DIY Hack: A Better Marquee (Part I)

Lighted marquee decorations are very popular at the moment. A stroll through the aisles of just about any craft store (locally, we have Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and A. C. Moore) will prove that out. You can get letters, symbols, words, snowmen, stars, and who knows what else. You can get them in chipboard, galvanized tin, wood, plastic, and more.

I'm not sure why they're so popular, but I like them, especially the galvanized tin. It has a well-used industrial feel to it, which isn't quite a cool as Steampunk, but cool just the same. There are two problems, though. The first is that they're ridiculously expensive, considering what they are. That 'C' at the top of this post? It's only about 10" high and costs about $25. Fortunately, Hobby Lobby is always running sales of that kind of stuff, and I got it for half that.

The second problem is that these decorations are very monochromatic. The lighted ones almost always have warm white LED illumination, which is great because they look more like incandescent bulbs that way; that suits the Industrial aesthetic well. But even if I could forgive the lack of color, there's no motion either. Give me a flicker. Give me a wave. Just don't put me to sleep!

My wife, Tammy, gave me a couple of letters last summer for my birthday, an 'M' and a 'D' (my initials). I decided to do something cool with them, but that project isn't quite ready for prime time just yet. That will be the subject of another post or two. Or three.

And my daughter, Anna, found herself a marquee snowman this past Christmas. It's very similar to this guy right here. It's cute, but boring. That's when I decided to hack a marquee piece, and spice it up a bit. I wouldn't dare take apart my daughter's snowman. That just wouldn't be nice.

As luck would have it, my friend Cole turned 50 in early March, and she had a party to celebrate. I hadn't seen her since we graduated from college waaaay back in 1988 (shame on me; she doesn't live that far away), and decided that I was going to her party. Keeping in touch on Facebook just isn't the same as seeing someone in real life!

And speaking of real life: Cole is a Social Worker by day, but by night, she's a wildly creative artistic type. She beads and makes jewelry and all kinds of cool stuff (see her Etsy shop here). Her tastes are very eclectic, always have been, and that makes getting her a gift a very daunting task. What's an engineer to do? Well, make her something, of course!

I would never presume decorate someone else's walls, but Cole provided the perfect inspiration for my Marquee Hack. My daughter's snowman is safe for now; I went out and bought the "Galvanized Tin Lighted Letter C" you saw at the top of this post, went down into the Man Cave, and started getting creative.


The Concept

My friend Cole is more than just colorful - she's a whirling, twirling, endless kaleidoscope of color. This project cried out for animated, colored lights. Simply tinting the globes of the existing lamps just wouldn't do - too static. No, this project required some simple high-tech to bring it to life. I didn't have time to re-invent the world, though, so I went to my bread-and-butter solution to this sort of problem: neoPixels and an Arduino. My plan was to strip out the lamps that came with the marquee and replace them with neoPixels, and I'd use glass marbles to give the appearance of bulbs. An Arduino would run the show. It would need a pushbutton to select among a variety of light patterns, and a potentiometer to control the brightness. Because neoPixels can be power-hungry (up to 60mA per pixel if each of the red, green, & blue elements is on at full brightness), I decided to also remove the battery holder and use a 5V wall-wart power supply instead. Easy enough.

I can't even count the number of projects I've done using neoPixels and Arduinos. Most often, I've used the 5V, 16MHz Pro Mini for the brains of the operation. I've also used the Uno and the Mega, but the Pro Mini is tiny, powerful, and so inexpensive as to be almost disposable. The name-brand version is about $10, but I've found good-quality clones domestically for $5 and overseas (from China, usually) for $2.50 or less. As usual, the more you buy, the lower the price. I usually keep a bunch handy for just these types of spontaneous occasions. The Pro Mini is also available in a 3.3V version, but I don't use it for neoPixel projects because neoPixels require 5V.

Be very careful when buying from places like ebay, especially from overseas vendors. Many times, the description of the item doesn't match the title, and you may end up with a 3.3V board instead of a 5V. There's a lot of cutting and pasting going on, and not enough reading and understanding. When in doubt, ask!

I've also found neoPixels available in many different forms both domestically and overseas. Adafruit has perhaps the best selection domestically. The prices are a bit steep, but the service is excellent and fast. When I need a neoPixel ring, Adafruit is the best (and perhaps only) game in town. For discrete pixels or for strips, though, there are many choices. Just search ebay for "WS2812" and you'll find thousands.

When I need a small, flat footprint, but don't want to make or assemble my own circuit boards, I especially like the pixels shown in these photos. It's a single neoPixel on a 10mm PCB (the pads are on the back). I buy these still panelized, making them even less expensive - about $17 per 100, the last time I ordered. That's WAY less expensive than Adafruit - but it might take 3 weeks for them to arrive from China!

The lamps that come with the marquee letter are LED versions of 3V flashlight bulbs. They have a threaded base and glass envelopes (approximately 16mm in diameter) around the warm white LEDs, and are reasonably high quality replacements for incandescent bulbs. I happened to have clear, glass marbles on hand (from an entirely different project) that were just about the perfect size to replace the bulbs.

Next Time...

Rather than try to cram details of the entire project into a single, huge post, I've decided to split it into multiple parts. The next installment will cover the Mechanical & Electrical parts of the project: removing the original guts of the marquee, and installing the replacement electrical components. Lastly, possibly in a separate post (I'll decide once I've written it), I'll cover the software that brings the project to life.

Stay Tuned!

The Steampunk Christmas Tree: Methuen Festival of Trees 2014

 

I recently blogged about our TARDIS Christmas Tree, our entry into the 2015 Methuen Festival of Trees. Last year, our entry was a Steampunk-themed tree, and I wanted to share some pictures and a video of that.

 

You might not be able to tell from the picture above, but the tree didn't start out as a tree at all. I made it out of a 4" x 4" x 4' fence post, with a base made of crossed 2" x 4" x 24" studs. Compared to other trees we've done, it was small but very sturdy (and heavy!).

 

The "branches" were a combination bits of hardware, from plant hangers to shelf brackets, like these:

  

We got them in different lengths, so the tree would have the expected tapered shape. We even found some wall decorations shaped like old-fashioned keys, which were long enough that we used them as bottom branches. I don't have a picture of just them, but maybe you can make them out in one of the other pictures.

For a tree topper, my daughter found a matched set of cast iron compass roses at an antique barn we like in Newburyport, MA. To add a little pizzazz, and color, to the tree topper, I added 8 neoPixels to each compass rose (with the wiring and controller sandwiched between them). I controlled them with a 5V/16MHz Arduino Pro Mini running a slightly modified version of the strandtest sketch.

 

 

 

The tree had a couple of strands of "regular" multicolor Christmas lights, too - and my wife is SO much better at stringing lights than I am! My last lighting contribution to the tree was a number of vacuum tubes, mounted at the ends of several branches, to which I cemented color-changing LEDs. It made the vacuum tubes look really cool, and blended in with the other lights quite naturally.

 

 

While I was handling the lightning and the structural components of the project, my wife and her best friend Karen were going to town on ornaments and other decorations. These few photos don't really do them justice; I'll post some of the photos my wife took when I get a chance. There were gears and keys and chains and vintage bits of hardware. In the 2nd photo below, you can see one of my favorites, a snowman ornament my wife made out of gears and clock hands!

 

We named our tree "Steampunk Celebrations." While we were setting up the tree, a lot of people asked us what Steampunk was and what it was all about. We ended up printing out a brief explanation, framing it, and displaying it with the tree.

 

I loved Steampunk long before I ever knew it had a name. As it turns out, a lot of other folks were just the same, and we got a fair share of "ah-ha" moments when we explained it to them. For the first time ever, we also won First Place, in the Most Unique / Creative category! It certainly helps that none of the judges (or other Festival folks) had ever seen anything quite like it before.

We have no idea who won our tree in the raffle, but I hope they enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.

 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!







The TARDIS Christmas Tree: Methuen Festival of Trees 2015

 

For a bunch of years now, we've been decorating Christmas trees for the Methuen Festival of Trees. By "we" I mean  my family and my wife's best friend, Karen. The festival is a fundraiser supporting historic preservation in the Merrimack Valley (located in beautiful Northeastern Massachusetts). It's been going on for 22 years, and attracts over 25,000 visitors each year. There are over 200 trees every year, with a wide variety of different themes. And - this is really cool - the trees are raffled off at the end of the festival; if you see one you really love, you can buy raffle tickets and try to win it!

This year, as you can see from the photos, we chose a Dr. Who theme. We named our tree, "A Timey-Wimey Christmas." True Dr. Who fans (like my daughter) will automatically recite the complete quote:

Construction was fairly straightforward, using 3/4" plywood for the top and bottom with the corner posts made from 1" x 3" x 6' pine and 3/4" quarter-round molding. And lots of Oxford Blue paint! We added some depth and shape to the roof with 1" foam sheet, and added an off-the-shelf white strobe with a translucent cover.

The TARDIS disassembles into several flat pieces by removing a handful of screws - essential, considering it's 40" wide,while the doors of my house are only 36" wide!

The tree has some decorations every bit as cool as the TARDIS itself. In addition to some white lights, it's also got color-changing LED lights that cycle between white and blue. We've got a 17 foot long scarf straight from Doctor #4's closet as a garland. And we've got lots of ornaments: There are Dalek and TARDIS paper dolls; photos of all the various Doctors; famous Doctor quotes; even some Cybermen and K-9.

The following video is a tour of the tree and the TARDIS.

Did you notice the double red heartbeat in the tree? No? Well, go back and watch the video again. Or better yet, check out this one:

Timelords have two hearts, and the heartbeat was my daughter's awesome idea. I used an Arduino Pro Mini and a pair of red LEDs inside ping-pong balls to pull that off. She was very disappointed, though, that I didn't make the tree spin!

We won 3rd place in the Best Use of Theme category - woo hoo! Last year, our Steampunk Tree won 1st place in the Most Creative / Unique category. I figure we should aim for 2nd place next year, so we get a complete set!

DIY Timelord Heartbeat
It's super-simple, but if anyone wants the schematic & code for the double heartbeat, just post a comment and ask for it. I'd be happy to post it!