Embedded Files
The creation of a 'Magic' mirror as the mirror is not only reflective but also shows up-to-date data of different modules including, but not limited to: time, date, weather, currently playing music, and sport scores. It is made by putting a monitor powered by a raspberry pi behind a one-way mirror to let monitor's light pass through the mirror but reflect the light directed back at the mirror, producing the reflection. The pi and most of the software was written in python. Not only was the project difficult from coding, but also the creation of the physical frame.
This picture was taken after the software was first downloaded and modified with modules.
The second picture is after the modules were edited to be different sizes and styles.
The frame was significantly more time consuming than I expected. It was created with common boards of 1x2s and 1x3s. I didn't have a miter saw, so I hand cut the wood and their respective 45° angles. This was meticulous work hand sanding the corners down so they were flush with the other pieces. I measured the piece of glass I used for the mirror incorrectly, and the glass didn't fit in the frame I made, so I had to remove one of the pieces of wood and re-glue it down (left). Eventually I got it to fit, and stained the wood and I soon plan to put a matte clear coat over this.
The monitor measures at 24", which doesn't make for the biggest mirror, so I messed around with the orientation and mounting of both portrait and landscape. Both pictures are during a test fit of the monitor in the frame.
A lot of people in the MagicMirror community are very interested to see how others have formatted the components in the back of their project. As my monitor takes up my entire mirror and frame, I had to put all the components directly behind the monitor instead of off to the side. I stripped down the monitor to just its LCD screen to reduce weight and give more space for the components to sit. The yellow board and the green board on the bottom are circuits of the monitor itself and the small green board touching the yellow one is the Raspberry pi. Both the Raspi and monitor have to be connected to power, so I used an extension cord to give both power while only having one wire come out of the mirror. I plan to 3D print a back for this because while working on it, I did shock myself.
Here is the final project after the one way mirror film was applied on the glass. This film was very difficult to install, and there are some imperfections, such as air bubbles and dust caught under the film, but most of these can't been seen from a few feet away. The film also isn't as reflective as a real one way mirror would be, but it was significantly cheaper and still does a good job.
This was a really fun project to work on, and I learned a lot about coding, especially finding bugs and how to find the necessary files to edit a specific part of the software.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse