I built an Adafruit LED Sand Toy using an Adafruit Feather M0, a blue CharliePlex LED FeatherWing, and accelerometer boards. While this was an awesome project to try out, I had some bumps along the way. It forced me to think outside the box and make some minor, but helpful, modifications to the original design.
3D Printing the Case
The Adafruit Learn website for this project provides a list of materials, 3D-printing files, code, and wiring diagrams.
3D-printing the toy’s casing
3D-printing internal parts
Connecting the Wires
I used a thicker gauge of wire than recommended which made soldering a little difficult. This was my first time using heat-shrink tubes to insulate connected wires to keep them from being exposed to other connections. It worked out well, and I highly recommend using some heat-shrink tubes on clamps to protect circuit boards.
Soldering the boards at my work station - shown with helping hands,
silicone mat, tweezers, solder, and solder sucker (desoldering tool)
Some Assembly Required
After connecting all the wires, I began assembling the toy. I attached the SPDT switch to the inside opening. The 3D-printed case included a mounting bracket inside for the switch. Metal tabs on the switch clicked right into place.
Installed SPDT switch inside the case
I quickly realized the tightness of the space where the internal electronics had to be mounted. The thicker wires made it even more difficult to get all the electronic components tucked inside the casing.
Electronics mounted inside casing with SPDT switch shown
Modifying the Dome Lid
Because of the tight enclosure, I wasn’t able to connect the flat-bottomed, dome-shaped lid onto the casing. I took a closer look at the dome lid and decided I could make a small adjustment that would allow more room for the electronics.
I opened the dome lid .stl object file in Tinkercad and designed a hole in the bottom of the dome model. The hole had to be large enough for the electronics, but not interfere with the dome’s structure. Additionally, the hole couldn’t have a diameter too wide that would interfere with the connecting ridge.
After weeks of trying different M2 machine screw lengths (to get the electronics mounted) and brainstorming ways to get the dome lid to close over such a tight space, I finally finished building the Adafruit LED Sand Toy. I downloaded the provided code from Adafruit and began playing with this cool electronic and responsive toy.
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