For many of our readers, the classic 555 timer holds a special place in their heart, and cursed be the fool who dares to use an Arduino in its place. For the seriously devoted ones, or those who simply like a novelty decorative item, [acerlaguinto7] built just the right thing: a giant, actually functional, cardboard 555 timer IC.
Taking all the measurements of the original IC, [acerlaguinto7] scaled it up by factor 22 and started cutting out pieces of cardboard — also considering the orientation notch — and added the markings to emulate TI’s NE555P. Next he took a bunch of aluminum cans apart and shaped them into the pins, again staying as close as possible to the original. To top it all off, he put an actual NE555 inside the giant counterpart, and hooked it up to the soda can pins, turning it into a fully operational, oversized timer IC.
Obviously, giant conductive pins like that scream for some dead bug blinky light that even the shakiest of hands could manage to solder, and [acerlaguinto7] certainly delivers, as you can see in the video after the break. One nifty way we could see this taken further would be integrating this breadboard implementation as replacement for the 555 inside — or then just connect it to the giant Raspberry Pi.
I’m gonna need that in coffee table size. :-D
I was just thinking the same thing. Coffee table, with stainless steel legs.
And a real 555 inside.
And sockets on top so guests can plug in components for different lighting effects or kids can use it to learn 555 operations.
I am a rich investor guy, I’d like to invest in your startup, this is not a scam :P
There’s a foot stool at least
https://www.evilmadscientist.com/2011/555-footstool/
I doubt that anyone shaky at soldering would manage to solder anything to aluminium 😉
Just take the right solder.
Technically, with the right materials and techniques, you can solder anything to anything.
Yep, that’s why I brought up the ‘shaky at soldering’ – you need to be ‘actually quite good at soldering, truth be told’ to pull it off!
22^3 = 10648 times larger, not 484 times larger.
Another “put something inside something else and call it something it’s not” article. The 555 is simple enough that this could have been built with discreet components. *Then* you’d have an article.
Wow, I could have blinked that LED with a … (555 would have been my goto, but what can I say now?) capacitor and diode?
seriously though I’d buy it as a coffee table.
edit: real programmers use gosub, not goto so….
I respect this guy, and hope he has his towel on the way out of here…
But, if you’re going scale it up – scale it all up!
Don’t just put a 555 inside, use transistors to make a macro working version of the comparators and flip-flop
Anything worth doing this big is worth over doing :-)
Use this
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1526?gclid=Cj0KCQjw9b_4BRCMARIsADMUIyoE57rzinGmiCyzYaQ7O-MplxRrHcAFGtZzFXtBFbFNikprt-SpdO0aAvRNEALw_wcB
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1526?gclid=Cj0KCQjw9b_4BRCMARIsADMUIyoE57rzinGmiCyzYaQ7O-MplxRrHcAFGtZzFXtBFbFNikprt-SpdO0aAvRNEALw_wcB
Yeah, I know I have seen a discrete version of this! Found it: “The Three Fives Kit” https://hackaday.com/2013/09/22/whats-inside-a-555/
How totally unnecessary, how wonderfully needed.
Really nice job.
Go go geeks.
Next job: turn Pringles cans into resistors and also scale up the cap and LED, so the other components don’t look so out of scale!
Sweet! I love projects like this, because they cheer people up. ^^
Big thanks to the author (artist)! ^_^
how about a $13BN tax demand to apple?
this was in reply to:
“Technically, with the right materials and techniques, you can solder anything to anything.”
BTW this new commenting software REALLY sucks
Uh, the 555 was developed at Signetics, NOT TI.
Correct!
Ah, the venerable ‘triple nickel’ on steroids!
Imagine how much easier it would be to troubleshoot circuits if the components were are that big.
Yup, no staring intently at it as you power up lest ye miss the telltale wisp of magic smoke, all the smoke detectors in the house are gonna go off.