Back in 2014 Christian Kortenhorst laser cut a Tog sign and put some awesome LED’s in it. Check out the build video on our youtube channel. We have used the sign over the years in our spaces and taken to so many events. Unfortunately, it has taken a bit of a bashing over the years with the front panel coming loose. Plugging in the wrong power supply final saw it die.
The project started pre lockdown by member Jeffrey Roe with installing a new a sheet of acrylic and shoring up the corners of the box with new nails.
Next up came the electronics, the brains of the project is a NodeMCU ESP8266 running the fastLED library to control a string of LEDs. A 3.3V -5V logic shifter helps to ensure the longevity of the board when talking to LEDs.
To give a bit more interaction a button was added to cycle though the fastled animations. Using a hardware interrupt allows the transitions to be very responsive.
A sheet of paper was glued in using contact adhesive to act as a diffuser. The tape on the back of the LED strip immediately failed so lots of hot glue was used to secure the LEDs in place.
Check out the rest of the build photos in our gallery.