I placed the MDF sheets on a flat surface in landscape orientation right next to each other and place the display frame on top of them. To make the backing I used two sheets of 1200圆00x4.5mm MDF. The display needs a backing to give the LEDs something to reflect off, make the display more secure and hide all the wires that will be back there. You might be able to borrow some from friends or find them cheaply second hand. Note: With gluing a structure like this together it helps to have as many clamps as possible. If you wanted a stronger display you could use small screws or cut slots to fit the pieces together. When the frame was fully assembled it was a lot stronger than I expected due to how many different glue joints there were. Once the pieces were in position I fully tightened the clamps. I found it helped to lay everything flat on a flat surface and tighten the clamps just enough that I could still fiddle with positioning without all the pieces falling over. I only glued a few pieces at time and let them dry due to my limited number of clamps and because it was hard to keep everything straight otherwise. To put the pieces together I applied wood glue to the surfaces that would be joined and carefully positioned them in their correct positions and secured them with clamps. For example, the bottom plank "J" is marked at 10mm (to allow room for the vertical side board), then I count 60 and mark at 70, then count 10 for the vertical section then another 60 and mark at 140 and so on. I wanted all the 60mm vertical sections to be aligned so measured, marked and squared where each of them should be glued to the horizontal boards. Planning the electronics is documented later in the Instructable. I do not currently have any samples of Lanthanides and Actinides so did not make the portion of the periodic table that contains them. The shapes of the panels are just to give you an idea of what they look like. I recommend to just place the frame on top of the MDF and trace the shapes with a pencil. The last diagram depicts the shapes for the front panel and back panel that will be cut out of MDF and glued in place. All pieces will be cut out then glued with wood glue. Both diagrams are color coded and labeled with letters so you know which piece goes where.
Use this with the "Framing lengths and quantities" which shows how many of each length needs to be cut. I have drawn a "Framing plan" for you to follow. There was almost one whole length left - in case I made some mistakes! All the required pieces to cut fit easily in 7 lengths of 2.4m. I got mine in 2.4m lengths but there were many lengths available. The display is made from 60x10mm pine planks. The phone app makes it so much fun to play with! The main thing I wanted with this display was for it to be interactive.
The display has Bluetooth functionality and a phone app to control it.I used WS2812B LEDs which I can individually light up any color.Each position in the periodic table is an enclosed shelf that the element sample can rest on.This way the LEDs can show off features and trends of the periodic table. The display is in the shape of the periodic table.Prototype dot board - Ali Express Link.Power supply (5V 4A) - Ali Express Link.Bluetooth module (HC05) - Ali Express Link.
different colors preferable) x3 - Ali Express Link LEDs (Neopixels/ws2812b) x90 - Ali Express Link "1m 100 IP30" will give you 100 non-waterproof LEDs.Balsa wood (1000x10x2mm) 圆 - Art store.Ali Express is a place to get cheap electronics from that are usually surprisingly high quality.įrame - Key: (length x width x height) x quantity Everything purchased from local hardware store unless otherwise stated.Īll electronics purchased from Ali Express (links given).