Antique Light Bulb Organ – Built and currently used by the band Future Dancing . Check out the video below to see it in action. For full details including circuitry and code, check out the instructable I made. Also….vote for me for the epilog challenge puhlease!
Something I’ve been working on and modifying for the last few years. Every version gets a little more robust, and a little nicer looking. This, will definitely be the last version, I’m sick of rebuilding this thing.
After more hours than I’d like to admit, even if I actually knew how many, I’m done. I started this, believe it or not, before the APC40 was even announced, and at the time there weren’t many products out there like it. Now, obviously it would make more sense to just buy one of those products, nevertheless, where are you gonna get an RGB monome with a nixie tube display that takes OSC commands? Exactly.
I looked around the internet for a while for another way to do this that wouldn’t require opening up the mini, but the best I found was a method where you have to power off the mini every time before shutting down, then it will restart when you reconnect power. “eh….”. Ultimately, I was faced with a decision, was the humiliation of having to walk behind my rack every time I had to turn the computer on worth risking having to spend another $1k? I decided no, at first, then yes very shortly after I suffered such a humiliation. OK, so baring in mind that you risk destroying your computer if you screw up, and you defintiely void your warranty (no big deal, mac warranties are crap anyway IMO), you’ll need a soldering iron with a small tip, some electrical tape, an exacto knife or razor blade, and probably a clean surface just in case, a grounding strap would also be a good idea. Here’s how you do it, at your own risk of course!
I’ve been putting nixie tubes in projects for a while now, following Nick de Smiths’s design found here. A really great write-up and explanation of how to make your own DC-DC converter for nixie tubes. The most important thing I’ve learned is that LAYOUT IS CRUCIAL. He emphasizes that in his write-up and you should really listen. (I tried otherwise once and failed miserably.) So the following is some results I got that I think would be useful to anyone considering building one into a project.
I recently decided that instead of making a specialized PCB for every new project I work on, it would be a lot cheaper, and faster to make a controller that could handle just about everything I would need for the type of stuff I work on. The pictures above show the board being used in a future project. Would you like to know more? >>
I recently ordered some parts from Newark.com for a project. Most of the parts are surface mount packages (1206, 0805), very tiny, very light. All together, probably about 4 ounces of actual product that could easily fit in the palm of my hand. I was perplexed when I got home one day to find a rather large box from Newark at my door. The package was about 3 feet by 2 feet, and according to UPS weighed 4 pounds. As you can see in the photos, each separate item (in some cases 2 1206 resistors/capacitors) was packaged in a ziplock bag, pretty standard. But that ziplock bag was packaged, in a bubblewrap insulated THICK paper envelope. AND, each product envelope was accompanied by a “Master Packing List” color printout, which featured 4 removable stickers at the bottom with the part information.
I get that manufacturers, or businesses might find this necessary in some way. Well actually I don’t get it, but I’m guessing they do? But really, there has to be a better way…. thanks to the bubblewrap and other special packaging most of the garbage, which was most of the package, isn’t even recyclable.
After almost 6 months working on this (not every day), Andria and I finally gave Rob and Katrina their wedding present. Only one month late! Not bad considering some of the obstacles. So, here it is in all it’s glory.
Here’s how the buttons work:
The red button on the right is lit up inside with an LED when it’s pushed down. When pushed down, the music box will play every day at noon. The button to the very left of it will play the music box whenever you press it, unless you are setting the clock. Pressing the two left side buttons down for two seconds starts the clock into setting mode where the left button is hours, and the one to the right of it is minutes. To get out of setting mode, press the button next to the LED switch. That’s it. Here’s more pictures, and a video.
