Hello and welcome to DIY Perspective.
In this video I will show you how to make
a small scrolling text display with Arduino.
You don’t need to have any previous knowledge
of it, I will explain it, step by step, that
you could make display like this and customize
scrolling text on your own.
Let’s go!
We need to start with cutting small plywood
pieces for the box top, bottom and sides.
Add some painters or electrical tape on top
and bottom of the cut line to prevent chipping.
Next, we need to cut 45 degree bevel on these
parts.
I had my previously made jig for miter cuts
and it works amazingly for it, but of course
you can’t do bevel cuts on it.
That’s where this jig comes in.
It’s just two plywood pieces glued at 45
degree angle.
You clamp a piece to it and run this jig through
the blade.
To get even cuts on same size pieces, I use
clamped stop block.
When we have pieces cut nice and clean, we
need to connect outside edges with painter’s
tape, glue parts and leave them to dry.
What’s left is to cut is front and back
pieces.
In the from piece we need to cut a spot with
a fretsaw for the LED display panels.
After this we can slightly trim sides to get
straight looking cut.
As these LED panels has these chips in not
the best spot for this build, we need to route
slots for them that the panels would be flush
with outside of the box.
For exact router bit height which you need,
it’s very convenient to use combination
square.
Round corners can be trimmed with small utility
knife that everything would fit perfectly.
Now, it’s the main part of this build.
How to make something with Arduino if you
don’t have knowledge of programming or don’t
even know what Arduino is?
To sum up, it’s a chip for which you can
write a code to do something.
In this case scroll text through two LED displays.
But to write a code like this you need quite
a bit knowledge.
If you are person like me, who don’t really
fully understand and don’t quite enjoy writing
codes, then this guide is for you.
There are so much talented people in this
space, who create amazing codes with Arduino.
But to get to this step, first we need to
start connecting all parts together for this
build.
We will need one lithium-ion battery and holder
for it.
Then we’ll need to boost voltage with this
chip as one battery makes only up to 4.2V,
and LED display requires 5V.
Just don’t forget adjust it with this potentiometer
before connecting to the circuit.
Later we’ll add this button to disconnect
or connect battery.
Of course, we’ll need the brains of this
circuit – Arduino Nano and two 8x8 LED displays.
For testing purposes it’s very handy to
have a breadboard like this.
I will leave links for all items in description
below.
So first we need to download Arduino software
and install it on a computer.
It may prompt messages like this, so just
agree ant press install.
Next we need to download library which will
be needed that the code will work.
Unzip it and copy “MaxMatrix” folder into
libraries folder where Arduino software was
installed.
Now we can connect Arduino Nano to a computer
with mini USB cable and start Arduino software.
First things that we need to do here is to
choose Arduino.
In our case it’s Arduino Nano.
Then we need to select serial monitor.
If you get red message like this, you need
to choose USB port in which your Arduino is
connected.
You might have more USB ports than me, so
just select different ports, until you can
open this serial monitor window without error.
Now we can close that window and copy and
paste the code, press upload button, it will
ask to save project before uploading.
Now program is compiling the code and starting
to upload.
If uploading process takes a long time and
at the end you get error message like this,
you need to change setting of the processor
to the old bootloader.
Now upload process should take just a few
seconds and upload will be successful.
If you want to change text which will be shown
on the LED display you need to edit it here
before uploading.
Speed of scrolling can be changed here.
And if you want to change brightness of the
panel you need to change it here by entering
value from 1 - minimum brightness to 15 - maximum
brightness.
With 3000 mAh battery at Level 5 brightness
display should run more than 20 hours, at
10 – more than 14 hours and at 15 – more
than 12 hours.
Ok, so now when are we done with the code,
let’s get back to the build.
We need to trim pins that they would fit in
the box and then we can solder wires like
this.
First pin is VCC or Positive 5V.
Second is GND that’s GROUND or Negative
5V.
Third is DIN or DATA IN and on other side
of the LED display is DOUT or DATA OUT.
Fourth is CS or Chip Select and last is CLK
or Clock.
I decided that first LED panel will be on
the left.
This means that it will receive data first
from the Arduino chip.
In order that panels would work as one we
need to solder first panel’s DATA OUT to
second panel’s DATA IN.
And other wires connects to the pins with
the same name.
Now we can hot glue the led displays to the
front face of the box.
Small hole must be made, that we could power
or connect Arduino chip to a computer to change
the code at any time.
On the back part of the box we need to make
hole for the power button and glue two squares
that back piece won’t go further inside
from the top.
And to prevent going inside from the bottom
will help this battery holder with battery
inside.
We need to glue it with something like 30
minute epoxy, clamp ant leave it for at least
6 hours.
Meanwhile we can solder wires to the first
led display, which later will be soldered
to the Arduino Nano.
To power this circuit, we also need to solder
wires that will later be connected to voltage
booster.
Positive wire must be soldered to VIN or Voltage
In and negative wire to the GND or Ground.
Two wires that will power the LED display
must be soldered to the Arduino 5V pin that’s
for positive wire and Ground for negative
wire.
That’s why you see two wires connected to
the Ground pin.
Next we need to solder DATA IN wire to the
D12 pin, Clock pin to the D11 and Chip Select
pin to the D10, and we are done with soldering
wires to the Arduino.
It’s good idea to add some hot glue on the
contacts where wires are soldered, because
these wires can break near soldered points
quite easily when you bend them multiple times.
To hold the front face of the box we need
to glue small blocks of wood.
This way it will be way easier to glue the
front with all electronics and wires, because
it will be already perfectly aligned with
these blocks.
Then we need to solder wires from the Arduino
Voltage In and Ground to voltage booster module’s
positive and negative connections where VOUT+
and VOUT- is written.
Finally we need to solder two new wires to
the power button.
One wire from it goes to the battery’s positive
connection and other to the booster module’s
positive connection VIN+.
Negative wire from the battery goes to the
voltage booster’s negative VIN- connection.
And we are done with the soldering.
Now we can test it by adding a battery and
pressing the power switch.
And it looks good!
Now we can wrap voltage booster module with
electrical tape and glue the small block.
It will help to hold Arduino Nano board and
will be place for the screw which will hold
back of the box.
Then we can add wood glue on the small blocks
and glue the front face.
And by adding wood oil, plywood will get more
saturated and vibrant colors.
Finally we can screw the back piece, add small
silicone feet and the build is finished!
It was quite a long video, but I hope it was
informative one.
If you have any questions about this build
feel free to ask.
If you liked this video hit that like button
and subscribe for more future content like
this!
That’s all from me and I will see you next
time.
