As usual, this Halloween I decided to create a project related to the season. Using Prusa I3 and Thingiverse, I printed a Halloween decoration where the color is controlled remotely through the Blynk project.
The Blynk project lets you create a mobile or tablet app that interacts with controllers like the Arduino Uno or the Wemos D1 Mini.
One aspect of Lego is that you need some space to play. At some point I had used an Ikea Lack with a 48×48 Lego baseplate for my son play. But quickly ran out of space and were constantly falling to the ground. So I decided to create a larger Lago Play Table with the future possibility of having storage.
For some time now I’ve been trying to change the lighting in the kitchen counter. It uses halogen lamps and wasn’t practical. So I decided to replace it with a LED strip. In order to automate it i added a wemos. Let’s begin.
For some time ago I had three Lack shelves, one white, one yellow and one blue from Ikea. They were stored with no specific purpose. Since I was in need of a shelf for the office, i create a stand and recycle them. For this I used three 4cm by 4cm of pine.
In the last halloween I decided to create a project for the season. Using a 3D model of a ghost that i printed on the Prusa i3 and the Cheerlights project i created a Halloween decoration that changes color randomly.
The Cheerlight project is an open-source project that synchronizes all light devices that use’s it. Through Twitter, using the #cheerlight hashtag, we chose a color from the Cheerlights project color palette. All devices that are connected to the project Cheerlights read the color through the api and change their color to that. Through a tweet it is possible to change the colors of all the devices of the planet connected to the project.
One of the problems in photography is exposure. For a good photography a controlled environment is required, both at the light and at the environment level.
To solve the location problem I have acquired a lightbox, which allows you to define several uniform backgrounds to create contrast. But it was still necessary to solve the question of luminosity. For this I built my own lighting system, used Ikea frames, led strips and some components.
One project that i needed to complete with some urgency was a baby monitor. There are several types of monitors on the market, but the IP based monitors are expensive and the others don’t have enough range. There are several types of projects for baby monitors on the internet but none as wanted. Because of this, I decided to build my version.
For some time now I wanted to start automating parts of the house. Although several parties are already planned, I decided to start with the aquarium.
Currently the aquarium has two analog timers to control lighting and water filtration. The problem is that whenever there is a light fault, the timers change the lighting and filtering times.
To solve this problem, I decided to install a nodeMCU module, which receives water temperature data through a probe, controls lighting and filtering through a relay, and communicates with the Raspberry Pi that controls all IoT (Internet of Things) through MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) messages.
One of the problems that exist in the Prusa i3 3D printers is the open space and air circulation. This open space makes it difficult to warm the table, prevent it from reaching higher temperatures and makes it more difficult to maintain a constant temperature, which can compromise printing. If the temperature falls below a certain value, the part can be released from the table.
One of the projects, which was scheduled some time ago, was the construction of a personalized presence light. For this project I decided to use a wooden base with an Arduino and a figure printed in 3D.
First the bases were cut. Due to the low height of the wood it was necessary to cut two pieces, prepare them and to glue it.
Two circles were cut into pine wood with approximately 14 cm in diameter, each.
The first was cut with a jigsaw, but due to the fact that this was a time consuming process, I decided to cut the second on the table saw and end up with the belt sander. After that, it was necessary to perfect both in order to be without imperfections.
The bases were glued with wood glue, clamped and dried for 24 hours.
After that time, the sides of both parts were aligned with a router with a flush trim bit. This bit allows you to level out a part using the bearing area as guide.
Next, it was necessary to create the cavity to house the electronics and the socket for the figure. To create these cavities was used, again, the router with a straight bit.
Finally, I made the finishing touches. Create a profile all around with a ogee bit and varnish with matt wood varnish.
/**
Tiago Santos, 2017
dark_storm@groundzero.com.pt
Code to Marvin Night Light
Free to share
**/
int led = 11;
int reed = 10;
void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
pinMode(reed, INPUT);
}
void loop() {
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
if( digitalRead(reed) == HIGH ){
digitalWrite(led, HIGH);
}else{
digitalWrite(led,LOW);
}
}
You can find the code on my GitHub account.
The needed electronics are the following:
When the magnet approaches the reed, closes the circuit. The Arduino, when detecting that the circuit closes, turns on the LEDs. When the circuit opens, the Arduino switches off the LEDs.
After testing the circuit and verifying that it worked correctly, it was only necessary to mount everything in its place.
The magnet was placed in the place and transferred to the figure. After this was fixed in the figure with the help of a soldering iron.
It was necessary to replace the magnet after this process because, with the heat, it lost the magnetism. The second magnet was fixed in the location with CA Glue.