due to the extreme heat in chicago ( 100+ with 80% humidity), I seeked the shelter of friend houses with AC.

More or less right now I just need to figure out what LED's / resistor packs to buy.

update:
Having internet issues at my apartment right now. updating will be a bit sparse.

not really happy with the green's brightness nor the red LED's overall. I popped three red just testing before I gave up on them.

The blues test LEDs I got are super bright. Now only if they meet the 20mAmp forward current requirement ...

Got a terminal block, some ring terminals, 500ft of solid core 14 awg wire (orange), and a wire PROstripper. total cost ... 43 dollars.

got another board whipped up with the QSOP chips.

Figured out how I'm going to mount the LEDs too last night. I'm going to need a crap load more headers. (220 at a minimum, figuring might as well just get 300 ).

I have some pics of my boards partly assembled. I stole my roommate's camera for a bit. I would have more done but I got side tracked with another side project.

Ok, after getting a couple peeps of information from people way smarter than I am in this area, I decided what I'm going to do.

I'm going to get a spare computer power supply, a terminal block and some phatty 16 gauge wiring (could be beefer, smarter person is going to find out if it needs to be for fire safety).

From there I'm going to have all the wiring branch out and connect into the block. The block then will connect to the power supply.

I opt for the power supply since in theory, it should be more reliable than something I would make ... and very well cheaper.

One board now has the drivers on it. Talk about some major balls. Not even sure if the board will function properly now.

On the upside, I think I figured out a decent way to get the solder to the chip now without causing bridges.

the QPOS (Led Drivers) suck. 4 down ... 154 more to go.
----------------------------------
update
Red 57 to 64 may be dead. no way of knowing until I power the board up.

really really screwed one up, may have killed a quad of color due to it. I had to rip off the chip and in doing so I may have screwed up the pads ... right when I thought I was getting the hang of this too.

One pad was totally lost but it was pin 1. From what it looks like on the diagram, that isn't used anyways and doesn't look like it has any wires leading from it.

words cannot express how irked i am.

Guess it was a good idea to buy extra.

First, I'll start with the pictures. I did want a lot of pictures on the site. However, I recently figured out why my camera sucked some major balls for the past year, the lens is cracked. Why I didn't notice this before is beyond me, I'm betting it was because I was drunk or in the process of becoming drunk. I'm also betting that being drunk or one of my drunk friends directly or indirectly dropped/threw/punted/dropped something on/evil eyed the camera.

So more or less, only pics that will arrive will either be by a borrowed camera (lets see if I can 'borrow' one of my brother's) or by my camera phone ... and still by my crappy canon s200.
---------------------------------------------------------------
But now on to the parts update ... and a picture here will be way more helpful.

On emailing to grant, he said to get some headers from Jameco. I bought 100 when I should have actually gotten about 60 more. Why you ask? Well, here is the cool thing about the headers ... they act like legos.

1 header = 10 pins ... break it in 2 and you get 2 5 pin headers.

Still with me? And since we all learned legos connect firmly with one another, you can connect the headers together nicely.

Now why is this a good thing. Well, since I am a computer person, enjoys having things being able to be quickly disconnected and object oriented. You can solder one 5 pin set directly on the board (male side to PCB) then on the other pin set; solder the ribbon cord to the female side of the 5 pin header. Then, BAM, connect the two headers together to make some sweet header loving.

Damn I wish I had actually understood what Grant was talking about before I ordered.

I may want to actually do the same thing at the end of the ribbon cables and create a wire system for power / switch / LED for easy removal. I do have to order more anyways.

They both just came in.

My buddy Andy over at copy and waste told me why I need the caps and rectifier oddly enough right after I posted.

(11:01:49) BlackMarketRival: yo
(11:02:07) Clint: what up playa play
(11:02:08) Andy: you need caps to filter or retain stability in the power source
(11:02:20) Clint: caps?
(11:02:25) Andy: capacitors
(11:02:28) Clint: ahh
(11:02:30) Clint: check
(11:02:35) Andy: so you have ac 110 in
(11:02:42) Andy: 5v ac out
(11:02:44) Andy: or dc out
(11:02:51) Clint: need DC out
(11:03:00) Andy: rectifier is to "maintain" constant voltage
(11:03:05) Andy: so it filters out spikes
(11:03:14) Andy: spikes in voltage
(11:05:04) Clint: how do i deal with the amps though?
(11:05:37) Andy: what about the amps
(11:05:43) Andy: v=ir
(11:05:52) Andy: voltage = Amps X Resistance
(11:06:00) Andy: so use that to figure out how many amps you need

Andy rules more. I knew there was a reason I helped him with c#

LED calculator

emailed my dad last night and this is what he told me to do:

You can build one 5V, full wave, power supply to power the whole thing in one feld swoop. Interested.
You will need...
1. A 110V to 5V transformer (center taps are not needed).
2. A full wave bridge rectifier (RadioShack, Allied, etc.) (Must be rated to handle the full load in watts.
3. Two 1000mf electrolitic capacitors. Also rated to handle the full load.

now to understand what the hell he just said. Not sure why I need the capacitors but ...

where to find something that provides 5volts of power and 4 amps. I don't want to fry this puppy.

radioshack had some transforms but everything was 12 volts and never got to 4 amps.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F011%5F002%5F016%5F000&product%5Fid=273%2D1511 is the closest to power it but won't provide enough. Really want to make each segment independant.

time to check out digikey ... what I should have checked out in the first place.

where to find something that provides 5volts of power and 4 amps. I don't want to fry this puppy.

radioshack had some transforms but everything was 12 volts and never got to 4 amps.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F011%5F002%5F016%5F000&product%5Fid=273%2D1511 is the closest to power it but won't provide enough. Really want to make each segment independant.

Entire bottom left of the board is now complete. That leaves now only the LED drivers, some of the .1uF's and the packs left for surface soldering. Seriously, once you get the hang of surface soldering, it is like easier than spelling your name in snow.

I soldered on 1.5k and 2.2k on where the board's test LEDs are suppose to be located. r42-44 are 1.5k and r45 and 46 are the 2.2k. I guess ordering 50 of all the resistors came in handy.

So basically, I'm at a standstill. I could do the c1-16 but I figure doing the LED drivers and resistor packs first would be wiser.

Email response from Grant regarding the BOM versus the circuit diagram.

C1-C16 (and indeed all of those .1uf capacitors...) are just decoupling capacitors. Value is of very little importance. The 7313 datasheet recommends at least .047uF which is why that's what appears on the schematics, but .1uF will work just fine. Since there were already .1uF capacitors on the bill of materials (and indeed a lot of people probably already have reels of .1uF 603s lying around), we increased the 7313 decouplers to .1uF to save everyone a little trouble. Sorry for the confusion.

There is another similar issue with C17. On the schematics and on the board it's marked as 10uF. Unfortunately, these are hard to come by in 603 packages. We've replaced it with a 4.7uF (as indicated on the BOM) to no ill effect. If you like, you can literally just stack two 4.7uF capacitors, but we found this unnecessary.

They had this 'anti-static' pad that is more or less some stiff foam but I have to say, I like to use it for the boards while soldering since I can spin it around without worrying about damaging the bottom of the board.

I suggest you get it. Costs like 3 bucks.

Ok, since I bought .015" solder from Radioshack since my stuff won't be in until Monday, I've realized that I overprepared for this task. 1oz of Solder will de me nicely along with 1 flux pen. I was kind of suprised radioshack was still in business however. But yes, I bought too many pens and solder. You'll only need 1 pen for the rest of your life if it doesn't dry out.

However, I normally bought extra chips just incase I lost one or screwed it up soldering. This I don't think was a mistake.

While I should be sleeping since I have to attend a wedding tomorrow (well, I guess today now since it is 4 am), I decided to crank out a bunch of the board with what I have on hand.

I got all the .1uF capacitors on except c1-16, the 33nF, the 2 10k resistors, the 2 22 Ohm resistors, the 2.4k resistor, the EEPROM, MCU, and finally the USB interface chip.

So I have 14 parts on each board x 10 boards, i put on 140 parts so far. Not bad.

the capacistors and resistors are SO small it isn't funny. I would recommend a toothpick / dental pick and some tweezers to anyone that attempts this.

I also recommend a magnifying glass and a bright light next to the desk to confirm that you don't have any solder bridges and actually made all the solders.

I did two 'test' boards last night with the EEPROM, AVR MCU and USB controller chip and a few .1uf capacistors. Today I got AVR MCU and USB chips on the rest of the boards. I think I got semi high off soldering so time to stop for a bit.

The instructions do say to start with the driver chips but since mine just shipped even though I ordered them well before my digikey order, I decided better to get some work done rather than none.

• smaller the solder, the better.
• soldering wick helps.
• applying solder to the chip then using the wick to remove the bridges makes life easier. Going pin by pin makes life hard. Wick = easy
• Using a toothpick is helpful doing the capacistors.
• More light, the better.
• positioning small things sucks very large balls

I found my .05" solder. Currently attempting to do small bits and parts.

I'm not sure if I actually need to add more solder on the surface mounted joints or not. I can just hold down the soldering iron on the spot for a few seconds and BAM, done.

Found an interesting thing on the board. Capacistors c1-16 are listed as .047uf on the circuit diagram and on the board but the Bill of materials lists it as a .1uf. Emailed Grant inquiring about this.

I got the parts and was all ready to start soldering only to remember my solder will be coming in on Monday. I could always go out and buy some just to get started.

Updated my total costs.

Current running total for this project is: $1313.42

All that needs to be added now would be the LEDs (got a small inital testing batch), sensors (no clue what to buy yet, asked Grant but no reply yet), saw(s), sander, wood stain, wood, screws, glue, Lexan, powerlines, USB hub(s), alumium for the reflector ... and beer while building.

LED cost estimation using the ones I got a test run on cost if I decide I like them. I estimate I'll buy 700 just in case.
-----------------------------------
Red: 105.56 @ 0.15080
Green: 631.85 @ 0.90262 <---- damn
Blue: 373.65 @0.53376
-----------------------------------
Total: $1111.06 in just LEDs

.... god damn it. However if I only order, 20 extra, that does drop the total by 70 dollars. Still deserves the damn however.

plus I still need 640 sensors. The sensors may be a TBD future feature.

Looks like it should be arriving tomorrow. Freaking sweet.

Now I have to figure out how I'm going to get all this stuff home from work.

I ordered an AVR programmer along with a new soldering iron.

One question is where the hell are my LED Driver chips if my Digikey order is coming tomorrow.

I was at a friend's house and they had a package that their iPod mini's came in. I eyed the size and thought it would be a decent estimate for a tile within the board. After measuring it, it comes out to 5.5"x5.5"x2.5". Not a bad test box for free. While I was thinking 4"x4"x2", this should give me a decent idea of what works. As is, this box will create a 6" tile if I factor in the wood ( quarter inch on each side ).

The plan is to use the box (cheap) instead of wood (expensive) to find the best way to mount the LEDs and get good coverage both in intensity and color.

Since Jameco told me my parts have shipped, I the material I purchased on to my project costs ... thank god pay day is Friday.

Purchased pretty much everything else I need. I held off on buying all the LED's so I could test the ones I got to see if they actually can do what I want.

Additional things I purchased also were a new soldering iron, a phatty small tip, an AVR programmer ( got to be able to program that firmware ), and the ribbon cable.

I'll add the BOM with links in a bit.

Soldering irons are expensive.

Ok, what I'm thinking I'm going to end up doing is have all the LED's point from the top to the bottom then have the entire box be actual aluminum sheet metal folded into a nice box. I figure (hope) this will be a nice enough reflector to dampen any hot spots.

I'm figuring 4"x4"x2" boxes right now.

Just ordered the LED driver chips, MAX7313AEG from Maxim. All 170 of them.

I need to whip up a list of all the stuff I need to buy from Jameco and digikey. I'll still need to do a purchase from Maxim for the LED driver chips.

I know I'll need a new soldering iron since my old one I used to mod my Gameboy Advance won't cut it.

Plus I'll need an AVR programmer to get the firmware actually on the EEPROM chip.

Also I'll need a saw. Wonder if my neighbors will mind. Not sure if I'll use a miter saw (sp?) or a table saw. Figure a jig saw might not be bad either and Home depot had them for like 60 bucks when I was there last weekend.

After talking (emailing) with Grant, he said a 30 degree viewing angle and a 700 mcd will be bright enough. However after consulting with my dad, he mentioned that a diffused lens will lessen the bright spot and a fade effect.

Since i haven't decided how deep to make the platform yet, I think some math calculations are in order to figure out both the viewing degree of the LED and the depth of the platform. I'll whip up a nice little javascript thing so this can be done on the fly some time this weekend.

I'll add some pictures to explain more what I'm talking about. Time for some trig.

Email from Grant
Oh, on the note of LEDs (first item on the page)... I may have forgotten to mention that when we mounted the LEDs, we aimed them downward, towards a white sheet of paper and an aluminum reflector. Before passing through the Lexan surface, there's also a translucent white plastic sheet. This combination seems to work well to produce an even distribution of brightness (no bright spot) and nice color mixing. The key is really pointing the LEDs downward.

Total cost breakdown for everything I purchased for this project. That would be the cost breakdown for 10 modules, not 1. When viewing these numbers, remember, if you buy more, more of a discount. Some of the shipping was 2 day or 3 day UPS since I'm impatient ... I'm a tad impatient when it comes to getting new toys.

DON'T FORGET: You'll need a good soldering iron, solder, flux, an AVR programmer and a saw(s). Plus you'll need to buy wood and some form of an translucent top. And last but not least, a computer with enough USB ports (could use a hub) to power the entire thing. Cabling of some sort and LEDs are also not on the MIT bill of materials.

How is how my Bill of Materials is broken down. First are direct links to what I bought from the supplier for the board itself. Not all the parts are on the MIT bill of materials. Next are parts / things I needed since I lacked the proper supplies to do this. Last is the shipping costs tallied up.

DDF1 MIT kids FTDI chip
(Usb to Serial) U18 10 $5.05 $50.50 FT232BM Parallax LED Driver U1-U16 170 $1.82 $309.40 MAX7313AEG Maxim-Inc .100" StraightMale Headers (Gold) ISP 10 $0.18 $1.80 7000-2X3SG Jameco SIPP Socket Power, I2C, Serial 100 $0.20 $20.00 6100-1X10 Jameco USB 2.0 Cable - 15ft - 12 $2.59 $31.08 10U2-02215-BK Jameco Gray Flat Ribbon Cable - 28 AWG - 500 $0.13 $65.00 GCAR02 Jameco EEPROM 1K 2.7V U17 11 $0.78 $8.58 AT93C46A-10SI-2.7 Digikey USB Connector Type B X1 11 $1.04 $11.44 ED90003-ND Digikey AVR MCU 8k 8Mhz U19 11 $3.55 $39.05 ATMEGA8L-8AI-ND Digikey 6.00 Mhz Resonator X2 11 $0.543 $5.97 490-1218-1-ND Digikey 2.2k Ohm Resistor R40 50 $0.0372 $1.86 RHM2.2KGCT-ND Digikey 10k Ohm Resistor R37, R39 50 $0.0372 $1.86 RHM10KGCT-ND Digikey 1.0M Ohm Resistor R41 50 $0.0372 $1.86 RHM1.0MGCT-ND Digikey 27 Ohm Resistor R33, R34 50 $0.0372 $1.86 RHM27GCT-ND Digikey 1.5k Ohm Resistor R38 50 $0.0372 $1.86 RHM1.5KGCT-ND Digikey 470 Ohm Resistor R35 50 $0.0372 $1.86 RHM470GCT-ND Digikey 470k Ohm Resistor R36 50 $0.0372 $1.86 RHM4.7KGCT-ND Digikey 33nf / 25V Capacitor C23 20 $0.047 $0.94 PCC1769CT-ND Digikey 47uf / 6.3V Capacitor C17 20 $0.236 $4.72 PCC2318CT-ND Digikey 1K Ohm Resistor Pack (Sensor) R7, R8, R15, R16, R23, R24, R31, R32 170 $0.0331 $5.63 742C083102JCT-ND Digikey 220 Ohm Resistor Pack (Red LED) R1, R2, R9, R10, R17, R18, R25, R26 170 $0.0331 $5.63 742C083221JCT-ND Digikey 68 Ohm Resistor Pack (Green LED) R3, R4, R11, R12, R19, R20, R27, R28 170 $0.0331 $5.63 742C083680JCT-ND Digikey 82 Ohm Resistor Pack (Blue LED) R5, R6, R13, R14, R21, R22, R29, R30 170 $0.0331 $5.63 742C083820JCT-ND Digikey .1uf / 50V Capacitor C1-16, C18-22, C24 230 $0.0562 $12.93 511-1175-1-ND Digikey Power Jack - Male X3 10 $0.364 $3.64 CP-102BH-ND Digikey Power Jack - Female - 10 $0.559 $5.59 CP-004B-ND Digikey KINGWIN Alpha Power AP-350 350W Power Supply - 2 $30.00 $60.00 AP-350 NewEgg IN WIN IW-P240F1-0 240W Power Supply - 1 $19.99 $19.99 IW-P240F1-0 NewEgg Arrow Micro CSA-6 6-Inch SATA Power Adapter, (15-Pin) to Power Supply (4-Pin) - 4 $2.19 $8.76 CSA-6 NewEgg Hook up wire ( AWG 24 ) - 2 $155.16 $310.32 73C9195 Newark 5mm Domed RGB LED, Medium-Angle Beam; Waterclear Lens COMMON ANODE - 700 $1.08 $756.00 L200CWRGB1K-4A-IL Ledtronics Polycarbonate Sheet 3/8" Thick, 48" X 48" Clear - 6 $170.15 $1020.90 73C9195 McMaster-Carr Polycarbonate Sheet 3/8" Thick, 24" X 48" Clear - 2 $97.83 $195.66 8574K65 McMaster-Carr Clear Cast Acrylic Sheet .236" Thick, 48" X 48" - 1 $89.91 $89.91 8560K227 McMaster-Carr Solder Tip Tinner - 1 $4.95 $4.95 KESTER 83-4000-4010 Jameco Solder Roll 0.020" 63/37 - 2 $18.99 $37.98 24-6337-9700 Jameco AVR Programmer Starter Kit - 1 $79.00 $79.00 ATSTK500-ND Digikey WESD51 50W Digital Soldering Station - 1 $160.49 $160.49 WESD51-ND Digikey .015" Flat Tip - 1 $5.12 $5.12 ETU-ND Digikey .031" Long Conical Tip - 1 $5.12 $5.12 ETO-ND Digikey Flux Pen - 5 $3.33 $16.65 KE1803-ND Digikey Solder-Winck .030" 25' - 2 $12.94 $25.88 50-1-25-ND Digikey Shipping - - - $18.37 - MIT kids Shipping - - - $13.26 - Parallax Shipping - - - $10.00 - Maxim-Inc Shipping - - - $23.08 - Jameco Shipping - - - $7.34 - Digikey Shipping - - - $33.71 - NewEgg Shipping - - - $20.00 - Newark Shipping - - - $20.00 - Newark Shipping - - - $75.00 - McMaster-Carr   # Parts: 2908 Total $: $3,923.67

Well, besides being damn cool, a USB powered dance floor, come on, women love to dance. Well, most women, but that isn't the arguement at hand here. I on the other hand, don't. I look like Thom Yorke dancing. Arms moving, hair all over the place. It isn't pretty. I know this and which is why I don't dance. However if I have a dance floor, that increases the possibility of increasing the amount of women that want to hang out at my apartment and dance infront of me with their hopefully hot friends.

So lets recap my theory:
dance floor = women

If not, atleast I'll have lead poisoning by the end of this.

Genius? I thought so.

SO here we are. Let's call this day 1 even though it is more like day 4 for simplistic.

So I figured and 8 by 8 grid, much like how the MIT kids build their would work nicely. I also want a single module for my wall in my room hooked into my desktop for fun.

So grand total, I ordered 10 boards. You can order the boards from the MIT kids.

Here are some pics of the board. (ignore the army guys)

and the blurry-cam FTDI (USB to Serial Interface Chip)

Why? Why ask why? This is where some of my friend's explain my behavior as "That is just how Clint is." I see something I want and I get it some how.

<skateboard>
Have you seen Back To The Future 2? Growing up this was one of my favorite movies just for the hoverboard. I was promised this board and I want it. So I've come to terms I can't hover but I should be able to make something like a Segway Scooter.

This project's entire goal is to build a skateboard product with 100% off the shelf parts. No custom circuit boards and parts that need to be crafted from scratch. I want to say, here is a part list and have the person build it. Yes some power tools will be needed but very few things, unless they are from Ikea, can be done without a bit of drilling and sawing.
</skateboard>

<bar>
Way back in the day, I saw something that was neat, it was called the Bar Monkey and I wanted one ... badly. Only problem was I was a poor college student. Fast-foward a few years and I was asked to build something epic for Make Magazine's Maker Faire and I decided to build an automated bartending system. I nicknamed it Drunktender and version one worked pretty poorly. One of the things I got for it couldn't do what I needed so I custom designed my own. They are designed to be cheap, modular, and protect the device they are hooked into since I blew up my IBM T42 Thinkpad during this project.

Version 2 is coming along nicely.
</bar>

<disco>
I saw the disco dance floor, it had to be built. I took electronics in high school and a digital electronics class in college ( wait, depaul isn't a "real" college, my bad ) and thought this would be a walk in the park. I'm 24, I'm smart, I'm a programmer, my friends called me

MacGyver drunk MacGyver from time to time. How bad could it be.

Only after I got the board and read the bill of materials did I realize I was a wee over my head. After asking Grant Elliott way too many questions and knowing I wasn't the only one asking them, I figured I'd whip up a little quick overview on what I bought, planned, built and why.

I'm going to hopefully make it modular so I can easily break it down when I move out.

When not in use, I plan on keeping it against a wall. I plan on raising the entire floor.

Here is a picture of the floor in crappy Canon S200 grainy vision before the floor.

Plus, hell, it is an excuse to buy a saw and a lot of power tools.
</disco>