Status: Active, In Progress (Updated: 4/18/2013)
Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmiyc/sets/72157633185131473/with/8653034709/
This Quadrotor project is a collaborative effort between Mike Kurdziel and I. The unique twist on this collaboration is that he is located in Menlo Park, CA and I am in Austin, TX. We’re collaborating remotely while doing most of work on the TechShop locations in each of our towns.
One of the projects I really wanted to get back to when I joined the Austin TechShop was my Reflow Oven based on a Toaster Oven. The first prototype I made was a mess of AC wiring boxes with an Arduino sitting on the side. While the oven did work, it was far from pretty. Making use of the laser cutter, large workspaces, and friendly members at TS Austin, I was finally able to put together my 2nd prototype.
After getting a couple of flashing lights working on a microprocessor, the next fun project is generally building some kind of Matrix. At first I built a 5×5 LED matrix which was relatively simple to solder together. When trying to make one much larger, the task because significantly more complex. That’s when I decided to build a LED Matrix Shield for the Arduino which did not use Charliplexing, like the LoL shield. I wanted something that was simpler to understand and (ultimately) code for. Unfortunately, 5mm LEDs means 8 columns x 6 rows, instead of the traditional 8×8.
Short build-lapse video of building up the front panel “matrix” used in BinBoo. This isn’t a true LED matrix. Instead it combining all of the LEDs into a common Anode, since the Cathodes are all controlled by individual outputs of the TLC5940.
I decided to wire up 16 LEDs, even though a binary clock only needs 11 or 12. This gives some flexibility to other uses for the box, like a random sci-fi computer pattern.
Project Page: BinBoo = Binary clock + Bamboo
