Do-It-Yourself Projects

by Mitch Altman, and friends.

You Can Make Cool Things With Microcontrollers!

The projects on this page were all created for total beginners, with no experience, to complete successfully at my workshops, or at home, or anywhere!

All you need is a desire, a handful of parts, a soldering iron (with stand and sponge), a wire-cutter, a wire-stripper, solder, and an afternoon.
tools

Soldering!

Soldering is fun! And it is easy! Really, it is!
I have taught thousands of people around the world how to solder.
Everyone can do it! All ages, all skill levels.
People who have never even sewn a button can easily learn to solder. Even you!
Once you learn how to make one good solder connection, you can make anything on this page.
And if you can make anything on this page, you can learn to make anything with electronics and microcontrollers.

One of the people I taught to solder now teaches others to solder. Andie Nordgren is also a great artist, and she created a wonderful single-page comic that shows the basics of soldering.

Click the image for a larger version, or download the PDF.
Please feel free to copy this comic, and spread it around.

Many of these projects are made by hacking the MiniPOV! kit
(and the others were inspired by it).

MiniPOV! kit, by Limor Fried

To build many of the projects on this page, you will need to partially assemble a MiniPOV! kit.
For excellent instructions on building the MiniPOV! kit please go to Ladyada's MiniPOV! kit.

Here is a really cool software utility for creating any image you like in your MiniPOV:
Magic Soft MiniPOV Message Generator (this is not needed for the other projects on this page).

For the firmware source code for the MiniPOV3, please go to MiniPOV! firmware.
And here is the makefile (these are not needed for the other projects on this page).

Atmel AVR microcontrollers

All of the projects on this page use Atmel AVR family microcontrollers.
The Atmel ATtiny2313 is the microcontroller used in the MiniPOV3.
For the datasheet, please go to Atmel AVR ATTiny2313 datasheet.
For the AVR family instruction set, please go to Atmel AVR family instruction set.
For a really great online user community of support for all Atmel AVR microcontrollers AVR Freaks is the place to go, where geeks from all over the world are awake day and night wanting nothing more than to answer your questions!

Ordering Parts

I ordered most of the parts from Mouser.
The rest of the parts I ordered from Jameco (also a good place for decent, inexpensive tools).
Digikey is also a good place.
You can buy a MiniPOV! kit, from The Maker Store or directly from Ladyada.

Project: Make your own Brain Machine (from MAKE Magazine #10)

Relax and rejuvenate as your brain synchronizes to a wonderful meditative state,
and enjoy as you hallucinate beautiful colors and patterns from your subconscious mind!
This was my first AVR project.
It is easy for anyone to make because it is hacked from the super easy to make MiniPOV3 Kit.
For the original MAKE Magazine article Mitch wrote, please go to Brain Machine article.
Here's the official MAKE Magazine webpage for the Brain Machine: Brain Machine blog
where you can ask Mitch questions (click on the bizarre photo for a fun 5-minute video).

Since writing the Brain Machine article in MAKE, I have learned how to make the Brain Machine better. Here is an updated and annotated version of the original MAKE Magazine article.

If you bought a Brain Machine Kit from me, it came with a single-page instruction sheet. A copy of the instruction sheet is available here.

I made a slight update to the Brain Machine firmware: use a more pleasing base frequency for the sound. For the updated firmware, please go to the latest SLM firmware.
The sound with this updated firmware will be even better if you use 2.2K ohm resistors for R5 and R6 instead of 1K, as it says in the MAKE article.
For an updated schematic, please go to the latest SLM schematic.
For a detailed description of the firmware and how it works, please go to
Brain Machine Firmware Theory.

Here is where to download the original cool graphix for the glasses.
And check out these cool graphix by Michael Wertz (thanks Michael!).
- For a template for cutting out the graphix when using Jackson Allsafe Element Safety Glasses model 31006 (which cost $1.15 each), please go to Glasses Template 1.
- For a template for cutting out the graphix when using Gallaway Visitor Spectacle model 1750C (which cost $1.05 each), please go to Glasses Template 2.

TripGlasses

Relax and rejuvinate as your brain synchronizes to a wonderful meditative state,
and enjoy as you hallucinate beautiful colors and patterns from your subconscious mind!
This is a manufactured, ready-to-use (not a kit) version of the Brain Machine.
www.TripGlasses.com.
TripGlasses are now available for purchase!

Project: Make your own open source TV-B-Gone Kit (developed with Ladayada)

The TV-B-Gone Kit was developed from the MiniPOV3 hack (see below).
For excellent assembly instructions, please go to TV-B-Gone Kit page of the Ladyada.net website.
For questions about the TV-B-Gone Kit, please go to the TV-B-Gone Kit user forum.
To see the schematic, firmware, and board layout, please go to TV-B-Gone Kit downloads.
For those who want their TV-B-Gone kit to work in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and some other countries that use the European database, please get the TV-B-Gone Kit European firmware.
TV-B-Gone Kits are available for purchase at the TV-B-Gone Kit page of the TVBGone.com website.

Here is another really nice open source TV-B-Gone Kit made by Magic Soft:
It is called TV-B-Gone EHP, and can turn off TVs from 100 meters away, just like the
TV-B-Gone Pro SHP that I created. The EHP was developed collaboratively by several users of the TV-B-Gone Kit user forum on the ladyada.net website.
The EHP is available at: www.magicsoftinc.com
A very small TV-B-Gone CHiP Kit is also available at: www.magicsoftinc.com

Project: Make your own open source TV-B-Gone (hacked from a MiniPOV 3 Kit)

This is not the TV-B-Gone Kit -- see above for the TV-B-Gone Kit.

This is an open source version of my TV-B-Gone remote control, hacked from a MiniPOV3 Kit.
For the firmware source code for North America, please go to TV-B-Gone NA firmware.
For the database of North American TV POWER codes, please go to TV-B-Gone NA POWER codes.
For the firmware source code for Europe, please go to TV-B-Gone EU firmware.
For the database of European TV POWER codes, please go to TV-B-Gone EU POWER codes.
For the makefile for both NA and EU firmware, please go to makefile.
For the schematic, please go to TV-B-Gone schematic.

Project: Make your own Trippy RGB Waves Kit

The Trippy RGB Waves project (see below) was so popular that I created a kit for it.
For detailed assembly instructions, please go to Trippy RGB Waves Kit assembly instructions.
For the firmware source code and technical description, please go to Trippy RBG Waves Kit firmware.
And here is the makefile.
The schematic is available at Trippy RGB Waves Kit schematic.
The list of parts (with part numbers) is available at Trippy RGB Waves Kit Bill of Materials.
The PCB layout is available at Trippy RGB Waves Kit gerber files (zipped).
To see a video of this project in action, please go to Trippy RGB Waves project video.
Here is a video of someone (very quickly) building the kit!
It is available for purchase from the Makezine.com website.

Project: Trippy RGB Waves

This is not the Trippy RGB Waves Kit -- see above for the Trippy RBG Waves Kit.

I created this project while artist in residence for the month of August, 2008 at AS220, an arts space in Providence, RI.
Imagine a bunch of little lights (maybe 20 or 40 of them), on a table, each about the size of a chess piece. Each is independent of the other. You arrange them around on the table any way you want. Each one continually slowly changes colors on its own. When you wave your hand over them, it creates waves of colors that follow your hand.
I hacked this project from the Trippy RGB Light (see below), (which was hacked from a MiniPOV3 kit). I didn't use a PCB, but soldered all components directly together, and added an IR emitter and an IR detector to sense when you wave your hand over it, and when you do, it resets the RGB sequence from the beginning. The net effect, when you wave your hand over a table-full of them, is that waves of colors follow underneath your hand.
For the firmware source code and technical description, please go to Trippy RBG Waves firmware.
And here is the makefile.
For the schematic, please go to Trippy RGB Waves schematic.
To see a video of this project in action, please go to Trippy RGB Waves project video.
To see some close up photos of the hardware I built, please go to
Trippy RGB Waves project photos.

Project: Make your own Mignonette Game

At the San Francisco Maker Faire in May, 2008, Mitch and Rolf released our Mignonette Game kit. Mignonette is a small hand-held game that has an LED matrix instead of an LCD. It is very simple to build, even for people who have never built anything before, and great for learning how to make things with microcontroller chips. Based on the Mignon Game Kit,, but with two-colored LEDs, and other added features, Mignonette comes with a game we wrote called Munch (with more games to come). All hardware and firmware are open source, and are easily hack-able.
We have a separate website for our Mignonette Game, where you can find detailed info.
The Mignonette Game Kit is available for purchase from the Makezine.com website.

Project: Make your own Solar BugBot

This excitable guy sings and dances when he eats light.
He is a vibrabot, with an off-balance motor, speaker, and solar panel, hacked from a MiniPOV3 kit.
For the firmware source code, please go to BugBot firmware.
And here is the makefile.
For the schematic, please go to BugBot schematic.
The list of parts (with part numbers) is available at Solor BugBot Bill of Materials.
To see a high-res photograph of the BugBot, please go to BugBot photo.

Project: Make your own Trippy RGB Light

A mood light that sequences through all sorts of changing colors. Trippy!
This is a very easy hack from the MiniPOV3 Kit.
For the firmware source code, please go to RGB Light firmware.
For the schematic, please go to RGB Light schematic.
And here is the makefile.
To see a photograph of the Trippy RGB Light, please go to Trippy RGB Light photo.
For detailed assembly instructions, please go to Trippy RGB Light assembly instructions.
The list of parts (with part numbers) is available at Trippy RGB Light Bill of Materials.

Project: Make your own LEDcube Kit

NOTE: The full documentation for this project will be available soon.
This is a small 3x3x3 single-color version of the amazing color 3D Borg cube by Das-Labor.
For the firmware source code of the test firmware for the LEDcube Kit, please go to
LEDcube Kit Test firmware.
For firmware source code for a more interesting animation for the LEDcube Kit, please go to
LEDcube Kit firmware.
And here is the makefile for both of the above.

Project: Make your own LED Cube

NOTE: This is NOT the LEDcube kit (see above)
This was the first project made at NYC Resistor, a hacker space that started in New York in 2008.
After coming back from the Chaos Communications Congress, we were so inspired by the color 3D Borg cube by Das-Labor, a German hacker group, that me, Bre, and George decided to build our own miniature LEDcube.
For a Weekend Project video for how to make this project, please go to Make an LED Cube.
For the firmware source code, please go to LED Cube firmware.
And here is the makefile.
To see a video of this firmware in action, please go to LED Cube video.
To see some close up photos of the hardware I built, please go to LED Cube photos.

Cool Neon

Benny, of Cool Neon gave a presentation using EL-Wire at my booth at San Francisco Maker Faire 2007.
You can order EL-Wire and associated supplies at the CoolNeon.com website.