I initially started off using a nice little round touch button with a TTP223 chip.
But after accidentally pushing the soldering iron through the chip whilst setting the jumpers I bought some other TTP223 chips on little rectangular boards which are slightly easier to solder.
I used 5x Max7219 LED matrices for this project. During testing I had issues with LED rows dropping out or LEDs going off and on. It turned out that while daisy-chaining the LED matrices together, power drops after 4 matrices. I solved this by powering the first 3 via the initial cables, then adding a separate power line for the last 2.
Nice project! I have made something similar time ago, i also tried to put a thin layer of wood in front of the LED matrix, but it wasn't very transparent with a poor result. Checking in the wood shop i have found a vinyl adhesive paper with a wood effect, there was many type. I have applied one of that only in front of the display, leaving the rest of the box in real wood, the result was very good! very transparent.
thankyou. I tried different bits of wood and iron-on veneer was the best to get me the overall effect. When you start getting down to less than a mill thick the wood starts to break really easily. What I REALLY wanted was to get a piece of Rosewood (or similar) and CNC it out from the back so it was all one piece. ...wait till I am rich. [must finish my write-up]
Like the look. Must look into woodworking. Presentation has always been my weak point.