In a previous post I described artist Peter Hazel‘s new plan to create a a 20-foot Mako shark, made from fused glass plates mounted to a brushed-steel exoskeleton, for Burning Man 2022. That’s still the plan, but now Peter has added a couple more projects for this year. The first is really just a renovation.Continue reading “Project Updates”
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Shark! (RIP Pele)
In two previous blog posts (#1, #2) I described my collaboration with artist Peter Hazel to construct a mock-up (a “maquette”) of a large sculpture (Pele the Fire Goddess) that he proposed to bring to Burning Man 2022. He submitted the proposal and the maquette to the Burning Man art grant committee in the hopeContinue reading “Shark! (RIP Pele)”
FLiCr LED Controller – Update #1
Lots of progress to report. I’ve assembled the first prototype and have run a series of tests to validate the design. So far everything has worked almost perfectly and my list of next-revision improvements is very short. One of the most important tests was to confirm the functionality and performance of my “reconfigurable LED driverContinue reading “FLiCr LED Controller – Update #1”
FLiCr LED Controller
If you read my recent post on the OpenRocket LED controller, you may recall that several key components are not currently available due to the supply chain issues affecting the global electronics sector. Now that I’ve used up my existing stock, I’m forced to redesign it with different parts. But I couldn’t resist making someContinue reading “FLiCr LED Controller”
Fire Goddess – Update #1
After another full day of work, the Fire Goddess proposal was submitted to the Burning Man art grant committee. Contrary to what we all thought yesterday, the proposals were due at 5pm, not noon, so Peter and team* had “plenty” of time to make many improvements to the maquette before the final photos/videos were submitted.Continue reading “Fire Goddess – Update #1”
Pele the Fire Goddess
My first art lighting project was a collaboration with Peter Hazel to create Niloticus, a 40-foot ceramic tile and glass crocodile that was displayed at Burning Man 2019. Although the 2020 and 2021 Burns were cancelled, I’m working with Peter again to create an artwork for the 2022 event in late August. His plan isContinue reading “Pele the Fire Goddess”
OpenRocket LED Controller
Now seems like a good time to write about the LED controller that I’ve been using for the last year or so. I based the Olympic Rings project on this controller, but there are several prior and subsequent project that I haven’t posted about yet (stay tuned for those). I originally designed the OpenRocket boardContinue reading “OpenRocket LED Controller”
Olympic Rings
My wife is a huge Olympics junkie and likes to host large parties to view the opening ceremonies. Jell-O shots in the colors of the Olympic Rings, flip cards to score the costumes in the Parade of Nations, the whole enchilada. So for the 2020 (really 2021) Summer Olympics, I decided too make her anContinue reading “Olympic Rings”
FidoLight RGBW Spotlight: Update #5
I’ve been distracted on other projects, but now I’ve managed to follow through on everything I proposed in Update #4. The v4 revision of the FidoLight board is now just a 4-channel constant-current driver, and all the control functions are now moved to a very flexible Distributed Lighting Controller (DLC) board that can drive twoContinue reading “FidoLight RGBW Spotlight: Update #5”
FidoLight RGBW Spotlight: Update #4
I’ve now received the v3 revision of the FidoLight PCB boards, and initial testing is promising. As you can see in the photo below, I’m now using all SMT components, including the pin headers used to mount the Teensy 4 MCU. That will allow me to mount the board directly to the metal enclosure (i.e.Continue reading “FidoLight RGBW Spotlight: Update #4”