Hey! I’m Slater, a junior ECE major from Lincoln, MA. I love building electronics that are both aesthetic and functional, especially display devices and input devices. The design, materials, and manufacturing methods are a big focus for me. Many of my projects already involve light in some way. I’m inspired by retro technology such as Nixie tubes, CRT displays/vectorscopes, and tactile inputs such as clicky buttons and sturdy dials.
Through various personal projects and school assignments, I’ve gained experience using laser cutters, 3D printers, CAD design and programming, as well as designing and building circuits.
Personal Projects
Although older, one project I am very proud of is a clock I built with edge lit acrylic panes engraved with numbers. I designed a custom PCB to hold 20 WS2812B leds for each digit, and I made a case using a laser cutter which bends to make an interesting arch. In addition to the clock, I made a single digit version which can show the current weather conditions, by stacking various icons with different colors.
Another project I worked on this summer is a ping pong ball display, featuring a slanted 7×19 grid of LEDs with a ping pong ball on each as a diffuser. This project is still a work in progress, and I have not made holes in all the ping pong balls yet. The frame is made from maple, and building the requisite angles without much woodworking experience was a challenge. Currently, the display is sitting in our common room window in East Hall, displaying “Happy A term!!” on loop. Take a look if you walk by!
I also worked on a couple projects with Raspberry Pi’s. I was having internet issues where it would go down for short blips, so I built an internet tester that repeatedly pings Google at a fixed interval. I built a housing with a display, which shows the results of each ping as a bar on the bottom, and the number of missed packets in the last 24 hours is shown above. It also stores a CSV with the number of missed packets for each interval.
Last but not least, I recently built an air quality monitor with a sensor that monitors the CO2 concentration, temperature, and humidity. In the future I will add monitoring of various particles such as PM2.5. The results are automatically graphed in an online Google Sheet.
I also worked on a handful of other projects, but I don’t feel like they are complete enough to share yet!
Clever! I love the weather display and how you displayed different weather conditions by using multiple layers! I think this could be an actual marketable product. You even included a “Severe Weather” display which was very thoughtful.
I’ll combine two badges into one and say Impressively-Shiny. The projects you’ve done are impressing to me, as someone who hasn’t gone after this style of art before. The combination of all the electrical parts and with sensors amazes me. I am a sucker for bright lights especially when they look as good as your projects. Also your most recent work is incredibly thought out and your plans for it are exciting.
Innovative! Its so cool how you used your knowledge and skills from your classes and interests to make designs that are honestly unique and useable. Its easy to tell that a lot of the work you put into these projects is because you truly enjoy creating and innovating.
Inventive! I love seeing all of the different projects you’ve showcased here and have had similar ideas with the light-up acrylic clock and weather stations. I think using the different layers and acrylic is a great idea to showcase the different colors and LED lights. I look forward to seeing what you make for this class.
Impressive – An air quality monitor! That is so cool! It always amazes me just how advanced technology is to the point where we can have devices like these casually in our homes. And at first glance it would just look like another clock, and then your actual clock piece is beautiful! The photo you took of it also makes it look as grand as it feels, with the low angle and purple glow around the rest of the room.
Impressive and familiar: The use of technology to create functional and interactive art pieces is very cool. I really like the idea of engraving acrylic to show light that’s shown through it. You could definitely sell these, they all look like professional products!
clever – I really liked your ping tester, I also have questionably reliable internet and a device like that seems like something that I would buy.
SHINY and COLORFUL! These projects are everything I wish I could push myself to make with LEDs. I’m especially drawn to the weather display – great idea having separate panels stacked together to create one graphic.
Striking! The light definitely makes your works pop out. I want to see how you made them, especially that clock — I can see myself wanting to make these sorts of stuff for myself. It’s all really cool, and pretty useful (I mean, weather forecasts are useful!).
Shiny! All of your projects end up looking so clean, polished, and vibrant! It’s always awesome to see them both in progress and when they finally come together!
Striking – I am in awe by all of your pieces! I am someone who also loves things that are functional and aesthetically pleasing to look at. I am jealous that I don’t know how to do all this stuff, as I would love to!