First Steps with the Arduino-UNO | Maker, MakerED, MakerSpaces, Coding | Xmas Decoration with Rotating Star using a Stepper-Motor and Scrolling Text with LED Matrix and

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Two different projects will become ONE project for Xmas

Well, in previous tutorials <===> https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2019/11/03/first-steps-with-the-arduino-uno-maker-makered-makerspaces-coding-make-objects-rotating-with-a-stepper-motor/ <===> and in <===>  https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2018/04/08/first-steps-with-the-arduino-uno-r3-maker-makered-coding-scrolling-text-with-8×8-led-matrix/     <===> we learned about the how-to to make objects rotating as well as to display a scrolling text on a LED Matrix. NOW, we will combine those two for a nice Xmas decoration.

When fixing a small object there isn’t any problem, you just drill a hole of the diameter of the axis of the Stepper-Motor and fix it with hot glue or instant glue. BUT, when it comes to make rotating larger objects it will become unstable!! We need then also a larger support plate to fix the object. I used two techniques, one with a copper-plate of 0.8 mm (was still in my cellar for 30 years…) and/or a single-sided copper-Epoxy plate. Copper-plates are expensive and single-sided copper-Epoxy plates are on a less expensive price. They are about 0.65-1€/piece on Amazon.

For our Xmas project we will use a plastic star with LEDs which will get fixed the following way, check below please.

 

Single-sided Copper-Epoxy plate Single-sided Copper-Epoxy plate Click image, please, to enlarge.	Single-sided Copper-Epoxy plate   Single-sided Copper-Epoxy plate Click image, please, to enlarge.
Mounting and fixing of the Stepper-Motor Click image, please, to enlarge.	Mounting and fixing of an object Support for Xmas decoration Click image, please, to enlarge.
Support for Xmas decoration Support for Xmas decoration Click image, please, to enlarge.	Support for Xmas decoration Support for Xmas decoration Click image, please, to enlarge.

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As Xmas star I used one from Amazon, please check below:

• Valery Madelyn LED Christmas Tree Topper

Price is 14.99€, you may as well chose another one.

For the code (Sketch) please look at the following tutorial:

• Make objects rotating with a Stepper-Motor

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Two Projects in ONE

Once the Xmas Star fixed together with the Stepper-Motor, cabled and the the Code tested, WE fix our LED matrix with hot-glue, cabling it and running the Code for a last test:

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Finished project front view.   Click image, please, to enlarge.	Finished project rear view.               Click image, please, to enlarge.
Arduino NANO Screw Terminal arduino-nano-screw-terminal Arduino NANO Screw Terminal	. POWER BANK POWERADD Slim 2 Externer Akku 5000mAh . .
.   Prototype Shield for ARDUINO UNO-3 .

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As a reminder, please check below for the instructions for the LED-Matrix.

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• https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2018/04/08/first-steps-with-the-arduino-uno-r3-maker-makered-coding-scrolling-text-with-8×8-led-matrix/

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The cabling, wiring…

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Rotating Xmas Star with Stepper-Motor and Scrolling Text with LED Matrix

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Please, check above image (photo) where you will see the How-To to implement on an easy wiring way the components.

More explanations to come, stay tuned…

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L’auteur Gust MEES est Formateur andragogique / pédagogique TIC, membre du “Comité Conseil” de “Luxembourg Safer Internet” (LuSI), appelé maintenant BEESECURE, partenaire officiel (consultant) du Ministère de l’éducation au Luxembourg du projet  ”MySecureIT“, partenaire officiel du Ministère du Commerce au Luxembourg du projet ”CASES” (Cyberworld Awareness and Security Enhancement Structure).. The author Gust MEES is ICT Course Instructor, ”Member of the Advisory Board” from “Luxembourg Safer Internet” (LuSI), BEESECURE, Official Partner (Consultant) from the Ministry of Education in Luxembourg, project “MySecureIT“, Official Partner from the Ministry of Commerce in Luxembourg, project “CASES” (Cyberworld Awareness and Security Enhancement Structure). .

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Stay tuned for next blog post(s) 😉

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First Steps with the Arduino-UNO | Maker, MakerED, MakerSpaces, Coding | Make objects rotating with a Stepper-Motor | Tips and Tricks

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Fixing a Stepper-Motor for large objects

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Make objects rotating with a Stepper-Motor | Tips and Tricks

Well, in a previous tutorial <===> https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2018/09/19/halloween-project-with-skull-arduino-blinking-leds-and-scrolling-eyes-maker-makered-makerspaces/ <===> we created a Halloween Skull and it was fix, didn’t rotate. Fun? YES, BUT more fun when it is rotating by using a Stepper-Motor; looks then as it would observe, control the space around it 😉 And it is very easy to create, only a Stepper-Motor, an Arduino NANO and a bit Code; the rest is a bit manual work to fix mechanically the motor. And with the right tools the mechanical work is a piece of cake 😉. We will discuss ONLY the mechanical works and for the the code (Sketch) for the Arduino, please look at the following tutorial:

• Make objects rotating with a Stepper-Motor
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When fixing a small object there isn’t any problem, you just drill a hole of the diameter of the axis of the Stepper-Motor and fix it with hot glue or instant glue. BUT, when it comes to make rotating larger objects it will become unstable!! We need then also a larger support plate to fix the object. I used two techniques, one with a copper-plate of 0.8 mm (was still in my cellar for 30 years…) and/or a single-sided copper-Epoxy plate. Copper-plates are expensive and single-sided copper-Epoxy plates are on a less expensive price. They are about 0.65-1€/piece on Amazon.

 

Elegoo Set of 5 Stepper Motor 5 V       Elegoo Set of 5 Stepper Motor 5 V 28BYJ – 48 ULN2003 Click image, please, to enlarge.	Arduino NANO     Arduino NANO (3 pieces) Click image, please, to enlarge.
Drill Countersink Set / Step drill Set Drill Countersink Set Click image, please, to enlarge.	Single-sided Copper-Epoxy plate Single-sided Copper-Epoxy plate Click image, please, to enlarge.

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The mechanical works

First of all chose on what material you would like to fix the Stepper-Motor: this could be metal, plastic, cardboard or wood. As I like recycling, I ask in the Supermarket to get an empty wooden wine box. The Supermarket sometimes opens a six-pack of wine bottles in a wooden case (box) and they are happy NOT to recycle it themselves 😉 Here below an example for a Halloween project…

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Wooden box front view   Click image, please, to enlarge.	Wooden box rear view   Click image, please, to enlarge.
Mounting and fixing of the Stepper-Motor Click image, please, to enlarge.	Mounting and fixing of an object Click image, please, to enlarge.
Skull glued on copperplate with Stepper-Motor Click image, please, to enlarge.	Skull is fixed on the wooden box – happy-Halloween-rotating-skull Click image, please, to enlarge.

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Desription:

Drill a hole with a 6 mm drill in your support, then use the 32 mm Step-Drill to make the hole diameter fit to the diameter of the Stepper-Motor. Fix the Stepper-Motor. I used a copper-plate for having a large surface to fix the chosen rotating object. The axis from the Stepper-Motor is made from brass and that fits very well with copper for soldering them together. For the soldering you need an 80 Watt solder iron with a temperature of 430° C (806° F). Before you start soldering: clean the copper-plate, take off the patina first!! Same step for the single-sided Copper-Epoxy plate!!

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Single-sided Copper-Epoxy plate Single-sided Copper-Epoxy plate Click image, please, to enlarge.	Single-sided Copper-Epoxy plate   Single-sided Copper-Epoxy plate Click image, please, to enlarge.
Mounting and fixing of the Stepper-Motor Click image, please, to enlarge.	Mounting and fixing of an object Support for Xmas decoration Click image, please, to enlarge.
Support for Xmas decoration Support for Xmas decoration Click image, please, to enlarge.	Support for Xmas decoration Support for Xmas decoration Click image, please, to enlarge.

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Desription:

Above you see an example for a Xmas project, tutorial will follow soon, stay tuned 😉

 

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L’auteur Gust MEES est Formateur andragogique / pédagogique TIC, membre du “Comité Conseil” de “Luxembourg Safer Internet” (LuSI), appelé maintenant BEESECURE, partenaire officiel (consultant) du Ministère de l’éducation au Luxembourg du projet  ”MySecureIT“, partenaire officiel du Ministère du Commerce au Luxembourg du projet ”CASES” (Cyberworld Awareness and Security Enhancement Structure).. The author Gust MEES is ICT Course Instructor, ”Member of the Advisory Board” from “Luxembourg Safer Internet” (LuSI), BEESECURE, Official Partner (Consultant) from the Ministry of Education in Luxembourg, project “MySecureIT“, Official Partner from the Ministry of Commerce in Luxembourg, project “CASES” (Cyberworld Awareness and Security Enhancement Structure). .

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Stay tuned for next blog post(s) 😉

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First Steps with the Arduino-UNO R3 | Maker, MakerED, MakerSpaces, Coding | Xmas Star with NeoPixels WS2812B

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Xmas Star with NeoPixels WS2812B made from cardboard

Soon there will be Christmas and decorations are getting put around the house worldwide as it is tradition since ages to do so. That’s also the time for tinkerers, makers to GET some new ideas. Well, I thought on a project which everybody could do without having a 3D-Printer NOR a Laser cutter at home and not having access to them on other places. SO, I tried out to create a Xmas-Star from cardboard using an Arduino UNO and Neopixels…

I recently bought 1 Meter of Neopixels WS2812B with 60 LEDs and tried it out while wife was looking at it and she told me if that wouldn’t be an idea for making a Christmas-Decoration, e.g. a star. I took that challenge and a day later it was working, LOL 😉 I used a 3,5 mm thick cardboard from a red wine box which was stable enough to create the project.

 

The measures are 160 mm x 160 mm and there are 8 segments with an angle of 45° (8 x 45 = 360°). This is quiet easy to draw on cardboard… Once the lines drawn, up from the middle line draw a 1 cm to the left and to the right so that it makes a 2 cm width of each segment. On the middle cut out a square hole from 1,6 cm. That is the perfect outfit for the Christmas-Star. Cut it out with a sharp cutter and paint it with the color of your choice, I used green… NOW take the 1 meter long ribbon and cut off 8 x 4 LEDs. THEN take off the protection paper from the Neopixels WS2812B ribbon and glue them on the cardboard, see PIC please.

 

Find below, please, a drawing with the dimensions and where to cut out:

 

You may have a look on this Tutorial to know a bit more about the handling of Neopixel LEDS, please:

• https://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Neopixel
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The project itself by cabling is actually VERY easy, ONLY 3 wires, the MOST work is on the mechanical part by cutting the cardboard, painting, soldering the Neopixels WS2812B strip and to put everything into a box with the necessary parts, while drilling, etc. WE will see this in detail by following PICS… But first let us solder and interconnecting the 8 x 4 Neopixels LEDs strips, you need to follow the arrows on the strips to connect each of the 8 x 4 LED strips, thus meaning: see PICs please:

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Please have a look on how this will look in our project; we use color flat cable to make the connections.

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Back side view of the Xmas star: click image, please, to enlarge.

The flat cable will get fixed with hot-glue on the cardboard.

 

Front side view of the Xmas star: click image, please, to enlarge.

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Once the 8 x 4 LED strips are interconnected, you can connect the other 28 LEDs to the point marked with “START” and connect them to the ARDUINO UNO board through a screw terminal to make the first tests. Please check the tutorial below with the code for the How-To:

• http://frederickvandenbosch.be/?p=359
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IF everything is working, hopefully, we can go for the integration of the components into a housing. TIP: prepare the ARDUINO UNO (NANO) already with the code uploaded and test after each 4 LED strips connected to make sure it will work!! it’s BETTER to invest time for NOT later having trouble and NOT knowing from where the fault comes 😉

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Housing (case) for Xmas Star Click image, please, to enlarge	Housing (case) for Xmas Star Click image, please, to enlarge.
Housing (case) for Xmas Star	Housing (case) for Xmas Star Click image, please, to enlarge.
Soldering inside the housing (case) for Xmas star Click image, please, to enlarge.	Soldering inside the housing (case) for Xmas star Click image, please, to enlarge.

 

Well, you have seen NOW the different mechanical steps and the soldering inside the housing, that’s the preparation, now we have to connect as well the Xmas star to the Arduino… We will use a 3 x 0.75 mm² cable to do so, find below, please, some PICs which show you the How-To, as well as the components with links to purchase them (I used AMAZON.DE), feel FREE to purchase them where you want:

 

Finished housing for Xmas star Click image, please, to enlarge.	BTF-LIGHTING 1M 60 LEDs/Pixels/m WS2812B Schwarz PCB RGB adressierbare Strip  Click image, please, to enlarge. AMAZON.DE https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01CDTEE5W
2 x 170mm x 105mm x 85mm Waterproof Plastic Enclosure Case Power Junction Box Click image, please, to enlarge. AMAZON.DE https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B06XDK3GFT	Aussel 10 Stück AC 125 V 6A ON-ON 3 Pins 2 Position Mini Kippschalter für Arduino Click image, please, to enlarge. AMAZON.DE https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B077D9FRGL
Ehao 20 Stück Kupfer 5mm Leuchtdiode LED-Lampensockel-Montage-Panel-Display Click image, please, to enlarge. AMAZON.DE https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01MRVAFGK/	10 Stück Wentronic EDC 21 L DC-Einbaubuchse Stift 2,1 mm,geschl. Click image, please, to enlarge. AMAZON.DE https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00DDQ7EVG/

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WINOMO DC 12V 1A CCTV Kamera Netzteil EU Stecker (Schwarz) AMAZON.DE https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B010SVDXG8/	AZDelivery ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ UNO R3 mit USB-Kabel, 100% Arduino kompatibel mit gratis eBook! AMAZON.DE https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01MDJA464/
Kopp 151610846 Schlauchleitung H03 VV-F, 3 x 0.75 mm², 10 m, weiß AMAZON.DE https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000VDEX2M/	Klebesockel für Kabelbinder 19 mm x 19mm Montagesockel   Click image, please, to enlarge. AMAZON.DE https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01NAKYL5X/

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And here the MOST important to make it work, the code:

• NEOPIXEL-WS2812B-60-ARDUINO-CODE
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The code will get downloaded and copy it, then paste it into the Arduino IDE.

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This is how the code will look and where you can (MUST) modify it, see PIC below please:

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Click image, please, to enlarge.

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You need ALSO to download and to install the “FastLED.h” Library

Click image, please, to enlarge it.

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Download the  “FastLED.h” Library here in case of that you will NOT find it in the “Library manager”:

• http://fastled.io/

Check also, please:

• https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide/arduino-library-use
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Have fun and stay tuned for next projects 😉

 

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L’auteur Gust MEES est Formateur andragogique / pédagogique TIC, membre du “Comité Conseil” de “Luxembourg Safer Internet” (LuSI), appelé maintenant BEESECURE, partenaire officiel (consultant) du Ministère de l’éducation au Luxembourg du projet  ”MySecureIT“, partenaire officiel du Ministère du Commerce au Luxembourg du projet ”CASES” (Cyberworld Awareness and Security Enhancement Structure). L’auteur était aussi gagnant d’un concours en électronique en 1979 ( Pays germaniques ) et voyait son projet publié dans le magazine électronique “ELO”. The author Gust MEES is ICT Course Instructor, ”Member of the Advisory Board” from “Luxembourg Safer Internet” (LuSI), BEESECURE, Official Partner (Consultant) from the Ministry of Education in Luxembourg, project “MySecureIT“, Official Partner from the Ministry of Commerce in Luxembourg, project “CASES” (Cyberworld Awareness and Security Enhancement Structure). The author was also a winner of an electronics contest (Germanic countries) in 1979 and got his project published in the “Electronics Magazine ELO”.

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Keywords necessary for me to create this blog post: Arduino UNO R3, Arduino NANO, UNO R3 Project, Xmas Star, WM2812B RGB LEDs, Heatshrinking-Tube, coding, learning to learn, learning by doing,

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