Arduino Controlled 5V Relay for Christmas Tree Lights

Our christmas tree lights plug into the wall behind the tree and are always hard to reach without sprinkling needles on the floor when we want to turn the lights on or off. This year I made an Arduino controlled relay that can turn the lights on and off with a switch that extends out next to the tree. Here is a video of the switch in action:

Hacked an Answering Machine

I found this old answering machine and originally thought it was a good find for just harvesting the 7-segment display. But as it sat around my work table it occurred to me it would be fun to use the display and buttons to insert a Simon game inside the case. I put it off because it seemed daunting but once I started on it yesterday it turned out to only take a day to put together.

Generative Art with TurtleArt

I made a series of drawings with the LogoTurtle a while back and I am revisiting the same idea of "exploded shapes" using Turtle Art. With this simple idea:

Starter Circuits and Blocks Code on Tinkercad

1. Blink one LED
2. Blink 2 LEDs
3. Turn on an LED with a button
4. Use a potentiometer to dim an LED.
5. Control a servo motor

Melt Down HDPE Plastic for Projects

I've seen several videos showing how to melt down HDPE plastic containers and mold them into usable forms for projects. But I've been just skeptical enough about the safety of heating up plastic to not try it until just now. This technique made it somehow seem more doable with the addition of the press over simply heating in an oven, I think because it allows you to mush it into a blob and press out air bubbles more quickly.

Hacking Salvaged LED Displays (Part II)

Good news! I just found a discarded VCR with an LED display. That means it's time to salvage the display and make a project out of it. While the last post on 7-segment displays was a single digit, standard display, this one actually turns out to be 10-segment with non-numerical segments. So it will be an exercise in figuring out how a non-standard display works. In this post I will go over my process for hacking a display like this. If you're interested in doing this for a simple, standard 7-segment numerical display see this other post.

Hacking Salvaged LED Displays (Part 1)

You can buy many kinds of standard 7-segment displays, but I prefer hacking salvaged ones you can find in broken e-waste. True, it's easy to buy displays with integrated drivers that make them much easier to connect to a micro-controller and program, but more often than not I end up finding components and making up projects for them, rather than the other way around. In this post I'll show how I salvage a standard single digit 7-seg display, figure out the pinout, and make it do some fun things. In a following post I'll show how I do the same with a more complicated, non-standard, multi-digit salvaged display.

Teensy-Controlled Vacuum Fluorescent Display: Step-by-step

I'm recording in pictures the steps I'm taking to power and control this Yamaha Futaba vfd I removed from an old entertainment system.

Vacuum Fluorescent Display Coded in P5

I made a series of graphics with code on the theme of creating graphic representations of things around me that I find interesting to look at. I used P5 to create graphics and posted the series on Glitch. I was really excited on this one to capture the delicate architecture of the vacuum fluorescent display, which if you have been looking at this blog recently has become a fascination of mine. It was really satisfying to capture the tiny hexagonal grids above the anodes. I only wish I could replicate the glowing quality of the light.

Brooklyn Houses Coded in P5

I made a series of graphics with code on the theme of creating graphic representations of things around me that I find interesting to look at. I used P5 to create graphics and posted the series on Glitch. This was a really fun representation of a detailed scene simplified into simple colors and shapes.

Park Path Brick Mosaic Coded in P5

I made a series of graphics with code on the theme of creating graphic representations of things around me that I find interesting to look at. I used P5 to create graphics and posted the series on Glitch. This was a challenge to get right, but again I got to use the trig functions sin() and cos() to distribute the quad shapes around different radii. It looks more involved than it is because I just made one circle pattern and repeated it at different places with translation. It was great to be able to use the camera function to get the bricks to tilt away. Oh and this was not actually my picture, but sent in by my friend Josh!

Bike Rack Coded in P5

I made a series of graphics with code on the theme of creating graphic representations of things around me that I find interesting to look at. I used P5 to create graphics and posted the series on Glitch. I needed something a little simpler after coding the doors, and chose this bike rack that I saw on the same bike ride. This was fun in appearance and color.

Door Coded in P5

I made a series of graphics with code on the theme of creating graphic representations of things around me that I find interesting to look at. I used P5 to create graphics and posted the series on Glitch. I saw this amazing door on a bike ride and had a great time coding it. I thought of it like coding patterns in an LED matrix, by making a 2d array of true/false matrices that are used in a loop to show the lines or not. It was a little tricky to flip it around for the right door but some tinkering with the for loop and I got it.

Hanging Light Coded in P5

I made a series of graphics with code on the theme of creating graphic representations of things around me that I find interesting to look at. I used P5 to create graphics and posted the series on Glitch. I was very happy about how accurately the colors of this light shade are captured in this picture. It was also cool to see how adjusting the dimensions of each ellipse by using the value of 'i' in the for loop created a nice approximation of the perspective you see.

Stained Glass Window Coded in P5

I made a series of graphics with code on the theme of creating graphic representations of things around me that I find interesting to look at. I used P5 to create graphics and posted the series on Glitch. At first I thought this would be a pretty simple thing to code, that was until I decided to represent the blurred shapes showing through the window. One thing I learned was that the filter(BLUR) function can be placed such that it only affects certain objects in a sequence of code.

Spiked Arc Coded in P5

I made a series of graphics with code on the theme of creating graphic representations of things around me that I find interesting to look at. I used P5 to create graphics and posted the series on Glitch. I enjoy coding things on arcs because I find it amazing to use trigonometric functions to make graphics. So this was a good challenge and I was pretty surprised the perspective came out fairly accurately.

Spiked Railing Coded in P5

I made a series of graphics with code on the theme of creating graphic representations of things around me that I find interesting to look at. I used P5 to create graphics and posted the series on Glitch. This was pretty simple to code and I like how it captures the sharpness and intimidating feeling of the spikes.

Trash Container Coded in P5

I made a series of graphics with code on the theme of creating graphic representations of things around me that I find interesting to look at. I used P5 to create graphics and posted the series on Glitch. The pattern on this trash container was really interesting to represent, and made me look closely at the edges with the filled in shapes.

Railing Coded With P5

I made a series of graphics with code on the theme of creating graphic representations of things around me that I find interesting to look at. I used P5 to create graphics and posted the series on Glitch. I sit by this railing each morning while I have a cup of coffee and it was an interesting challenge to represent the rungs as 3d shapes in 2D, though annoying to use so many 'magic numbers.'

Several Vacuum Fluorescent Displays

I have found, scavenged, and lit up four vacuum fluorescent display now, and look forward to many more. I find them beautiful both in the quality of their light and the complexity and fragile appearance of their circuitry.

Vacuum Fluorescent Display Adventures

I found an old 1986 microwave up the street to take apart. My favorite part to salvage from microwaves is the turntable motor but this one had a very special numerical display. I could see it wasn't your usual LED display but is encased in glass and filled with interesting metal plates and fine filaments.