Learn to drive flip-disc shows together with your Arduino

Earlier than digital show know-how turned reasonably priced and sensible, electromechanical flip-disc (AKA “flip-dot”) shows had been a preferred selection because of their excessive visibility and skill to scale to massive sizes. For all sensible functions, flip-disc shows have been out of date for many years. However we’re seeing a resurgence in demand for them, as they’ve a beautiful and nostalgic attraction. In case you’re thinking about utilizing them, Marcin Saj has a great tutorial explaining the right way to management a flip-disc show with an Arduino.

A part of the rationale that flip-disc shows are exhausting to seek out at present is that they’re electromechanical gadgets that require devoted manufacturing. Every “pixel” is a bistable system that may stay in its set place till the person actively resets the place. To flip the disc, the person should provide a pulse of electrical energy by means of an electromagnet coil within the appropriate polarity. One path units the disc to 1 facet, and the reverse polarity units the disc to the opposite facet. As a result of the discs are bistable, the person solely must flip the required discs to realize the states they require — not the whole show. Flip-discs are comparatively sluggish, so that’s necessary for lowering total refresh time.

Saj’s tutorial goes into depth on these management methods utilizing a customized driver board with a 595D shift register and an H-bridge. The shift register reduces the variety of Arduino I/O pins required for management by setting the states of the discs one after the opposite. The H-bridge is a set of interconnected switches that makes it straightforward to reverse the polarity of a portion of a circuit, which is the energetic disc on this case. By storing the states of the discs in reminiscence, one can skip over the discs which can be already within the correct state and save time.

This tutorial is supposed to work with Flipo.io’s personal flip-disc shows and drivers, which had been designed particularly to be used with Arduino boards and that might be launching quickly by means of Kickstarter. The tutorial focuses on a three-disc show, however it seems that Flipo.io intends for customers to increase that into bigger preparations.

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