here it is in motion... this was the smallest nutcracker i could find and he's still a little cramped... but handsome

Show thread

my mom has a nutcracker collection she adds to each christmas so i decided to swap out the snowman in this musical snowglobe thing...

This paper clip and hot glue patch will have to hold for tonight/until i can get a replacement part

Show thread

after some wrangling, the raspberry pi composite out feed now displays on the CRT. Here it displays a terminal-based screensaver (cmatrix); it is also monitoring the temperature and humidity in the living room. Next challenge is getting infrared signal working!

Show thread

This table was a bit taller and more topheavy than I wanted, so I grabbed a squat coffee table from the dumpster and did some Modification. There side compartments for eg the remote, and the inner components are not dangling menacingly.

Show thread

The neopixel strip has binder clips glued along its length, for easy attatching and removal. There's still a little weirdness in the variable resistors though, may still have some connections to resolder

Show thread

did some rethinking of the neopixel bike light. Decided that what i really wanted to illuminate was myself, so repackaged the electronics in a small nylon shoulder bag - this bike kit can hold tools, patch kirs, water bottle, etc. Along the way I replaced some components, resoldered some bad connections, and remembered to put the heat shrink tube over the wire before soldering, not after....

some obsolete items from today's Really Really Free Market, just what the tech reliquary needs!

The LED (R) resembled an ordinary monochrome, rather than a typical 3-color(L). A closer look reveals that the driving circuit has actually been built into the LED!

Show thread

I took this candle decoration apart. It cycles an LED through a series of colors so i expected a driver circuit, but discovered it contained only the LED & coin battery.
the switching mechanism was interesting in that it seemed to mechanically press the battery into the LED leads, rather than carry current itself.

some spare fastener hardware, failed/obsolete , extra printed circuit boards ( not included), scraps of mirror & filter, etc

Show thread

Another arrangement, this using uranium glass rather than a fluorescein solution. I tried using an autocycling 3 color LED, but was disappointed that it seemed stuck at flat red

Show thread

I realized that the in this $1 solar yard light can be swapped out with my own. Here it's been replaced with a UV LED, which can drive fluoresence or charge a glow in the dark element

Much as i love touching hot circuit boards, its best that i rewire these. I started with the off/on button and soldered on some leads. I was going to use a doorbell but ultimately wired up this chonky arcade pushbutton

Show thread
Show older
Computer Fairies

Computer Fairies is a Mastodon instance that aims to be as queer, friendly and furry as possible. We welcome all kinds of computer fairies!