Jfieldcap

The projector is definetely a cool idea!

Awesome! And impressive painting--I'm not sure I could make it look that nice, even at super-scale... Voted!

Thank you! That is good to know. When I created this, it was at the beginning of my exploration of circuits. It sounds like a few updates to the instructable are in order. Glad you figured it out!

It sounds like an audio issue to me, unless your Arduino is an unusual case and has an issue with the analog converter. I'd make sure of a couple things. Your audio jack may not be the same as the one I used, so it could have a different pinout. I'd use a small speaker and connect it until I find the correct pins for Audio. Other than that, I can't think of anything else that would cause this. Of course, check each piece: the code, the analog input, the audio player, the cable you're using, etc. to make sure each works. Good luck, and sorry I can't be more help!

That makes perfect sense--they're probably prone to floating around and giving false signals from time to time, just like if you attach a button to a digital input with no pull-down resistor. Not sure why I didn't think of that, but I'll blame it on my having written this several years ago when my knowledge of electrical engineering was less than it is now...

That's right, although a BMS (which should always be used with salvaged cells in any pack over 1S, even with capacities matched) will help take care of that some. You'll still want capacities to be close though, otherwise different sections of the battery pack will discharge faster, making the overall capacity effectively lower, and making charging times increase (because the BMS has to balance the cells every time.)

What a great (and slightly unpleasant) idea! Growing chia on fabric would make for great Halloween costumes too...

Haha, I did get that from someone! Maybe it was a dragon, not a bat...

I don't have one officially. I'd be happy to print and ship the parts to you. (You can find my contact info in the last step.) You could also use an online 3D printing service like Shapeways. Finally, also check at your local library for a 3D printer--I believe many libraries are getting them, and will let you print for materials + a small fee. (My local small-town library has a couple of printers.)Thanks for your interest!

Awesome, what an honor! Thanks for the heads up!

You're right! Thanks for pointing that out. If I still have the image files on my computer, I'll edit it and replace the photo.

Neat! I can imagine many ways to expand this--remote control (or autonomous tracking), multiple rubber band mechanisms, maybe make it larger and make it so someone could sit inside and drive it--lots of inspiration!

Thanks!

Glad to hear! :D

Hi All: I've created a modified design that addresses the issues with the 3D printed mouthpiece being a bacteria farm. You can see details for the improved design in the last step. I plan to update the instructable to include the additional 3D printed piece, and on how to build the improved version--but for now, if anyone needs the info, just contact me.

Nice! Neat that you can still find these for sale online - I'd make a mobile verison with a huge battery! It would also be great fun to make it play the hold music to the person calling, and have a button for a dumb, annoying song, in the case of telemarketers. *mental record player starts spinning ... "Never gonna give you up, ..." *

I believe it can still be used as a phone. Based on my scan of the 'ible, not much modification of the original circuit was done, and the only components removed or intercepted (bell, LED) are non-essential. I think it will still work.

Looks awesome! I'd worry a little about the durability, but I bet you could do a couple different things to help it last longer. Some sort of edging around the outer edge would help, and maybe if you cut a large piece of backing fabric and sewed the carpet tiles to that it would help.

Awesome! Voted, as this definitely fits the contest.

Thanks! It's getting pretty close. I'll have to post some related 'ibles soon...

A few things to keep in mind when you are working with salvaged 18650 cells:If you use any more than a 1P configuration, you should capacity test each cell and match cells with similar capacities. This helps ensure both cells remain relatively evenly charged without one cell charging the other. It's also nice to know the actual mAh rating of your pack.Additionally, if you plan to use your battery pack in a high-power application, you should probably also measure the internal resistance of each cell and try to use cells with low, similar resistances. This makes sure your cells don't run too hot, and also helps to make sure they all discharge at about the same rate.

Aw, that's too bad- good thing I nabbed one before that ended, I can be part of the exclusive "head nod of coolness" club! Maybe I should get into coffee now...

Well done! I saw the picture and thought "someone has won a lot of contests..."Voted, may you get another shirt to add to the collection!

Thanks for the tip. You may want to reply to the instructable itself, and post your comment as a "tip."

Of course. As with the fire issue, not a big deal for a DIY project. If this was to be commercially made, the heatsink size, LED wattage, power supply ratings, and etc. would be mathed to pieces before a design was produced in more than prototype quanitities.

Look great. I think the 100W capable heatsink is waaay overkill--the LED itself is rated for 100W, and to get 100W of heat it'd have to be running at 0% efficiency and full power. You could probably get away with a much smaller heatsink, though it certainly looks cool this way.As for fire safety; If this was a commercial product, it'd probably be a bad idea to encase it in wood. Someone would buy it, run it on weird power (causing the fan to stop working) and then they'd drape it in wool sweaters and leave it on for several months in some attic somewhere - and it'd overheat and burn the house down. For a DIY project, it should be fine - most of the people doing these sorts of things are aware of potential risks - though for your legal safety, you probably want to stick a disclaimer in you…

Look great. I think the 100W capable heatsink is waaay overkill--the LED itself is rated for 100W, and to get 100W of heat it'd have to be running at 0% efficiency and full power. You could probably get away with a much smaller heatsink, though it certainly looks cool this way.As for fire safety; If this was a commercial product, it'd probably be a bad idea to encase it in wood. Someone would buy it, run it on weird power (causing the fan to stop working) and then they'd drape it in wool sweaters and leave it on for several months in some attic somewhere - and it'd overheat and burn the house down. For a DIY project, it should be fine - most of the people doing these sorts of things are aware of potential risks - though for your legal safety, you probably want to stick a disclaimer in your instructable somewhere...

Great looking and simple! I wonder if you could achieve an all-around floating look by using a small, heavy base directly in the middle, and lowering the distance between the bottom of the lamp and the table. You'd need to make some thin supports (ideally ones that will diffuse the light so that they don't cast shadows - that'd ruin the effect) to hold the shade up.

Good to know! I don't have any more computers that use floppy disks, but perhaps the info you've posted will be useful for others. Maybe this is why I had so many headaches with floppy reliability back when I was playing around with the old laptops!

Lovely! Those will do ;-)

Awesome project! If you're able, posting pictures of what things look like through the 'scope would give random untelescopy people like me some cool results to look at...

Glad it was helpful! Have fun with those old keyboards; anything with a floppy drive as the main storage has got to be interesting...

Hah, ok. It worked great for me on all the computers I tried it on. Hopefully it's working for you!

Haha, there you go

Definitely. Just get yourself a AC-DC wall "wart" plug in that supplies the required V (voltage) and A (amperage) - To be safe, I'd go a little above the required amperage to ensure the power brick doesn't get hot.

Cool! Shipping is normally that long to here too, but I don't mind... XD Yeah, let me know!

No problem! While working with the ESP32 for the first time I realized what an "ultimate sensor" the internet was. Lots of possibilities! The ESPs are actually Arduino Compatible- But there is a little bit of a learning curve, espesially with uploading programs. Definitely worth the trouble, though!It's also good to focus on functions without the internet, though. So much is so dependant on it nowdays that one wonders what would happen if it went down... And a device that works without an internet connection is always nice!

Haha, only if you want- I didn't intend to be pushy! I just thought it'd be a great fit for the project. My favorite place to get cheap electronics is from AliExpress, if they ship to your area of Mexico.

May I suggest an ESP32 or ESP8266 for anyone who wants to make this? Arduino compatible, with WIFI (and Bluetooth on the ESP32) built in. They're way faster than even the Mega and there's lots of documentation online. They're also way smaller, and cost about $6 each. I think I'd use the ESP32 since it has both WIFI and bluetooth, and has more analog inputs than the 8266 (which has only one). Just a few ideas I wanted to toss out!

Indeed!

Yup! I wanna name mine "Cheese Louis" (pronounced like Lewis), then see if I can wrangle a YouTube collab with her someday in the future XD I watched Simone's first video about Cheese Louise a few months before I saw this car XD

Love the asthetic. Would be awesome to see a version that walks someday! (Maybe I'll have to try it...)

When I first saw the project, I thought the binder clip was just clipped over the end of the popsicle stick. Now I'm wondering if you could eliminate the prep work by doing that? The only problems I see are that the binder clip may not be conductive through the paint. However, it looks like you thread the copper wire through the same hole the other clip was in, and it works- So maybe conductivity isn't an issue.Just thinking about adapting this for a kid's maker activity: I buy stuff on AliExpress, and you can find colourful popsicle sticks, colourful binder clips (some with emojis!), and of course plenty of colourful LEDS. It might make it just that much more fun for kids!

Same! I wanna see an open source split flap module (ideally a single digit that's expandable) and easily made with access to a 3D printer (or laser cutter, I guess). Maybe I'll have to design one someday...

Great 'ible with good info! Working on building a new charging system/battery packs for an ancient electric car, and very new to batteries in general, so I was glad to find this!

Thanks for the tip! That does indeed seem like a better way to do it. It's been a few years since I did this, and I've hopefully learned a bit more since then... (I remember seeing this comment earlier, but don't remember if I replied- So forgive either my late reply or double-reply! XD)

Thanks! Then I'd have to figure out where to put it...

Looks great! Thanks for the idea for where to put the last sticker... (I got three)

Awesome. Look absolutely hilarious!

Thanks!

Looks awesome!

Excellent! (Ok, I just watched the video and skimmed the instructable, but from what I did see, awesome work!) I just love it when people combine technology and nature to create art! Lovely video work too, I aspire to be that good someday. Best of luck as a finalist in the microcontroller contest!

Thank you! It always gives a person a warm fuzzy feeling to help others.

Nice! I love how these old alarms look but do hate that awful alarm noise- I once found a pretty cool looking mechanical one in the thrift store, decided against getting it, and have been kicking myself ever since...

Awesome! Be sure to post pictures of the finished device, and as always, I'm here to help if you run into any problems!

Good info to know, since it's biodegradable it doesn't suprise me. The loss of material is likely small enough that it won't affect device performance for a long time. Ideally you'd also print several extras for use while others are being washed, and in case one breaks or is lost.

Thanks! It was a pretty fun project, and hopefully others can benefit now too!

Thanks for your concern about the food safety!I do have to disagree on some points. Taken from Wikipedia: "Thanks to its bio-compatibility and biodegradability, PLA has also found ample interest as a polymeric scaffold for drug delivery purposes." My research on other sites also indicated that PLA is generally considered food safe, though most filaments don't have FDA food safe ratings. If one wanted, there are PLA filaments with FDA food safe ratings available, for a little more than normal PLA, but we were rushed for time and decided that based on our research, normal PLA was fine.It is true that ABS is not food safe. However, we don't use nor recommend the use of ABS in any part of this design.As for TPU: I'll admit I didn't research this before the project- However, from a b…

Thanks for your concern about the food safety!I do have to disagree on some points. Taken from Wikipedia: "Thanks to its bio-compatibility and biodegradability, PLA has also found ample interest as a polymeric scaffold for drug delivery purposes." My research on other sites also indicated that PLA is generally considered food safe, though most filaments don't have FDA food safe ratings. If one wanted, there are PLA filaments with FDA food safe ratings available, for a little more than normal PLA, but we were rushed for time and decided that based on our research, normal PLA was fine.It is true that ABS is not food safe. However, we don't use nor recommend the use of ABS in any part of this design.As for TPU: I'll admit I didn't research this before the project- However, from a bit of research right now, it looks like TPU is also generally considered safe. In it's use as the adapter for the tubing, it should never come in contact with the mouth, and it's highly unlikely that any particles of TPU would make their way into the user's mouth. It could also be eliminated from the design with a different sized tubing and a minor change to the mouthpiece, if someone wanted.As for any concerns about bacteria growing in the crevices- We recommend you run the mouthpiece through a dishwasher at least once a week, or sterilize it in boiling water, as stated in the Instructable and user manual. The PLA has been tempered, which makes it able to withstand high temperatures (And we did test this). The mouthpiece also has a built-in chamber to trap saliva and keep it from entering the silicon tubing.I assure you, we thought about food safety and toxicity and designed our device with that as a major factor. It is open source, so if you'd like to make it safer, by all means, please do!

I don't have a 3D printer, so I can't recommend one, but I've used some, and have some information that may be useful to you.First of all, 3D printers are very easy to use. I haven't much experience with CNC, but I think anyone could use a 3D printer, so no worries there. Usually the process is to design a model using a CAD program, export it, "slice" it (cuts it into individual 2D layers for the print head to follow), then take the G-Code from the slicer program and tell the printer to print it. There are two main kinds of consumer printers, FFF (Fused filament fabrication) printers (Imagine a fine-tipped hot glue gun on a CNC machine, capable of printing in several different kinds of materials), and SLA (Stereolithography), which uses UV light to cure a resin. FFF is the most …

I don't have a 3D printer, so I can't recommend one, but I've used some, and have some information that may be useful to you.First of all, 3D printers are very easy to use. I haven't much experience with CNC, but I think anyone could use a 3D printer, so no worries there. Usually the process is to design a model using a CAD program, export it, "slice" it (cuts it into individual 2D layers for the print head to follow), then take the G-Code from the slicer program and tell the printer to print it. There are two main kinds of consumer printers, FFF (Fused filament fabrication) printers (Imagine a fine-tipped hot glue gun on a CNC machine, capable of printing in several different kinds of materials), and SLA (Stereolithography), which uses UV light to cure a resin. FFF is the most common technology used, and should suit your needs just fine.Now onto your second question: If you haven't heard of lost PLA casting, it works pretty similar to what you're talking about. PLA is probably the most commonly used material in consumer FFF 3D printers. For best results, you might need to burn the PLA out first, but I'll bet someone's made a different material that works better for the technique you're talking about.Hope this clears some things up!

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

This is so cool! Makes me almost want to grow my hair out just so I can have it move around and help me do stuff XDVery awesome project!