DIY mechanical TV

 if your a nerd looking for things to do at home, why not make your own tv? 

this simple yet ingenious invention made by John Logie Baird , the tv consists of a disk that scans the screen, only one hole is seen at all times, there is also a flashing light that flashes the pixels while the disk moves. the video above is a disk spinning at almost in sync with the light flashes, I didn't want it to be perfect as that would just make the light normal, to make the following project you will need:

-a cardboard disk with the following diagram

image

- an Arduino Uno

- 2 3v DC motors

- 2x2 AA battery pack

- blue LED

- some wires

1. attach the two motors to the disk and hook up the batteries to them, make sure the disk is spinning the say its shown in the diagram

2. wire the Arduino with the LED at digital pin 8 

3. insert the following code into the Arduino:

void setup() {

  Serial.begin(9600);

}

void loop() {

  int on = (analogRead(A0));  

  Serial.println(analogRead(A0));

  delay(35); 

  digitalWrite(8,HIGH);

  delay(35);

  digitalWrite(8,LOW);

  delay(2);

}

attach the LED to the back of the disk and a furry line will appear!

the code is just to make an LED flash in almost sync with the disk for a strobing effect, you can edit the code(switch the delay(30) to something like delay(on)) i have added the detecting code for the variable on so you don't need to add it yourself, you can also attach a photo transistor right next to the bulb and ditch the Arduino, this will cause a mirror effect as the light going in the sensor will be produced by the led right next to it.