A flag is a great tool to show your loyalty to a country, a sports team or even a philosophical movement. But there’s not so much you can actually do with a flag: you can either hang it somewhere, or wave it around to attact others to your cause. [Mellow] found that waving quickly becomes tiresome, and decided to design a machine that automates this task for him.
Now there’s a bit more involved in designing a proper flag-waver than simply moving the flag back and forth. Ideally, the fabric should flow smoothly from side to side and show both sides equally, in the same way a human would do when waving a big flag around. After a bit of research [Mellow] decided on a design that generates a rather complex motion using just a single servo: the mast is tilted from left to right, while gravity ensures the flag rotates around its axis. It’s probably best demonstrated visually, as [Mellow] does in the video embedded below.
The flag-waving mechanism is designed in Fusion 360 and 3D printed using white filament. Inside a little square box is a Wemos D1 Mini, powered by a lithium battery scavenged from a vape pen, as well as a battery management system and a power switch. The servo sits on top of the box and holds the flag in a little socket that allows the mast to rotate freely. [Mellow] also went one step further and built a two-flag waver, which still uses only one servo but creates two opposite motions through a set of spur gears. Both waver types bring a lively atmosphere to their surroundings, and we can actually imagine them being useful in places like sports bars.
Automatic flag-wavers are still rare devices, and as far as we can tell this is only the second one we’ve seen, after this hat-mounted example. That is, if you don’t count the automatic “flag” on this mailbox.
Flag waving here as well.
I did it for fun for the football game UK – Germany 29 June 2021.
A little test using our TPS/MyCo 4 Bit project.
The first waving used 4 bit resolution on both servos, then here the 8 bit resolution version
https://www.facebook.com/1404485143/videos/10226576076973857/
imho there should be less flag waving in the world. up till now it only has been precludes to misery, wars and deaths. so. no thank you…
The worst part is that apparently we live in incredibly sad times when it’s not possible to escape constant flag waving just to simply enjoy a tech hobby. 🤦♂️
Servos potentiometer will wear out very quickly. I would use stepper motor; no wearout, no gears and probably very quiet too!
BTW: what flag was that Mellow was using?
A flag that causes a lot of contention for some reason
Stepper motors are very loud. The question is why not use a trivial, purely mechanical solution instead of requiring a servo, switches and a microcontroller
It’s the Progress Pride flag https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_flag_(LGBT)
It is the progress pride flag, that is often used as a catch-all for the LGBTQIA2S+ group.
ngl this does sound like a complicated IT certification
Thats the progress pride flag. Take the six color gay pride flag, and add a double chevron, hoist side in black & brown, to recognise the contributions of people of color, and a triple chevron in blue/white/pink to echo the transgender pride flag.
Personally, i think they should have gone with the original 8 color pride flag. Dyes have gotten so much cheaper and more stable, Baker’s original intent could actually be mass produced now. But then no one would know what it was.
The more characters get added to this the more normal people who have mistaken this for the new peace sign are going to figure out this is a pyramid shaped world view with ideologist putting them selves at the top of said pyramid.
+1
Can’t you just let it fly in the wind?
Or buy a flag patch and sew it onto some clothing or a bag.
In today’s world, I don’t think so. Not without ending a career anyway.
Wow you are so edgy and cool
Are you complaining about lgbtq+ people Dave? or just that you can’t discriminate against them? (legally)
He’s probably complaining about the obnoxious people (like yourself) associated with said flag.
Same reason you need to ask such an idiotic statement.
They can do what they want!
They are doing what the angry progressive mob wants by flying that flag.
No, it would appear the servo motor has no knowledge of the colour of the piece of fabric it is waving, and so any flag would probably work
Yes, because that’s what the creator wanted to use.
Patriotic Russians will have to make a hand cranked version, since the MCU used in this runs at over 25MHz, which falls foul of semiconductor sanctions recently put in place
You could do that with a 555, plus some nichrome wire and bimetallic strip.
What’s the use in making comments that will only get deleted?
WooHoo, I got first deleted comment.
555 reactionary poster wasn’t being completely supportive! I called him out. They deleted it. Triggered.
Not completely supportive! :O You know what to do with “those” kinds of people, right comrades!?
You all will perish like my previous comment, with censor trigger happy author, when you don’t fit the narrative.
Still, enjoy till it lasts ;)
It’s funny how if there’s ever a spot without constant moderation and deletion, everybody can see how unpopular the current overarching cultural experiment is. This thing doesn’t have another 100 years left on the tires.
It won’t.
They will be separated from the herd, one by one and quietly deleted. Works every time!
number of comments are melting like polar caps…
At first I read the title as:
“AUTOMATIC FLAG WAVER LETS YOU SHOW YOUR LOYALTY WITHOUT GETTING FIRED”