Initial Design
I started by whipping up an initial design for the LED enclosure. The idea was the have a front panel that can help direct and diffuse the light for the LED’s and a back panel that holds the electrical components and my phone:
A Late Bloomer…
I then switched over to trying to get my LED panel working, which become a nightmare-filled weekend. Even after spending multiple days trying to get my panel to behave in a way that makes sense, I wasn’t able to do it. So, I switched over to trying to get it all working on a RPI instead, as I have a friend who’s made a bunch of projects with a RPI and LEDs
Porting over to the RPI
I first started by loading up the LED demos for the Adafruit hat that my friend gave me, and was super happy to see this working:
Also, I lucked out that her panel was actually a higher resolution than the original one I got, which you’ll see ends up being a much better end product.
It’s Alive!!!
Then, after some time banging my head against the wall (and getting some help from Gemini), I got early signs of life:
I then realized my bug and loaded up my script again, which i was super happy to see led to this result!
Re-Design
Now that everything works, the next step is to redesign the enclosure. This time, I thought it would be cool to mimic a retro macintosh aesthetic and landed on this design which I’m going to spend the next week printing and refining:
Looking great so far! I like the design of your enclosure. I think a creamy/canvas white would like really nice — making it look like a retro computer.
You could use dye to get the color, that way it will be quick and even. I know rit dye is pretty popular, at least in the cosplay community and stuff like that. There’s also a lot of tutorials on best practice.
It seems like your project is coming together nicely and working accordingly. Your enclosure design is really cool and I think that along with the matte diffuser, it will give a really cool retro vibe. I look forward to hopefully being able to try out your creation for myself!
I love your project, and you seem almost there! I’m glad you got your hands on a bigger led display. Honestly, I don’t think the white looks that bad on its own but if you want something different, I’m sure that will look great too!