Arduino Auto-Glockenspiel Looks Proper In Copper

December 16, 2023 by Kristina Panos 19 Comments

What is it about solenoids that makes people want to make music with them? Whatever it is, we hope that solenoids never stop inspiring people to make instruments like [CamsLab]’s copper pipe auto-glockenspiel.

At first, [CamsLab] thought of striking glasses of water, but didn’t like the temporary vibe of a setup like that. They also considered striking piano keys, but thought better of it when considering the extra clicking sound that the solenoids would make, plus it seemed needlessly complicated to execute. So [CamsLab] settled on copper pipes.

That in itself was a challenge as [CamsLab] had to figure out just the right lengths to cut each pipe in order to produce the desired pitch. Fortunately, they started with a modest 15-pipe glockenspiel as a proof of concept. However, the most challenging aspect of this project was figuring out how to mount the pipes so that they are close enough to the solenoids but not too close, and weren’t going to move over time. [CamsLab] settled on fishing line to suspend them with a 3D-printed frame mounted on extruded aluminium. The end result looks and sounds great, as you can hear in the video after the break.

Of course, there’s more than one way to auto-glockenspiel. You could always use servos.

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1D LED PONG, Arduino-Style

December 15, 2023 by Kristina Panos 4 Comments

Maybe it’s just us, but isn’t it kind of amazing that in a world of pretty darn realistic games, PONG is still thrilling to play? This 1D implementation by [newsonator] is about as exciting as it gets.

It works like you’d probably expect — the light moves back and forth between the two players. Keep it in the green and you have a nice, gentle volley going. Let it hit your red LED and you’ve lost a point. But if you can push your button while your yellow LED is lit, the light speeds up tremendously until the next button press in the green.

Our only wish is that subsequent yellow-light button presses would make it speed up even more. But there are really just the two speeds with the current programming.

Inside the cool laser-cut box is an Arduino Uno and a 9V battery, plus a current-limiting resistor and the all-important buzzer. We like how [newsonator] wired up the LEDs to the Arduino by soldering them to a row of header pins and sticking that into the Arduino so it can be used in other projects down the line. We also like how [newsonator] shoved a couple of dowels through the box to ultimately support the two buttons.

Check out the intro video after the break for the overall details. The build is done over a few different short videos which follow.

Although this is pretty small, it isn’t quite the minimum viable.

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Festive PCB Gives The Gift Of Hacking

December 8, 2023 by Kristina Panos 9 Comments

‘Tis the season for gift giving, and what better to give than a newfound love for hacking, soldering, and blinkenlights? In order to spread cheer and education at the local hackerspace, [Tom Goff] created this festive tree circuit board that can either sit in a stand to be admired, or worn as jewelry. The resistors are even designed to look like candy canes hanging from the boughs.

The brains of this festive little tree is an ATmega328P, which you probably recognize as the microcontroller that powers the Arduino Uno. Although this circuit has none of the extra bits you’d find on an Uno, not even a crystal oscillator, it can still be programmed with Arduino and use the 8 MHz internal clock.

[Tom] has provided good, thorough instructions, especially for the sticky bit of setting up the IDE to program using the 8 MHz internal clock. So even if you’re nowhere near Norwich Hackerspace, you can join in the fun. Be sure to check out the video after the break, wherein [Tom] walks through designing the PCB using Inkscape and Fritzing.

Want to whip up a little something for the hackerspace wall? Check out this Sierpinski Christmas tree.

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Mini Meters Monitor Microprocessor Maximization

December 4, 2023 by Adam Fabio 11 Comments

[Lex] over at Computing: The Details loves to make fun projects. Recently, they have created a hardware CPU monitor that displays how PCs are parallelizing compile tasks at a glance. The monitor is built from 14 analog meters, along with some WS2812 RGB LEDs.

Each meter represents a core on [Lex]’s CPU, while the final two meters show memory and swap usage. The meters themselves are low-cost 5 mA devices. Of course, the original milliamps legends wouldn’t do much good, so [Lex] designed and printed graduations that glue over the top. The RGB LED strip is positioned so two LEDs fit under each meter. The LEDs allow a splash of color to draw attention to the current state of the machine. The whole bank going red would sure get our attention!

The system is controlled by an Arduino Mega, with the meters driven using the PWM pins. The only extra part is a 1 kΩ resistor. The Arduino wrangles the LEDs as well. Sadly [Lex] did not include the software. They did describe it though. Basically they are using a Rust program to call systemstat, obtaining the current CPU utilization data in Linux. A bit of math converts this into pointer values and LED colors. The data is then sent via USB-serial to the Arduino Mega. The software savvy will say it’s pretty easy to replicate, but the hardware-only hackers among us might need a bit of help.

This isn’t the first custom meter we’ve seen on Hackaday. Your author’s first project covered by Hackaday was for a meter created using an automotive gauge stepper motor. I didn’t include source code either – but only because [Guy Carpenter]’s Switec X25 library had me covered.

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LED Tester Also Calculates Resistor For Target Voltage

December 2, 2023 by Donald Papp 12 Comments

[mircemk] built a slick-looking LED tester with a couple handy functions built in. Not only can one select a target current to put through an LED, but by providing a target voltage, the system will automatically calculate the necessary series resistor. If for example the LED is destined for 14 V, this device will not only show how the LED looks at the chosen current, but will calculate the required resistor to get the same results on a 14 V system.

The buttons on the left control the target current and the voltage of the destination system. Once an LED is connected it will light up and the display indicates the LED’s forward voltage, the LED current, and the calculated series resistor value to obtain the same result at the selected target voltage. It’s a handy way to empirically dial in LED brightness values without needing to actually set up any particular test environment.

On the inside there’s little more than a handful of passive components, an Arduino, an LCD display, and a few buttons. This kind of tool reminds us of the highly clever component testers that hit the hobbyist scene years ago, showing what kind of advanced tricks a modern microcontroller is capable of with the right programming. (Here’s a look at how those work, if you’re interested in some deeper details.)

[mircemk] demonstrates his tool in the video, embedded below. We particularly like the attention he paid to the enclosure, giving it a very functional layout. It goes to show that when designing something, it’s never too early to consider enclosure and UI layout.

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Robot Pianist Runs On Arduino Nano

December 1, 2023 by Lewin Day 7 Comments

The piano has been around for a long time now. Not long after its invention, humans started contemplating how they could avoid playing it by getting a machine to do the job instead. [vicenzobit] is the latest to take on this task, building a “Robot Pianista” that uses a simple mechanism to play a tune under electronic command (Spanish language, Google Translate link).

An Arduino Nano is the heart of the build, paired with a shield that lets it run a number of servo motors. The servos, one per key, are each assembled into a 3D-printed bracket with a cam-driven rod assembly. When the servo turns, the cam turns, and pushes down a rod that presses the piano key.

The build is limited in the sense that you can only play as many keys as you have servo channels, but nonetheless, it does the job. With eight servos, it’s able to play a decent rendition of Ode to Joy at a steady tempo, and that’s an excellent start.

We’ve featured some great mechanized instruments before, too. Video after the break.

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Watch Time Roll By On This Strange, Spiral Clock

November 13, 2023 by Donald Papp 15 Comments

[Build Some Stuff] created an unusual spiral clock that’s almost entirely made from laser-cut wood, even the curved and bendy parts.

The living hinge is one thing, but getting the spacing, gearing, and numbers right also takes work.

The clock works by using a stepper motor and gear to rotate the clock’s face, which consists of a large dial with a spiral structure. Upon this spiral ramp rolls a ball, whose position relative to the printed numbers indicates the time. Each number is an hour, so if the ball is halfway between six and seven, it’s 6:30. At the center of the spiral is a hole, which drops the ball back down to the twelve at the beginning of the spiral so the cycle can repeat.

The video (embedded below) demonstrates the design elements and construction of the clock in greater detail, and of particular interest is how the curved wall of the spiral structure consists of a big living hinge, a way to allow mostly rigid materials to flex far beyond what they are used to. Laser cutting is well-suited to creating living hinges, but it’s a technique applicable to 3D printing, as well.

Thanks to [Kelton] for the tip!

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