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Build a Digital Light Saber

Want to “paint with light?” This article explains in detail how you can build a low cost (<$100) microprocessor-controlled LED light saber that provides as much or more capabilities than professional light wands.

Create an LED Sign Controller

When you plan to create a large sign with LED dot-matrix modules, the circuits and software can seem like a big challenge. However, the step-by-step approach in this tutorial gives you what you need to know to make a sign of your own.

Build an Analog-Style LED Clock — Part 1

Driving LEDs using the lowest possible pin-count is a common challenge for folks creating projects with microcontrollers. Complementary LED drive, also known as “Charlieplexing”, allows a large number of LEDs to be controlled with a relatively small number of I/O pins. This fun digital LED clock project is a hands-on example of how Charlieplexing can be used to stretch your “pin budget”!

Build the Numitron — A Six-Digit Clock

This six-digit, beautifully designed timepiece showcases cold war era components — Numitrons instead of Nixie tubes — along with modern LEDs and a Microchip PIC to create not only a useful clock but a great conversation piece as well.

A Unique LED Clock

Just when you thought there were no more cool electronic clocks to build, this Arduino-controlled version showed up.

Build the CHROMATICON

Want to be sure you’re playing musical chords correctly? This unit will tell you if you are and display a light show in the process. I stumbled upon this circuit while trying to design a custom frequency tuner for my guitar and is hands down the best sound to light device you could ever build.

Build the LED Matrix Game Player

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