Assembly

This last week I built a box to house all of the electronics and mounted it on a tripod. The box is made out of plywood and balsa wood. It holds the Arduino, motor, and H-bridge. I drilled a hole in the bottom and glued in a 1/4 inch nut so that a tripod mount can be attached to the box. I also got a power supply and finished all of the wiring.

This is my initial attempt to get the projection working with the spinning blade. 

The main problem right now is that the LEDs are so bright that the color is getting lost and they only appear as white on the webcam feed. I've tried reducing the color intensity but that doesn't seem to help a significant amount. Currently my plan is to try and use a DSLR camera as a webcam so that I can get more control over the video feed. If that doesn't work my plan is to put something over the blade to diffuse the light.  

Initial Testing

I got a new piece 3D printed that attaches the motor, blade, and slip ring all together. My friend Nathan Ayres, did the modeling and printing for me! It turned out great!



I got everything wired and tested out. The slip ring works really well and allows for the power and data to get to the LED strip. The only problem currently is that the LED sometimes blinks randomly when the motor is powered on. I'm still looking into why this is.

Up next I need to synchronize the image by making the blade spin at the same rate as the data is being received. I also need to get the projection and long exposure capture working. And lastly I want to fabricate a box to put the arduino, and motor inside to make the project look cleaner and be more portable.

More Parts

Motor Power Supply:  5.1V DC 2.5A

This AC to DC adapter is to run the stepper motor which needs a 2+ Amps to turn with enough strength to rotate the display.

Slip Ring:  

This piece allows for wires to rotate on a motor. This should help me power and send data to the LEDs on the rotating bar. I'm not exactly sure how the slip ring is going to be mounted on the display and will need to do some experimentation to figure that out.  

Motor H-Bridge: