Busy hands | Disquiet mind

It's (roughly) the mid-point between EMFcamps. Let's tend to that fire burning in our hearts by talking about the badge.

In 2024 they decided to do a really cool thing; make the event badge reusable, creating a stable platform for people to learn, and build projects upon. I love this idea, because I personally hadn't had much success with the badges. The 2014 badge was my first ever, iirc, event badge, from any event. I was made up just getting it working. Which it did, occasionally. I actually wrote a little app for the 2016 badge, at camp. But never got to making use of the hardware. (I also never fixed the neopixel.) 2018 I failed to obtain a badge. 2020, well, yeah. The 2022 badge only had a USB-C plug connection, and I didn't have a USB-C socket, so I couldn't do anything with it. 2024 decided to flip the script, with the Tildagon. The idea is a pair of boards; the base board being the main platform, paired to a faceplate, with the screen, LEDs, themed artwork, etc, that will be updated for each event.


( Badge )

Tildagon, in operation
Photo by chebe

( Hexpansions )


( Case )

I'm not of an Alpine culture, I didn't know what a Krampus was, but I mean look at how cool this Merry Krampus surface-mount soldering kit looks! I wanted it. (It's also available on Tindie, but the Challenge version seems permanently sold out.) I found and ordered it last year, but it arrived in January, so I put it in a drawer until recently. I got the Challenge version, because a little challenge in your life can be good for you.

Slight hitch being, I didn't have any surface-mount soldering tools. So I had at the kit with my regular soldering tools. The instructions are thorough, and it even comes with a programmer that you need to assemble. But when I got to the point where I could program the board it just wasn't working. The LEDs at the eyes would blink, but then the Arduino IDE would complain that it couldn't communicate with the board. I emailed the creators, and was surprised when they replied, with even more detailed info to help me through the process! Seriously, they are lovely people.

I examined the circuit diagrams, figured out which pins on the board were which on the diagrams. I multi-metred my way through all the connections. It all seemed good. The next step was removing the transistors. I did not fancy that with my standard soldering iron, so I ordered a SMD Repair station (a.k.a. a very hot air gun). Before trying to remove the components I hit every single solder joint with the hot air. I couldn't see anything happening, but the plastic parts of the switches are very toasted, so stuff was happening. Then I tried programming the board, and it worked first time! My guess is I had made connections (multi-metre said so) but that they weren't good enough. Reflowing the solder must have helped strengthen the connections. After that you can add decorations and ways to attach the board to things/you. (There is also the challenge of changing the programming, but I might save that for next year.)

( Pictures )

Finished, and programmed board, all lit up
Photo by chebe

Of course, if you don't enjoy this kind of challenge you could buy the presoldered version, or even the solderless version, which is new this year. But as frustrating as it was doing this kit without the proper tools, it really does feel like an achievement to have it working!

So picture it. (Or simply remember it.) A pandemic has struck, and lockdown implemented. You are now cut off from all your activities, socialising, friends, as they take place an hour's bus ride (or flight) away. The internet is your only connection. You have a desktop computer, but no webcam. And webcams are sold-out everywhere. What do/did you do?

I was quite lucky, in many ways, but specifically here in that a year before the pandemic I had upgraded to a rather fancy digital micro-four-thirds camera. And it just so happened to be one of the few that the camera manufacturer had enabled with not just HDMI output, but clean HDMI output. They posted an article detailing how to steam video with some Olympus cameras. Following the guide I got a HDMI capture device. (Or rather two; I got on a waiting list for the expensive kind, and ordered a UK£10 version from ebay.) And a HDMI-to-micro-HDMI cable.

And for a few video chats my friends had to look at me in 4K. At least for a couple of hours, until the battery died. See the camera can be charged over USB, but not while actually in use. And the manufacturer does not sell a mains adapter for my model of camera. So I ended up buying the first webcam that came into stock.

Several months go by and I have acquired a 3D printer. I am browsing the internet for things I can do with a 3D printer and I find an article on camera tools which has some cool things, but as I browse the wider 3D printed camera stuff category I come across the concept of printing dummy batteries, to be able to use any size battery with your camera. I even found one for my exact battery, in the Olympus OM-D BLS-50 Dummy Battery. The instructions on assembly are on the original model. But my experience was not as smooth as that.

( Process )

This project has made me see the full potential of 3D printing. We're not just making our own pet projects. We can build things to add functionality that is not available at any price to the things we already own. And propagate it to the entire world. Okay, I get it now.

Gather:
- active/powered speakers with a 3.5mm stereo audio jack (bonus points if the power plug is grounded)
- camera tripod
- Arduino Uno, from wherever it has been gathering dust (and USB/power cable)

Acquire:
- Open Theremin Arduino Shield
- 1m of aluminium round tube; 6mm external thickness, 1mm wall thickness, 4mm internal diameter, from your local hardware shop

Do:
- Cut tube in half, and bend (or get bent) each half into the shape described in the diagram
- Solder shield together. (The button and LEDs are surface mounted. I scorched a leg pad of the yellow LED, so no blinky yellow for me.)
- Program Uno
- Plug all the bits together. The whole lot should be grounded, but both my speakers, and the Arduino, are powered over USB, and I could not find an earthed USB-converter plug. So, at the moment, they are plugged into my laptop, which is plugged into the mains. (There is a ground pad on the shield that I should hook up in future.)
- Power up, leave to warm up, trigger auto-calibration
- Make ALL THE NOISE

Theremin!
Photo by chebe

- Start band

It is St Patrick's Day today, so I'm celebrating it in my own rebellious way. By working a bit on projects.

( Waffle with a side of pics )