I have found out that i3 ThemalExpert won't be priced at 500$ but at 820$. (At this time I can't reveal the source or any more details...)
That price is a deal breaker for me so I decided to make some extensive modification to my SeekThemal module to improve it as much as possible.
The first mod will be to make a external shutter from a regular pcb. I will paint the copper side with matte black, since that worked good for me in the past.
And the second mod will be cooling the back of the sensor with the Peltier module. (I might even cut pcb in half to cool only the sensor part, but that is risky.)
Both mods should show a significant impact on the image quality.
External shutter should provide a much better isothermal plane so when we subtract pixel values we should get much cleaner image.
And the cooling of the sensor should prevent pixels from drifting too much.
The mechanism for shutter will look something like this:
Animation:
My progress so far:
I took a cheap solenoid, removed the core pin, and glued the magnet in the ink cartridge of a pen:
This is working good; when I apply voltage (5V) the cartridge with a magnet ejects out of a solenoid.
Next step is to glue on a pcb painted matte black...
P.S.:
Big thanks to Dave for giving us a subforum where we can share knowledge and help each other.