Holy crap, rapid prototyping is cool!

[solipsistnation]

The back, assembled., originally uploaded by solipsistnation.

6 days ago, whip something up in Inkscape and mail off the files. Today, get a physical object in the mail. HOLY CRAP IT'S THE FUTURE.

This is the prototype for the LED matrix I've been talking about. It's laser-cut 1/8" acrylic, produced by Pololu.com. I had mailed them asking if they had scraps of some of the colors of plexi they offer so I could try it out as a diffuser for the LEDs and see how deep the real thing needs to be, and they said, well, the minimum order is $25, but for that we can laser-cut you some squares... I decided it would be more worth my time to make a miniature version of my thing and have them make that. It was about $50 including shipping, which leads me to believe that the full-size (16x16) matrix would be about $300. It's a good thing I asked nicely about the school's laser cutter... I can make it here for MUCH less than that.

So here it is, all slotted together. I DO know how to work Inkscape! I CAN follow written directions! I DO have some vague clue about how this stuff should work! I'm going to hook up power now and see how the LEDs look lit up through the plexi and go from there.

In the full-size version, there will be extra panel space below the 16x16 matrix. Behind that, there will be a gap in the middle panel large enough for the circuitry and stuff, which will be mounted to the back panel. The back will also have some slots cut into it for wall-hanging. The arduino board's programming header will poke out the side somewhere accessible so I don't have to take things apart to mess with the code. That's also where the jack for the power adapter will poke out. But first I get to (try not to) blow up some LEDs.

Comments

[em-yrt.livejournal.com]

You're so smart. I think. Of course, I have no idea what you said up there... but it sounded awfully impressive.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

I drew a thing in MacPaint and they made it into a real object and mailed it to me. It's neat. It's like magic.

(Actually more like MacDraw but you get the idea.)

[em-yrt.livejournal.com]

I got THAT part. The part I didn't get is what it IS.

Stupid smart people.

[air-hadoken.livejournal.com]

I love Inkscape. But this even exceeds my imagination.

[quaintance.livejournal.com]

You are so cool!

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Yep, all my design. The full-size version will be 16x16. It'll have nylon bolts every 4 squares or so do down the sides, and that should be enough to keep the 20"x24" panels of 1/8" plexi rigid.

The tolerances are off by about 0.001", and the plexi isn't a uniform thickness. (They say 1/8", but it's really closer to 3mm and may vary by some tiny percentage), so it does rattle a little. If I feel enthusiastic and don't want to take it apart again, there are glues I can use but I think I like the ability to slide it apart.

And no, it's not much more than a neat blinky thing. I have those Homedics Color Cube things, which are neat and blinky but only 4x4. I like them, and wanted a bigger version. This will be that bigger version, with the ability to reprogram it if I want. I'm going to come up with some modes and let the user select from them (or put it on random) along with some other parameters like speed and maybe palette and so on using buttons and a 2-line LCD. Since I'm not using all the inputs, you could conceivably add other hardware and make it react to anything you can feed it over serial or to temperature sensors or other things.

[mysterysquid.livejournal.com]

That rocks.

[booniesbill.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, laser cutters.