#LED
90 postsTokyo Metro PCB - 248 stations, work in progress
A 320 × 280 mm PCB map of the Tokyo subway with one RGB LED for each of its 248 stations, part way through routing
Read postTetragonal Trapezohedron Retrospective
Retrospective of a Tetragonal Trapezohedron lamp built from eight kite-shaped LED PCBs welded together.
Read postSeeed Xiao ESP32-C6 using Adafruit CircuitPython 9.1.1 blink sketch
How to get a Seeed Xiao ESP32-C6 board up and running with Adafruit CircuitPython 9.1.1 and blink an LED.
Read postPCB Metro maps retrospective
Retrospective of the Vancouver SkyTrain and Washington DC Metro PCB maps with LEDs that light up as trains arrive.
Read postDodecahedron PCB Retrospective
What went right and wrong building a dodecahedron lamp from twelve LED pentagon PCBs, about $60 USD from JLCPCB for 25 panels.
Read postDodecahedron PCB Design
Design notes for a pentagon PCB panel with addressable LEDs, twelve of which weld together into a dodecahedron lamp.
Read postIdea 097 - Modern decoder ring
A decoder ring replacement with a screen and buttons that encrypts messages using modern public-key cryptography.
Read postIdea 084 - Pressed lotus flower lamp
A lotus-shaped lamp of LED-lit acrylic shards holding pressed flowers, in a 3D printed base.
Read postIdea 083 - Dried flower art installation
A staircase tunnel of dried flowers sandwiched between acrylic plates and lit from within.
Read postIdea 079 - Gorilla water quality monitoring device
A $10-20 citizen science sensor for streams that logs several data points to flag unusual water quality.
Read postIdea 078 - House to Tree house telephone system
Old corded phones wired point to point between a house and a tree house over cheap RJ45 or three-wire cable.
Read postIdea 077 - Equilateral triangles LED panels
Equilateral triangle LED PCBs that join into regular polyhedrons; built as the Dodecahedron PCB.
Read postIdea 074 - Dandelion Galaxy
A dandelion-shaped sculpture of a reflective earth sphere with steel tubes ending in LEDs that show the night sky from outside.
Read postIdea 073 - Glowing tentacle eyeball monster
A 20-foot glowing tentacle monster made of flexible vinyl ducting and LED strips, with eyeball monsters in a Pepper's ghost dome head.
Read postIdea 069 - One Liners
A dump of 36 throwaway one-line ideas, posted on idea day 69 to clear the backlog.
Read postIdea 066 - Tilt Pacman
A one-pixel Pac-Man on an RGB LED matrix, steered by tilting an accelerometer.
Read postIdea 065 - Atari Space Invaders LED Matrix pendent
A necklace pendant with an LED matrix that plays Atari Space Invaders animations.
Read postIdea 054 - Digital Dices
A six-sided die with an LCD on each face and an accelerometer inside that shows a random number in a range when rolled.
Read postIdea 051 - Enigma machine kit
A kit that recreates the German Enigma cipher machine using PCBs.
Read postIdea 050 - Tessellating Illuminated Origami Wall Sculpture
An interactive origami tessellation wall sculpture with an individually addressable RGB LED in each cell.
Read postIdea 048 - The beat of the crowd - badge
A small six-LED badge that broadcasts a Bluetooth beacon every second and pulses faster as more badges come near.
Read postIdea 044 - Bio Punk Conference badge
A conference badge with an animated electronic pet whose DNA mixes with another badge's pet when the two are connected.
Read postIdea 043 - BACnet MSTP Testing conference Badge
A sub-$10 conference badge for BACnet plugfest that works as both a BACnet server and client for testing equipment.
Read postIdea 036 - Kaleidoscope Chandler
Idea: a ceiling light where rotating colored glass casts moving washes of color onto the ceiling.
Read postIdea 028 - Finite Future Clock
Idea: an A2 LED panel that shows a progress bar of how much of your life has passed and how much is left.
Read postIdea 023 - Light painting rod
Idea: a programmable strip of LEDs mounted on a rod for light painting photos.
Read postIdea 022 - Translink map PCB
Idea: a live, interactive TransLink metro map of Vancouver built from LEDs on a PCB.
Read postIdea 016 - Lego RGB Addressable LED blocks
Idea: addressable RGB LEDs for Lego builds, with the Lego bricks acting as light pipes.
Read postIdea 012 - LED Constellation Star map
Idea: a constellation star map PCB made with overlapping LEDs.
Read postIdea 006 - Procedurally generated Glowing Mushroom PCB
Idea: procedurally generated mushroom art PCBs for the GameOfShrooms art project, with backlit LEDs for a glow.
Read postIdea 003 - PCB Art of Every Mammal in BC
Idea: a series of PCB art badges, one for each of the 130 mammals in BC, with LED eyes and an SAO connector for an art show display.
Read postIdea 002 - Keyboard Flute
Idea: an electronic flute PCB the size of a ruler with hot-swappable keyboard switches, a MEMS mic for breath control, and an ESP32.
Read postJanuary 2020 brain dump
January 2020 brain dump: links on polyhedra, plotter art, LED lava lamps, capacitive touch PCBs, and tools for makers.
Read postPanels - Stained glass windows project
Walkthrough of every panel in the digital stained glass window series: beehive, mountains, stars, hexagon weave, heart, sun, and more.
Read postDigital stained glass workshop - Post mortem
Post mortem from the September 2019 digital stained glass workshop at Maker Labs: what worked, what broke, and what six attendees built.
Read postDigital stained glass workshop
A workshop at MakerLabs Vancouver where attendees design a 9x9 inch illuminated stained glass window with WS2811 LEDs and CNC-cut foam.
Read postESP8266 + Neopixel + FastLED - Workshop slides
Slides from the March 2019 ESP8266, NeoPixel, and FastLED workshop taught at Maker Labs.
Read postFeb 2019 brain dump
February 2019 links on Arduino LED projects, an Etch A Sketch CNC, a zombie ESP8266 game, and James Clar's neon art.
Read postTrip to Shenzhen 2018
Two days at the Huaqiang Road markets in Shenzhen and the pile of LED strips, switches, and Pi cases brought home.
Read postWood frames - Stained glass windows project
Building hexagonal baltic birch frames for the stained glass panels on the table saw, with a grooved channel holding the acrylic.
Read postProgramming - Stained glass windows project
Writing the firmware for the stained glass panels with FastLED on an ESP8266, using LED offset sets to drive randomised patterns.
Read postHardware - Stained glass windows project
Parts list for the stained glass windows: white acrylic, square WS2812B LEDs, a Wemos D1 mini, and a 5V 5A supply.
Read postTech Demo - Stained glass windows project
Tech demo notes for the stained glass windows: gluing acrylic, building cardstock dividers, and killing LED hotspots.
Read postInspiration - Stained glass windows project
Inspiration for the stained glass windows project, from Lumina Lab's Stoicheia dodecahedron to mandala work on Instagram.
Read postVancouver Maker Faire 2017
The projects shown at Vancouver Maker Faire 2017: the LED Pillar rhythm game, laser kaleidoscope, fox mask, thunderstorm cloud, and more.
Read postNotes from May 2017
May 2017 links: ESP32 sniffers, a giant laser-cut Bulbasaur, an 8-bit computer from scratch, Big Poop Data, and the BLACK 2.0 paint.
Read postNotes from February 2017
February 2017 links: laser-cut art from 1000 Errors, paper beetle kits, Mongoose OS, the USB Killer V3, and the CIA cartography map drops.
Read postNotes from January 2017
January 2017 links: HexCells, the Universal Play Machine, makerjs for laser drawings, Mosquitto MQTT, and Node-RED home automation.
Read postNovember 2016 interesting link dump
November 2016 link dump: open source car control, ESP8266 MQTT LED controllers, the Maslow CNC, Boldport, and the poop emoji oral history.
Read postHalloween LED Fox Mask
A coroplast low-poly fox mask wired with NeoPixels and a WeMos D1 mini, with a brightness dial added after it proved too bright at a Halloween party.
Read postFixing a broken particle photon firmware in windows for the L3D Cube
How to recover an L3D Cube Particle Photon from the red SOS blink by reflashing firmware on Windows.
Read postDay 99 - VHS LED Wall
Pattern tests for the firefly room running on the VHS LED wall installation.
Read postDay 98 - Rainbow halloween hat
A Halloween hat in progress with NeoPixel LEDs driven by an Arduino.
Read postDay 96 - This is a not bomb
A sous vide PID temperature controller box with LEDs, seven-segment displays, and a relay. Not a bomb.
Read postDay 95 - IStandWithAhmed workshop
Source code for the IStandWithAhmed workshop, a binary count-up clock with a WS2811 strip and Arduino.
Read postDay 93 - Burning man belt
A NeoPixel LED belt built for Burning Man that cycles through colour patterns.
Read postDay 81 - Voronoi tower
A 20 by 10 inch laser-cut prototype of a voronoi pylon lantern, aiming for a 7-foot final version.
Read postDay 79 - 3D printed horn
A glow-in-the-dark 3D printed unicorn horn for Burning Man, with colour-changing LEDs to be added later.
Read postDay 53 - Testing LED strips
Testing WS2812b LED strips driven by Arduino Pro Minis in prep for BITF.
Read postDay 45 - LED strip test
A short test video of an LED strip running animations for the Pocket Universe dome.
Read postDay 44 - LEDs and Electronics installed in button panel
LEDs and sound electronics for the button panel, with a Raspberry Pi that has to play 50+ sound effects at once.
Read postDay 43 - Installing leds in the Hexagon star panel
LED strips installed behind the hexagon star panel from day 27, with animations to follow.
Read postDay 42 - All pixel build day
The AllPixel LED driver kit from Maniacal Labs, built to drive the LEDs on the Pocket Universe dome.
Read postDay 39 - Inside of the dome
Inside the Pocket Universe dome: about 3200 WS2810 LEDs across 10 networked Arduinos, with sound and buttons still to wire.
Read postDay 26 - L3D cube build
The L3D Cube kickstarter kit, a quick build of an LED cube with a diffuser dome that is fun to play with.
Read postDay 20 - LEDs working Untztrument trellis midi kit
The Adafruit Untztrument trellis kit from day 4 with its LEDs and brain finally wired up and playing.
Read postDay 15 - Arcade button panel
A test-cut Pocket Universe panel with arcade-button-sized holes, half of which may be swapped for LEDs.
Read postDay 14 - Test polyhedron
A paper trapezohedron test for a planned set of twelve laser-cut wooden lantern shapes lit with LEDs.
Read postDay 4 - Untztrument trellis midi kit
An Adafruit Untztrument trellis MIDI kit in a laser-cut acrylic case, planned for wireless dome lighting control.
Read postDay 3 - Arcade button midi controller
An Arduino Leonardo wired to laser-cut arcade buttons as a MIDI controller for the Pocket Universe dome lighting.
Read postDay 2 - 20x hexagon
Twenty laser-cut hexagons taped together around a single light source, made on the VHS laser as a light study.
Read postA blue star sign
A glowing backlit star sign cut from coroplast with 12 RGB LEDs behind it.
Read postGetting started with your Raspberry PI
Step-by-step Raspberry Pi starter notes: NOOBS, SSH, AdaFruit WebIDE, and a Python blink script on the GPIO pins.
Read postGetting started with Raspberry PI - Wednesday Sep 11th, 2013 @VHS
Intro to Raspberry Pi night at VHS: install the OS, SSH in, blink an LED from Python using the GPIO pins.
Read postRaspberry PI and the GPIO pins
Setting up a Raspberry Pi headless, wiring the GPIO pins to an LED and a magnetic door switch, and pushing readings to COSM.
Read postVancouver Mini Maker Faire 2011
Notes from Vancouver Mini Maker Faire 2011: sign posts, a spin-art box, the milk jug dragon, and the Mondo Spider.
Read postLED light bulb suit.
Bookmark of an LED light bulb suit to recreate for Burning Man.
Read postRGB LED POV Globe - Status update and mechanical issues
Twelve days before Maker Faire the 6-foot POV ring bent under stress, so the build shrank to a bicycle rim.
Read postRGB LED POV Globe - LED test 3
A second RGB LED test with 2-pin screw terminals between each OctoBrite CYANEA board, much more reliable.
Read postRGB LED POV Globe - LED test
Video of five OctoBrite CYANEA boards wire-wrapped in series and driven by an Arduino off a PC power supply.
Read postRGB LED POV Globe - Software
Software progress on the POV globe with a frame buffer class, bluetooth serial loading, and an ADXL345 accelerometer.
Read postRGB LED POV Globe - Research other peoples projects.
Research notes on other POV display projects that influenced the RGB LED globe build.
Read postRGB LED POV Globe - Parts shopping
Parts haul for the RGB LED POV globe: 100 Piranha LEDs, sample TLC5947 drivers from TI, an OctoBrite board, and a junkyard AC motor.
Read postRGB LED POV Globe - Research LED
Picking the right through-hole common-anode RGB LED for the POV globe, comparing prices across Adafruit, SparkFun, and Alibaba.
Read postRGB LED POV Globe - Research
Research notes for a 64 RGB LED persistence-of-vision globe big enough to stand inside, with shift registers and motor planning.
Read postDel.icio.us bookmarks 2007-05-16 - 2007-05-22
Weekly del.icio.us dump: oscilloscope art, a homebrew lava lamp, an ice-bulb instructable, and a pile of dice game writeups.
Read postThis Weeks Del.icio.us bookmarks 2007-04-02
Weekly del.icio.us bookmark roundup on guitar stompboxes, an RGB mood lamp, ferrofluid Morpho Towers, Game of Life, and the Translink bus-stop hack.
Read postThis Weeks Del.icio.us bookmarks 03/28/2007
Weekly del.icio.us bookmark roundup covering a Van de Graaff generator, an LED sequence learner, GPS loggers, password crackers, and more.
Read postMark Jenkins - Plastic babies
Mark Jenkins makes cheap plastic babies from plastic wrap and clear tape, with ideas for turning them into LED-lit sculptures.
Read postA mini hydroelectric damn that runs a LED inside your shower head.
A forum project to put a tiny water-driven turbine inside a shower head so it powers an LED while you shower.
Read post