PinThing

So close to done! (And the deadline!)

The point of this test is to prove that the Adafruit Motor Shield is in fact stackable *and* that I can control all/any of the motors motors on either shield from my laptop.

The point of this test is to prove that the Adafruit Motor Shield is in fact stackable *and* that I can control all/any of the motors motors on either shield from my laptop.

Mechanical: PinThing 3x5 display
Electronics: Arduino Uno + Adafruit Motor Shield V2
Firmware: Standard Firmata
Software: Node.js + Johnny-Five

(When it's all working with 15 pins, I'll upload the demo code to GitHub.)

One "fun" thing I learned while soldering all the wires is that these motors are incredibly heat sensitive. If you hold the soldering iron on the motor leads for more than a fraction of a second, you'll fry the motor. You'll know it's dead because the axle will be completely locked up and won't rotate. Thankfully, I only did this to 3 or so motors, and I had 5 extra spare motors. 😬

Next version I'll see about making a PCB that I can directly solder the motors to. Then I can have a smaller number of ribbon cables coming off the board. So far soldering has the been the biggest pain of this project.

A quick video of how I'm using a vice to install the 3D printed leadscrews onto the PinThing pin array.

Deadline is 12-ish hours away! Ack!!!!!!!

Here's a quick(ish) video showing the latest progress on my PinThing prototypes.  Once the 15 pin version is working mechanically and electronically, I'll post the source code, the bill of materials, and the 3D printable files you'll need to make one yourself.