Lightning Round Fan
It's getting hot, isn't it? We created a round fan that lights up along with your fanning. When you fan it, it will light up, and when you stop fanning, it will get back dark. In this instructables, we are going to show you how to make this interactive round fan.
What You Will Need
- a round fan (Uchiwa, in Japanese :) )
- Arduino Pro Mini (3.3 V 8MHz)
- pins for Arduino Pro Mini
- an accelerometer (KXR94-2050)
- two button cells
- some copper tape
- surface mounted LED x 4
- an AgIC conductive ink marker
- a piece of AgIC special photo glossy paper (A4)
- some double sided tape
Add Pins and Bend Them
Arduino Pro Mini does not have pins. So firstly you will need to solder pins to Arduino Pro Mini board. After that, you need to bend them as described in the pictures above so that we can solder them onto a flat surface. Same goes for the accelerometer too.
Cut the Paper to Fit the Shape of the Round Fan
Cut the paper to fit the shape of the round fan, and paste it onto the round fan with double sided tape.
Mark Points Where the Boards to Be Installed
We are going to place the boards as shown in the first picture with red circles. Before we move on to drawing the circuit, you need to mark pins we are going to use on the paper.
For the accelerometer, we are going to use pin #1 (Vcc), #2 (Enable), #3 (GND), #5 (Self Test) and #8 (Out Z), so mark only these pins.
And for Arduino, we are going to use Vcc, GND in both sides, A0, #8 and #9. Mark them as you did with the accelerometer.
Don't forget to add guides points for the position of boards so that we can place them easier afterward.
Design and Draw the Circuit With AgIC Marker
Let's design the circuit. Then, draw it with AgIC marker. The second image shows where and how the parts will be attached on this circuit. As long as the topology is kept same as the circuit in the images above, they will work.
Add Some Copper Tape for Soldering and Bridging
How the boards will be attached to the paper? Well, we are going to attach them by soldering. Since it is not possible to solder onto the the thin silver film drawn with AgIC marker, we are going to use the copper tape. It is possible to solder with copper tape. Cut it into proper size and paste them where we need to solder.
The pins #3 and #5 of the accelerometer need to be connected to GND, but connecting them to GND without making a bridge is impossible. Then why don't we make a bridge. We can do it with some scotch tape and copper tape. Firstly, paste scotch as shown in the third image. And, paste the copper tape on the scotch to connect the circuit across. Here, the scotch will work as an insulator.
Solder Boards Onto the Copper Tape
Just solder them. Be careful not to solder wrong pins with wrong position.
Add Button Cells and LEDs. Done Making the Hardware!
Add button cells and LEDs. You can use scotch to attach them onto the circuit. Here we done making the hardware!
Upload a Program to Arduino. Well Done!
For this fan to light along with fanning, we need software to analyze the signal from accelerometer. The Arduino sketch we made is available on GitHub: https://github.com/agic-inc-biz/lightning-uchiwa
Download the code and drag & drop to the folder where your Arduino sketches are stored. You will also need to install a library "Filter", which is also available on GitHub: https://github.com/JonHub/Filters
Now, connect your Arduino with your PC and upload the sketch! Voila! You will have a round fan lightning along with your fanning!