Assemble 60 NeoPixel Ring
The 60 ring neopixel rings come in quarter sized sections that will need to be soldered to each other to make the full circle. We recommend using multiple third helping hands to hold the four pieced together while soldering.
Connect 1/4 NeoPixel PCBs
To solder the quarter pieces together, start by tinning each side and then carefully slide the solder from one side of the pad to the other, making sure both pads are connected. It will take some practice, but you’ll quickly get a hang of it.
Solder Wires
Solder all of the sides together except the last DIN and DOUT, leave those two last ones separated. DIN is where the data will feed into the neopixel ring.
Thread wires to the other side
We can use to small opening near the mounts on the bottom side of the seat to thread the wire into.
Ring Cover
Place the ring face down so the lights can diffuse the seat from the top down. The cover snaps on top to protect and secure the ring in place.
Measure and Cut Wires
Place the Feather board on the mounts and then measure wires for power, ground and data to connect the neopixel ring.
Use flush cutters to trim the wires with a little bit of slack, you can always recut them if they are too long.
Strip each wire to prepared them for tinning.
Tin, Solder and Screws
2.5mm screws are use to securely hold the feather board on the four mounts. We recommend tapping each mount before securing the board on top.
Now we can tin, solder and solder each wire to the board. Connect power on the neopixel ring to 3v on the Feather board, Ground to G and DIN to Pin 6 on the Feather board.
Slide Switch
To easily power the circuit on and off we’ll use a slide switch. We’ll get the switch ready by tinning two of the leads and soldering a wire that will connect to the EN pins and the Ground pin.
Since this will be the second wire soldered to the ground pin, it’s easier to solder this wire to the top.
Tweezers help to maneuver wires into place.
Battery
To power the circuit we can fit a 2,000mAh battery in the slot close to the board. It should have a tight fit, but we reccomend using double stick foam tape to secure it place.
Load Sketch
Plug the micro USB cable into board and your computer to load the sketch.
Make sure to have a data cable and not a power only USB cable.
The Adafruit Bluefruit app connects to the feather ble board and works on iOS and Android devices to update colors and animations on the LEDs. You can find them on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
Rubber Feet
Three 7/8 inch dowels use rubber ninja flex feet to keep them from digging into soft surfaces and from slipping on hard surfaces.
Frame
Align the triangle support frame to the three slots on the seat and then fit each leg through the frame and into each slot.
Level Legs
If the tolerances are a little loose you can use making tape on the ends to get a tight fit in the slots.
Make sure all of the legs are level and you're ready to sit!
Customizing and printing your own furniture is a lot of fun, but adding electronics is really rewarding. You can build on top of this design to make a seat that can change colors based on weather or even flash when you receive different alerts from twitter or github repos.
