, Wee-Meng Lee also has a solution for 45 degrees inclination, but any other suggestions are welcome and I can incorporate them into the macro. In order to be able to experiment with different cuts as "teeth" to the main body, I put some additional points with exact coordinates as potential vertices of cuts in the drawing. Any feedback will be highly appreciated. As initial opening screen I put the main position of my previous SDBox macro for my place with polar direction of the shadow edges and celestian South fase. If you want the parameters for your place and your preferences to appear at the opening screen as default, use any text editor to change them (around line 145-150), saving the file as text (ASCII) file. After printing "landscape" on A4 paper, you can make three enlarged A3 copies, which allows easier reading. The size of the boxes is still small enough. Treat the new macro as my GIFT to all of you for the NEW YEAR 2007. By the way, my country Bulgaria becomes a member of the EU on January 1, 2007. I am also sending you the best bulgarian wish: BE HEALTHY! Valentin P.S. You can read also the commented lines in the beginning of the macro sdboxarb.bas.