Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “How to Make a Lighted Sign for your Maker Faire Broadcast”.
Welcome back to the workshop today we’re going to be building a ridiculous sign for our maker faire live stream. For the past few years, i’ve been making these signs for our live streaming camera for maker faire. It’S a fun attention getter. It helps people know that it’s the official broadcast i’ve used two different techniques to make them.
In the past this one’s two color hdpe and the one i made last year is stenciled and painted white ash, but this year i wanted to go a little nuts. I wanted to take as many techniques and technologies, as i could think of and put them all into one sign. It’S going to be edgelit acrylic in a 3d printed frame. It’S also going to be an internet of things device. So it’ll react whenever somebody hashtags makerfaire on twitter or when you tweet at make or digikey our livestream sponsors after breaking down the cast acrylic on my table, saw i used my x-carve to do the sign engraving, i’m using a 90-degree v-bit and a v-carving tool path.
So i don’t have to worry about losing any details. I have the design reversed, so i can carve it into the back of the acrylic and it will show, through the smooth side, there’s two sides to the sign and i’m sandwiching a piece of black craft paper in between them. That way, the two sides are clearly visible, even in full daylight. Now, if you’re not familiar with edge-lit acrylic, it’s a really cool way to make lighted signs. The basic idea is this: when you shine a bright light down the edge of acrylic, any details, you’ve engraved into the sign will light up. Almost magically people usually use laser engravers or cnc’s, but it doesn’t matter how your mark is made.
It will still light up. I’M using my favorite microcontroller to run the software for the leds, the feather huzzah on the back end i’m using if this, then that to perform the twitter search and when it finds the right tweets, it posts data to adafruit io when adafruit i o gets some New data in it sends a message to the feather huzzah, which is tied into maker faire’s, wi-fi network. When there’s no new tweets, the neopixel just slowly rolls through a rainbow cycle, but when it finds a new tweet, it randomly assigns a new color to all the pixels. For about five seconds to design the enclosure. I started with a cavity for the acrylic side. Then hollowed out a cavity for the electronics i added some pins to help keep the micro controller in place.
I added a port for the usb connector i might need to modify the code now definitely need to use it to charge the battery next up. I added a hexagonal hole in the bottom for a quarter, twenty captive nut to attach the side of the camera, making sure that it’s the right size for a tight friction fit. Finally, i added the bosses and holes for some m3 threaded inserts the last detail. I added is a shelf in the neopixel strip. The lid part is a reflection of the same design, with a cavity hollowed out in the base for some extra clearance for the electronics for the three pins of the neopixel. I’M making a short braid of 28 gauge wire to keep it easy to manage. After checking the length i solder, the other ends directly to the board trimming off any extra bits flush with the bottom. I’M really worried that the print layers will split when i press the 20 knot in so i’m using a heat gun to soften the plastic.
Before i do, i press the nut in and then use a screw to pull it all the way into the hole. Then i use my soldering iron to press these m3 inserts into the body of the print i’m using some hot glue to secure the neopixel strip and then fit the feather and battery into place, also securing them with a bit of hot glue. Finally, i screw the lid on with some m3 screws, and that’s it if you’re coming out to make a fair bay area, be sure to keep an eye out for this sign. I think, with this design, i’m now committed to making a new sign for every fair.
This one uses a lot of techniques in my comfort zone, but i was thrilled to use both edge, lit acrylic as well as if this then that for a project. But what do you think the next one should look like put your best ideas in the comments below. Thank you so much for watching.
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