3D Printing, Animatronics

3D Printing

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I finally decided to replace my finicky home made usually not working Prusa i3 with an Ender 3 V2 and could not be happier (especially since the Prusa hasn’t been functional for a few years!!).  It pretty much prints perfectly out of the box. 

I have been wanting to make some more animatronic skulls and the Lindberg Skull models are no longer made so there are no cheap alternatives. One of the users on the Xmas lighting sites posted a version he designed on Thingiverse:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3803762

So far I have just printed the skull top and it worked out fine.

We will see how the rest goes……

 
E1.31 sACN, Electronics, Pixels

DIY Ethernet E1.31 Controllers?

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While the ESPixelStick based controllers are great sometimes you want (or need) a wired Ethernet connection. One of the Xmas lighting site members (Barnabybear) has written code for a great range of controllers using an Arduino Nano, ENC28J60 Ethernet shield and a RS485 module. You will not find a cheaper wired solution that these. You can find more information on various postings on the DIYCHRISTMAS.ORG site. Here is a summary of his projects:

Cabled E1.31 to 16 on/off outputs, test firmware and parts:
https://diychristmas.org/vb5/showthr…ll=1#post91147

Cabled E1.31 to WS2811 pixel:
https://diychristmas.org/vb5/showthr…ll=1#post91536

Cabled E1.31 to 4 outputs WS2811 pixel hardware:
https://diychristmas.org/vb5/showthr…ll=1#post95062

Cabled E1.31 to DMX:
https://diychristmas.org/vb5/showthr…ll=1#post91537

Cabled E1.31 to TLS3001:
https://diychristmas.org/vb5/showthr…l=1#post100881

All firmware variants and set up code as .HEX files.
https://diychristmas.org/vb5/showthr…ll=1#post97088

The above board is a the single output WS2811 pixel controller. As you can see there are not many parts required. It uses a inexpensive RS-485 module as a invertor driver for the pixel data line as the NANO outputs negative logic (so it needs to be inverted). 

General, Vancouver Hack Space (VHS)

Updated Site

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Well sort of updated…

I moved to a new hosting provider and ended up re-building the site from scratch…

it`s pretty much identical to the old site but I cleaned up a fair bit of behind the scenes stuff..

I have added a new page for a Pixel Goggle kit I have made up for members of my local Makerspace. You can find more information here.

General

Hi

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I’m a hobbyist…

I like to build things…

Mostly electronic things that have lights, motors and sometimes sounds. My intent is to post information on the various projects that I done. My hope that others may find the information interesting and possibly useful.

For the projects I do post about, I will try to include as much information as possible as I have always appreciated that when I have searched for ideas on things that I want to make.