TimeFrame - a Time Portal to Put on Your Desk.

Mind-blowing gadgets are rare these days. Very seldom will you stumble across something truly magical that leaves you in a state of confusion and amazement

This project is inspired by water drop levitating installations such as shown by many museums around the world and the “Slow Dance” kickstarter campaign by Jeff Lieberman.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/xercyn/slow-dance-a-frame-that-slows-down-time

What do you need to build your own?

You can get the kit including all parts here: http://www.cubic-print.com/TimeFrame

Get latest software here: http://www.github.com/cubic-print/timeframe

Tools:

• Soldering stuff
• Battery-powered screw gun
• Various drill bits(2mm, 3mm, 6mm)
• Pliers & wire cutter
• Mini USB-B cable for programming the Arduino

Frame:

• 1x 12V 1A power supply
• 1x picture frame (at least 25mm deep, better 35mm)
• 2m LED stripes (3 pieces of 60cm each)
• 1x thin metal plate like thickness metal gauge (thickness: 0.3mm size: 10x70mm)
• 1x rod fixation plate (eg. Aluminum 20x55x2mm)
• 1x wood block about 4 mm longer than the iron core
• 3x wood screws + washers
• 1x iron rod / screw / nail (length around 60mm diameter: 6-12mm)
• 1x fixation for iron rod like M6 bolt or just a nut in case you use iron screw
• 45m (=40gr) 0.41mm (AWG26) isolated cooper wire
• 3x small Neodym magnet (d=10 h=2)

Electronics

• 1x Atmega Nano V3.0 328P
• 1x Capacitor 16V 4200 uF
• 2x Mosfet IRF540N
• 2x 10K Resistor
• 2x 300 Ohm Resistor
• 2x Diodes 1N4007
• some cables for LED connection

Step 1: Preparing the Coil

Step 2: Mount the LEDs in the Frame

Step 3: Assemble Central Wood Block

Step 4: Build the Electronics and Mount the PCB

Please note that below circuit can not be simulated at the moment. The interrupt implementation is missing in the emulator software. Also Arduino Mini instead of suggested Nano has been used.

Programm the attached INO file or get latest software here: http://www.github.com/cubic-print/timeframe

Do not connect the unit to a computer when the magnetic coil is connected. The current draw and the reversed induced voltage might damage your USB port or computer. Always remove the Arduino from the PCB for programming!

Below video shows the kit electronic assembly.

Step 5: Operation and Dangers

Flowers and leaves work best. Please make sure they are dry so that the metal base is not rusting. Feathers also look truly amazing. Not sustainable enough? Paper-Flowers work as well. These can be a bit noisier depending upon material used.

Just use a rubber band to fix the flower on top of the resonator plate. For thin flowers you can also use a magnet to squeeze it in. The included magnets serve two purposes. They enhance the magnetic force and balance the momentum of the whole resonator. The amount and position is greatly influences the noise and amplitude of the movement.

All magnets have a north and south pole. They will better work in one or the other orientation depending on your coil winding direction. Just try were you think they offer more clamping force towards the running resonator plate.

The strongest force you get with the magnets opposite of the coil.

To increase the force even further you can put one magnet dictly on the end of the iron core of the electro magnet and not on the resonator plate. If you want to lower to force you can move the magnets up/down as well. This works especially well if you have only a small flower with low momentum it often makes sense to use less magnets, but move at least one magnet up where the flower is attached. This increases the tip weight and will remove any fast jitter from the movement.

Danger

The high frequency flickering within this product may cause an epileptic reaction due to photosensitivity. Most people will not even realize the flickering because it is much faster than average computer monitor. Due to uncertainties regarding the epileptic nature of this product please stop looking into the light when you experience other symptoms like headache, nausea or dizziness. Be especially careful during programming. Anything lower than 50 Hz will look like the strobe lights in a nightclub.

Comments

[TimothyL15]

is the kit still available? the link to cubic-print does not work

[pinzaru.madalin]

Hi! is there any diagram of the circuit or the connection of the electronics that you could share please? Your kit is not available anymore and i'd like to do this project. I have all the components except the PCB and i don't really know how to put all the parts together. Thank you!

[ehawkevan]

Did u ever get a reply on the PCB

[pinzaru.madalin]

Unfortunately no..

[ehawkevan]

Sad days

[gbrl-smts_0]

What potentiometers should I use?

[Skymen]

Hello!sorry, if my English not the right, I from Russia (((need a hint, I brought together all as referred on Your instruction, used Arduino nano v3 .0 uploaded Your program,all works,but every roughly 2 of seconds diodes as-if not Shine in during roughly 0.25 second and in this time magnetic striped deviates in opposite side solenoid...what could be the matter?can not correct capacitor at the power input of the Board?I can add a video of this work on YouTube and write a link here, if necessary.Thank u,so much!

[Maniacy]

Thanks for sharing the code! This is much more elaborate than my version. Is it possible to use this code with an H-bridge instead of the simple MOSFET for magnet control? I'm using one in my device. Providing push and pull on the magnet would make a stronger power, like the original slow dance sculpture.

[205]

Please Can you share the code to me

[SparkItUp]

I started off using an H-bridge for push/pull oscillation like you but found that it was far more complicated and in the end the effect wasn't too different than just using a push via PWM to the MOSFET, and letting it spring back.

There are two ways of achieving it with an H-bridge:

- The easy (and I think wrong) way: use a voltage divider to feed one side of the H-bridge with Vcc/2, then PWM the other input alternately between Vcc and Gnd. When I tried this my H-bridge overheated but I'm not entirely sure why, probably it had to dissipate too much power during the idle part of the cycle.

- the second method I think would work but I think the Arduino timer code might get complicated and you'll have to get your hands dirty and learn all about Arduino timers: You need to set up two output pins to PWM alternately between Vcc and Gnd but still in phase, so output 1 is high while output 2 is low and vice versa. Two considerations, first you probably want to drive the magnet under its rated voltage, as you won't need all that power and your magnet will likely overheat. Second, you might still be able to control the duty if you use two timers in sync instead of one, but then I think you'll lose your delay( ) function - Nanos have 3 timers: one is used for delay, millis, etc and you need one for your LEDs leaving you only one timer free. If you adjust the frequency of the first timer then those functions will behave unexpectedly.

I may be wrong about some (or all) of this, but I did spend a lot of time reading up on it and came to the conclusion that it was all too hard when CubicPrint's code was just easy, the MOSFETs dissipate virtually no heat and (most importantly) it still looks great.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

[cubic-print]

Due to many request we just put the electronic kit online:

http://www.cubic-print.com/Time-Frame-Electronic/e...

[АнтонБ18]

Hi! i want to buy this electronic kit. Can u do something for me? now its Currently unavailable in ur store. ty

[iudateam]

есть инструкция?

[paappraiser]

Github board layout was missing a board outline file for some board fabricators.

OSHpark has it with the file added.

<a href="https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/zL4GyJIN"><img src="https://oshpark.com/assets/badge-5b7ec47045b78aef6eb9d83b3bac6b1920de805e9a0c227658eac6e19a045b9c.png" alt="Order from OSH Park"></img></a>

[paappraiser]

I did something wrong.. here is the correct link

https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/zL4GyJIN

[MiguelB97]

It's funny, I was about to finish my 2nd revision of a single sided board version of this project when you posted it minutes ago hehe.Thanks for sharing, I'll take a look a those files :)

[christherock23]

So is the capacitor supposed to be 4200uF or 4700uF?

[ArcAiN6]

I used a 1200uF @16v in mine, and it's working fine. The cap in this instance isn't being used for timing purposes, so it's just acting like a small battery to ensure there's enough juice for all the switching being done by the FET's.

[kaoca]

Hi every one, i am new here. I love this, i'd like to make it one myself but for some reasons i can't. I need help, if anyone made many copy of the kit or parts or document to assembling in detail please send me one. Thank you so much :)

[JonathanK76]

Anyone wanting a preprinted PCB from the Cubic Print github and are in Australia message me :)