Rainbowduino Sign

The Rainbowduino is a variant of the Arduino and among other things is capable of driving an 8x8 RGB LED matrix. I had just finished a backyard re-model and was in need of an entrance sign.

Rainbowduino Sign from opengadgets on Vimeo.

Part List:

2 Rainbowduinos - $19.90 each
2 8 x 8 Matrix LEDs - $18.50 each
6V Power Supply - $4.90
UartSBee - $19.50
DC Jack to JST Pin Converter - $.80
Piece of Wood for the Sign

Step 1 Carving and Painting the Sign

I had recently acquired a CarveWright CNC wood carving machine. It's a pretty nice piece of equipment and comes with some pretty easy to use design software. Then you just print out the design to your piece of wood.

Painting the sign was the most tedious part of the project, nothing fancy there, just a lot of time and blue masking tape. As its an outdoor sign, I also added several layers of lacquer.

Here's a video of the Carvewright in action