Blinky Gallery Page

I've always built stuff since I was a child and the trend continues and has even grown since I retired. Some people (including myself from time to time) think I am possessed or at least on the autistic spectrum but I don't care as building things keeps my brain active. Some people go bowling, I build things. Luckily, my wife Heather is the same way so we get along great. I wrote articles for Nuts and Volts magazine for many years and many of these creations were published there.

My friends call me "Mr. Blinky" for a good reason.
This title was bestowed on me by my friend Dennis and it quickly spread to all my other friends.
I think they have a point.

Picture	Description
	This is my motion controlled cactus light. It is 3D printed and is filled with 52 NeoPixels and a ESP32 D1 Mini controller. The software was written in the Arduino IDE. The ESP32 sleeps until it is woken up by movement then it picks a random pattern and displays it for ~40 seconds. After that it goes back to sleep waiting for the next motion event. The red at the top of the green cactus is supposed to be a flower.
	Here is another one of the random patterns that can be displayed. Of course the rainbow colors continually move while being displayed. This pattern is really pretty.
	This is a 4x4x4 RGB LED cube which is driven by an Arduino Uno controller. It runs colorful patterns and, in a different mode, reacts to sounds.
	My friends gave me a piece of beetle killed pine so I made this mountain/agate light from it. It is motion sensitive and wakes up to display an array of colorful patterns.
	I've built many color organs over the years and this is the most advanced on yet. It is quite large as well. It is powered by a Teensy processor and has an LCD touch screen display on the side for controlling its operation.
	Another shot of the color organ in operation.
	Another color organ built into a flag frame. This is the first, non analog, color organ I ever built. It processes sound completely in the digital domain.
	. This is a Arduino Uno controller connected to a LCD display. I call this device the contemplator because it sat on my desk for years just generating interesting colorful and mathematical patterns.
	Here the contemplator is displaying Julia set generation.
	I call this blink the "Crystal Palace". It is made up of acrylic rods of different dimensions and each rod is lit from the bottom. It too displays interesting and beautiful color patterns.
	Another view
	Heather and I went into a rock shop near Salida and saw various devices for displaying crystals. When I saw a $120 price tag I decided I would design and build my own. This is 3D printed with wood veneer on the top. Of course it has a micro-controller on the inside which changes the color of the crystal periodically.
	More fun with my 3D printer. There are NeoPixel LEDs around the inside of this piece and optical fiber rods connecting them. This device has a wide range of color possibilities because each end of the optical rod can be lit with a different color and the colors mix along the way.
	I had one of these as a child that my father had bought me so I decided to build one for myself as an adult. These thin optical strands change colors in beautiful ways.
	I call this the "Flower Garden" Abstract 3D printed flower shapes that respond to movement. Each optical fiber is driven by an RGB LED.
	When I got a laser cutter I knew I had to make something that blinked with it. This is actually a practical device that I have hanging in a hallway. When it senses movement it lights up bright white so I can see my way in the dark. After a few moments the white fades to a random color and after a few more moments it fades to black. This looks like a hot air balloon hanging in the hallway.
	I call this the "Infinity Portal" for no reason other than the LEDs look like they go on forever. This device is powered by an Arduino controller. You can see the creator in the reflection.
	Another view of the Infinity Portal in operation.
	A clock made from rings of LEDs. This clock has no controls for setting the time because it uses the NTP protocol to get network time. It also knows how to deal with daylight saving time changes as well.
	This I call the "Light Appliance" because it does a bunch of things besides the display of beautiful patterns (which it does well). It also is a word clock that tells time in words. So it says twenty past two instead of displaying 2:20.
	A 3D printed lotus flower with an LED in it to light it up at night.
	I built this clock out of acrylic and LEDs for use in our Manitou condo. It is hard to tell in this picture but it displays the time with red for hours and green for minutes and blue for seconds. Not only is this clock useful, but it projects color in every direction at night. Very pretty.
	This project consists of 9 2.8" LCD displays housed in a laser cut box that was veneered. This device is mainly a slide show but it can display graphics as well.
	Here it is displaying a bunch of ray traced images I generated. This device sleeps all of the time but wakes up to display images and/or graphics when it detects motion.
	I built a desk size Infinity Portal because I could. It turned out very well and I enjoy watching it.
	I made a series of (8) weird little devices for an interactive presentation I was planning on doing. The presentation never worked out so I repurposed a couple of these things to generate ray traced images in real time.
	A motion controlled snow flake cut with and engraved with my laser cutter. Worthless but fun to build.
	This is the largest 3D printed project I have made yet. Each triangle contains many RGB LEDs that can display beautiful color patterns like the one shown here.
	My first laser cutter project ever. For this I had to use the laser cutter at the library cause I couldn't afford one at that time. The NeoPixel rings display beautiful colorful patterns. Heather and I always put this out at Christmas time. I made 3 of these in total and I gave each of my sisters one for Christmas a few years ago.
	I saw this vase in a magazine article and I ended up buying my 3D printer just so I could make one myself. There is a controller in the base that publishes a website where the colors and patterns can be selected. This is really beautiful at night but not so much during the day.
	A Nixie Tube clock I made. It also runs on NTP time so there is no need for controls to set the time.
	Another 3D printed gizmo that has LED around the inside of the ring. There is a rotary encoder in the base that can set the ring to any color, at any level or select from numerous colorful patterns for display.
	A Shoji 3D printed lamp that is made up of parts just like a real one that go together without any glue or fasteners. Like the ring light above it has an unseen rotary that performs all of the functions mentioned for the device above. I made two of these and gave one away as a Christmas present.
	A Sun clock for my studio. It display nice colorful patterns and also show the time.
	My so called Triangle Clock which is also 3D printed. This was a struggle to build because of issues with my 3D printer but came out well in the end. This clock also uses the NTP protocol so there aren't any switches to set the clock.
	Every 10 minutes the Triangle Clock displays the colorful patterns.
	Another clock, what can I say (;>)
	I bought this tea candle light at Crate & Barrel and wired it with LEDs. It is motion activated so it stays off until motion is detected. This is always a conversation starter whenever any new people come to the house.
	Another 3D printed lamp controlled by a web page.
	This is my RGB 32x32 matrix display . It displays the time, the date and the current weather conditions. During display, a plasma pattern continually changes in the background. The display is approximately 5 inches square.
	The matrix displaying the date
	The matrix displaying the current weather conditions. It displays the overall condition (FOG here), the current temperature in Fahrenheit, the current wind speed in miles/hour and the relative humidity in percent.

Questions and comments to me Craig at: calhjh@gmail.com