Allen Huffman used a Teensy 2.0 as an interface between arcade joysticks and an iPad.

The project came about when he was having difficulty getting an expensive input board to work in a haunted house attraction.  When he discovered that the iCade keyboard commands worked over a USB connection, he figured he could use an Arduio board and hood the USB side to an iPad and create his own interface.  With a bit of research he got his project up and running.

Be sure to check out his forum post for details on how the project came about.  The code for the project is available on GitHub.

David Guerrero made his own arcade table for playing Simon.

 

This video shows a demo of the game play.

While he used genuine arcade joysticks and a vintage CRT display, it was still lacking in authenticity.  The risk of a $0.25 loss was missing.  Since emulators basically allow unlimited lives, taking away the gamble of a valuable coin, David disabled that feature and created a little challenge that must be won to add more coins/lives.

The code and many other details about the project (like how to obtain the valuable game play credits) are available on GitHub.

 

 

Mario the Maker Magician made a Robot Bunny that can be magically pulled out of a hat.

 

The bunny is made from flexible PLA.  LED Matrixes were used for the eyes and a couple of servos were used for the paws.

Mario said the what he learned most from the project was how to multi-task with the Arduino platform – taking the delay function out of his code, but still being able to control 7 LEDs and make 2 servos work at the same time.  The size of the Teensy was perfect for this magical bunny.

Fuzzy-Wobble published an Instructable for a Meme Video Alarm Clock.   This custom clock plays a video of your choice for the alarm, but of course the “Wake Up Wake Up” clip featured in the video makes for a pretty awesome alarm.

The Instructables page provides all the code and instructions for making your own, including instructions on formatting your own custom video and the files for laser cutting the enclosure.

Forum user JLJ has developed an Air Data Computer.  This compact DIY   computer measures air data such as air speed and temperature.

Be sure to checkout the project website for detailed information on how you can build your own.

The project is Open Source with code and hardware detail published on GitHub.

 

Forum user Blackaddr developed a guitar audio shield .

The TGA Pro is  stereo-sound capable and designed specifically for use with guitars providing an onboard preamp specifically designed for the wide range of voltages and impedances encountered when dealing with guitars, pedals and guitar amps. It also provides onboard MIDI connectors for use with the Arduino MIDI library, and optional external SRAM for additional data storage. This shield makes it very easy for musicians to add effects while playing guitar.

You can read about the board’s development over on this forum thread.

In this video demo the only gear used is a guitar, the TGA, a MIDI expression pedal, and a tube amp.  The expression pedal is used to open the input to the SOS channel and feed in the same chord in two different octaves to get a nice blended background ambience.

Be sure to check out blackaddr’s Tindie page for all the details on this shield.

Forum user jasper is developing a connector board for the Teensy 3.5.  This useful board breaks out many of the pins to easily accessible connectors.

 

Over 20 of the pins are broken out by this board.  It also sends power and ground to many of the connectors, making it useful for wiring in sensors and peripherals.

Today this question came up on the FastLED Google+ Group, so I decided to actually measure.  Turns out, I was surprised to learn it varies quite a lot, depending on which type you actually have.

Type A – Approx 33.5 mA Maximum

My first test was this little board with 64 LEDs.

This is much lower than the 50 to 60 mA per LED budget that’s often mentioned.  Here is a macro shot of the actual chip in these LEDs:

Type B – Approx 52.5 mA Maximum

Since the first test turned out so low, I also dug up a small strip of WS2812 LEDs from a project made a couple years ago.

These actually are just above the “normal” 50 mA budget.  They also have a distinctly different chip inside.

Both of these were called “WS2812B”, but obviously they are quite different.

Both Types – Approx 1 mA When “Off”

One thing that is nearly identical to both types is the current used by the controller chip when the LED is “off”.

Both are just under 1 mA per LED when just sitting there dark.

This was just a quick test with two WS2812B LED products I had on hand.  There may be even more types.  But at the very least, hopefully this can give you an idea of how much power you might need for a LED project, depending on which type you actually have.

Forum user luni couldn’t find a stepper motor library to meet his needs, so he wrote his own.  The library is able to handle up to 300,000 steps per second.

This video shows two steppers running up to 160,000 steps/sec.

There is a great write up and explanation on luni’s GetHub Page.  The page includes excellent explanations and diagrams on the three types of movements.

The library handles the three different movement modes when controlling more than one motor – Sequential Movement, Synchronous Movement, and Independent Movement.

Luni published performance metrics running 1 and 3 motors on 2 different boards.

 

 

Dimitre Lima was an artist in residence at the Red Bull Basement Festival and put together this impressive LED art installation.

 

 

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