Make your own ATHF Advertisement!
A quick website HOWTO to make your own advertisement. Display at your own risk :) New!! See links below to other great websites!
step 1: Material to make your advertisement. Wood is a popular choice, it's easy to use and you probably have some around the house.
step 2: Measure out a 7" by 7" square. Rough cut this so it can be trimmed up later.
step 3: Using either a sander, router, your neighbor's chainlink fence, or in this case a milling machine, true up the board to 7"x7".
step 4: Using a Commodore(r) brand calculator from the late 1970s, divide 7" by 2 to remember it is still 3.5" Draw a cross mark for true center.
step 5: Start drilling holes for the body. You have to use your noodle now...get an image of the character you want, do some math and drill.
step 6: Surface sand with some 80-grit and then some 120-grit or finer sandpaper and prepare for paint.
step 7: Paint it up! We used a high-gloss engine paint. It goes on thick and dries fast.
step 8: Time to get the LEDs! You'll need LOTS in various colors. I suggest visiting various popular auction sites for bulk quantities, but don't buy them all, I need more. (More?)
step 9: Run a group of LEDs in series and then parallel up the groups. Make sure to use a resistor, even if the current seems LOW! For this 12v operation, we're running 4 LEDs in series with a 200-ohm 1/4 watt resistor. The current per LED is pretty low, but still is blinding when looked at straight on, so use caution!
step 10: Wire up a few, power it up and see if you like it.
step 11: Dry, cracked hands later, you're done! Time to animate the finger. If you're lame, you'll hook it direct to 12v and just have it "on". If you're cool, you'll animate it. If you're old-skool, use a CD4049 as an astable clock and a CD4017 to sequence things. If you're new-skool, or don't wanna tack in that many wires, use a PIC. I used a PIC16F88, because I had it. Program it up to sequence (if you use pics, you can do this....don't ask for the HEX file, you're lazy if you do.)
step 12: Wire up that pic! I would normally use a PCB, but in a bit of a rush to get this out, direct-to-chip solder I went.
step 13: Power it up and you're done! It will be BRIGHT, so I would suggest making a slick frame with some smoked acrylic in the front of it. I had a sheet of 80% at home and it looks really nice, fun, high-tech, all at the same time....or sell it, you sell out.
Don't do dumb things. Boston did dumb things, don't cause other cities to follow. Images copyright their respecive owners, ATHF, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Flipping the bird, Moonities, etc, etc, etc (C) Adult Swim...watch the show, see the movie when it comes out, support it. Peace out Napoleon.
Make your own ATHF Advertisement!
