To Infinity and Beyond

Day One:

I read two articles about Seeeds with Arduinos and problems with Seeeds. After I went to the  LED Strip Effects Generator to create my 36 LED strand's color and patterns. Next, I went to TinkerCad and opened a new circuit design where I created 36 Neopixel LEDs and an Arduino Uno R3. I took the code generated from the generator and imported it into TinkerCad's code, after connecting the LED and the Arduino the LEDs started flashing the pattern I had created. GND to GND.  DIN to 8. 5V to 5V. 

Videos of my pattern from the website and TinkerCad. 

Day 2:  I uploaded my code into Arduino and plugged in a USB to the USBC extension cord to connect to my SEED XIAO-RP2040 and my computer. I had to reset the SEEED so it could connect to the computer not using serial port COMP 1 because if you do it will mess up your SEEED. After uploading my code and connecting it to my process I verified my code and uploaded it to the SEEED.  I had to go to Tools and then Port to find Comp 11 which I then connected to the SEEED to upload my code.  

Day 3: I  cut 5 wires to connect my SEEED, to the Neopixel, and the power regulator so that the LEDs do not get overloaded and break. I cut 2 black wires, 2 red wires, and 1 yellow wire. The black wires are to connect to GND on the SEEED and LEDS. The red wire is to connect to 5v and both of the objects. The reason there are two instead of one is so that the two wires could connect in the middle via the Power Regulator. I pushed both wires in and tightened the screw at the top to keep the wires in place. after doing so with the black and red wires, I directly connected the yellow wire from  DIN on the LED to D0 on the Seeed. The yellow wire transfers the instructions of your code from the already programmed Seeed into the LEDs. The black and red wires conduct the power to the LEDs through the power regulator. I soldered them all in their correct places but if you strip the wire too much it could become a fire hazard.  Once I plugged it in the LED lights would flash the correct pattern

Woodworking 

Day 5: We glue three of the wood pieces together: the bottom and two sides using wood glue and a lot of tape. 

Day 5-Extended: I laser cut a vector image and words into the top of my design as a little passion project 

Day 6: We took a clear piece of plastic and put Resin spray on it making it suctions to whatever I'd put on it.  I put a two-way mirror-type reflective material on top of the clear plastic. Next, I cut the edges off and squeezed all the extra air under the wrap out so that it would stay on the plastic. This way we could see the LEDs and it would reflect them back and forth forever to infinity with the dark black backing on the design, hence the name infinity mirror. We attached the sticky part of the LEDs into the designated groove and put both walls onto the other edges to create the basic premise of our design. 

Day Seven: We took a reflective mirror plastic wrap that wasn't two-way and put it on top of the dark glass background. Next, we removed the sticky side and placed it on the glass. Finally, we removed the blue cover to reveal a reflective mirror on the back that would truly make the mirror go to infinity. I put a small 3D-printed design into the box and it looked even cooler.  Finally, I glued the top down and was finally finished with this project

Problems I Encountered

I didn't encounter many problems on this project except for one important one. Day six took me a very long time to complete because I wasn't entirely sure what to do with it. I made many errors in trying to correctly attach it to the clear plastic until Ms. Morrow helped me find the correct way to attach it and use the two-way mirror material.