I made a PCB icosahedron for a #makergiftexchange, learning a lot in the process. I wanted it to be see-through, so the sides have triangular holes containing etched acrylic pieces illuminated at the corners. Laser cut faux leather covers the outside. A #Pixelblaze controls the patterns.
Found a 2.7mm thin Neopixel strip with a silicone coating and decided to cram as many rows as would fit ( turned out to be 5) onto a headband. Added a #Pixelblaze Pico controller and an off the shelf holder for an AA-sized Li-Ion battery. I intend to be "light headed" for the holidays!
Finally got around to Pixel mapping my friend's Pixelblaze-controlled Christmas tree using @themariday 's video pixel mapping tool (https://github.com/TheMariday/marimapper), and it was fantastic! I could never have mapped the 600 LEDs on this tree without it.
Found a magnet-activated, battery powered LED board+controller on AliExpress (https://a.aliexpress.com/_mNudMLl) and turned it into a (chunky) ring with a quick 3D print:
In-depth article about the best competitive Scrabble player of all time. Nigel Richards spent six weeks memorizing the French dictionary to win the French tournament, despite not actually speaking French. He's currently trying to repeat the feat in Spanish. https://defector.com/scrabbles-best-player-knows-no-limits
I finally got around to assembling a plastic storage cabinet and privacy tent (to block UV radiation) in the backyard to house the resin printer I bought many months ago but have been afraid to use without good ventilation. I'm focusing on projects to avoid thinking about the current news cycle, so I may be getting more done than usual over the next few weeks...
I love this image of my son photographing the Aurora Borealis from the airplane window as we fly home from Illinois. Ironically, I tried to see the Northern Lights in Iceland last year, spending two very cold nights in a freezing field without success. Plane viewing is definitely the way to go.
Sadly, I wasn't able to fix all of the flaws (a tendency to explode being the primary one) in my robot, "Footloose", so we won't be competing. However, I'm here at UIUC to cheer on my son Justin and my bouncing 1-lb grand-bot, "Singularity," (pictures below) as well as his team's 30 lb bot "Collosal Avian." The tournament is livestreamed ("Live" link at the "Robobrawl UIUC" YouTube channel) if you want to check it out.
My article about building your own soft companion bot is now out in @makemagazine Vol 88. I'm especially proud to be published along with some of the absolutely coolest makers I know. @charlyn has a uniquely gorgeous pixel clock on the cover, @LaserMistress built a clever and disruptive portable graffiti projector, and @Leeborg has an amazing functional scaled-up Ouija board. I'm in great company!
Re-designed my edge-lit seven-segment digit to take advantage of the super skinny (2.7mm wide) LED strip I found. When I feel up to tackling the project, I'm going to create a thinner version of my edge-lit digital clock (https://www.geekmomprojects.com/edge-lit-seven-segment-display/)
At #supercon I was checking continuity while soldering, but couldn't hear the beeps well. @maketvee found it quite amusing that I held the multimeter to my ear with my shoulder. His image and captions *are* pretty funny, but he may also have inadvertently launched my new career as an LED hotline operator!