September 6th: Arduino Project in a Day - Helmet Mod

Yesterday the boys & I took some old toys & such to Goodwill. We went into the store hoping to find something metal (and cheap) that we could cut with the plasma cutter :)

We didn't find anything to cut, but I did find some cool stuff, including a keyboard stand (my 7 year old just started keyboard classes) and some powered computer speakers that we will strip for parts to use in Lou's Hockey Scoreboard.

My 10 year old found a cool costume Starfighter helmet for $2 and brought it home. He was wearing it around the house when I noticed that it looked as if it had LEDs across the top of the helmet. I joked that we could put real LEDs in...next thing I know we've got the helmet on the drill press :)

Pics & Video...

Side view - need to clean off that sticker mess..

LEDs in place of the red paint...

Bent the LED cathodes to act as part of common ground...

Used some black wire to tie all the cathodes together...

We were constructing AND watching "The Invincible Iron Man" animated movie on Blu-Ray...
this is a power-on test of all the LEDs

I used my favorite patch cable - Cat5 - to tie the anodes to the Modified "Pico" Arduino which is tucked in the back of the helmet 

Better shot of the Pico Arduino

USB charging kit that uses 4 rechargeable AAs and a retractable mini-usb cable for power.
It even has an on/off switch :)

Blue tape - one of my favorite construction materials...

I used adhesive velcro to hold the Pico in place. 

September 4th: Metalworking with my Nephew...

Candy's family is in town for her Mother's big surprise birthday party. My nephew hung out in the garage today and learned how to use the plasma cutter. Below are pics of him wire-brushing the metal with the die grinder getting it ready for tomorrow's lesson in welding. He didn't have long sleeves or pants, so he's wearing one of my shirts, my tall tube socks and an improvised towel apron. I really need to get some leather aprons for myself and guests...

I REALLY need a tall welding table..

I purposely wanted to do this "overhead" weld to see how it came out. I know I should have flipped the material over...

We used the drill press to add two mounting holes.

Ta Da!

I loved the HAZ (heat affected zone) discoloration on the insides of the letters, makes a really cool effect.

Overall, not bad, probably 3 hours start to finish, with lots of explanation and practicing without actually cutting or welding. He did GREAT for his first time, and some of my welds looked better too - practice helps!

September 3rd: First big welding project is complete!

The family worked together to make a planter for my mother-in-law, Elaine. My boys call her "Nana", so we personalized the planter with the new plasma cutter.

We made an upright "trellis" out of steel square tube, 1/4" plate and some cut mounting hooks from IKEA.

Primed the galvanized metal, cleaned the bare steel, and then painted the whole thing...

If you are paying attention, you are wondering - "what is that little yellow box next to the planter?" - Great question! :)

After we had "NANA" cut in the side of the planter, I thought...OOOOH...why not BACKLIGHT it so that at night you see this...

Back at Home Depot, I grabbed a 3-LED solar landscape light and then brought it home to disassemble. That little yellow box is the "light box" which holds the LEDs and has the attached solar panel.

The final product (with a Jasmine plant installed) looks like this...and at night, "NANA" is visible through the side just like the pic above...

Here's another shot where you can see the light...

It also has some ACCESSORIES! First a bright purple watering can (she loves purple)...

And I found this idea online, so the boys & I made one from spoons and a ladle we purchased at IKEA.

The family is very proud of how it turned out, everyone had a chance to help in some part of the construction, and we think she will LOVE it. Her cake is also a planter / flower theme, so it all works together!

Below are some pictures of the light box construction. It was great sheet metal fabrication practice for me...

This is the light box in the middle of welding the curved edges. The light box started as a flat sheet of 22 gauge sheet metal from Home Depot. Adam & I made a template with cardboard, then used the plasma cutter to cut it out, then the vise for bending the edges, then tack welded & grinded the seams...

This is the point where I really got excited - the edges came out GREAT and I never thought I could build something like this...

You can see some of the little holes...more welding & grinding required!

Once it was painted, I moved to the workbench for assembly...

I drilled the big hole in the back after painting, which meant another prep / paint / wait cycle...Next time I build something like this I'll fine sand it after priming and between top coats. I experimented a bit with it on this one and that section came out ultra-smooth!

The remaining parts from the sacrificial landscape light. I picked this one due to 3 LED brightness, a BIG solar cell and a lithium battery. I was surprised to see 5 wires going to the LEDs. The charging circuit is down on the board with the LEDs.

Below was a test fit with the new aluminum reflector. Blue tape is so versatile! Here it is attaching the board AND insulating it from the aluminum reflector :)

I used ribbon cable to extend the wires, and heat-shrinked everything :) I also used hot glue to insulate the back of the circuit board AND to attach the board to the reflector.

I bent a piece of clear polystyrene and siliconed it to the the front of the box to both waterproof and diffuse the light. I did not trust my welded seams to be waterproof so I siliconed all the edges :) Messy, but should be watertight.

In the front view of the final light box, you can see the aluminum reflector (it is curved...looked cool, don't know if it really helps...) and the LED / charging circuit and wires hot glued to the reflector...

Another benefit of this light is that the battery is replaceable and in the bottom of the solar cell assembly, so I don't have to open the light box...

This was a GREAT project. We plasma cut, bent metal, welded metal, grinded (ground?!), soldered, hot glued, sanded, wire brushed, primed, painted, heat formed (polystyrene), epoxied (trellis to pot), glued (pvc) and siliconed.