Over the last few weeks I've been playing around at Ape Index Leicester, it's like a ninja warrior training gym with a climbing wall. I'm mostly playing but I've certainly been getting fitter because of it, I was talking to the owner who discussed a big red button project like they have at the end of the ninja warrior course. Wiring one up is tricky because the place is so big so it sounded like a perfect match for some of my ESP8266 work.
It's a simple browser based stopwatch app written with javascript, this is served up from the ESP8266 as an access point. A websocket is opened to transfer data too and from the browser without refreshing the page. When you press start on the screen the light on the button becomes illuminated, when you push the big red button the timer stops counting, so you can start the system from one end of the course and see what time they get at the other end.
This is very much a fun project I threw together in an hour this evening while cutting useless machines. The internals definitely reflect this, thrown together with sticky tape and bits. I used a rechargeable battery for a power supply but some strain relief on the cables would be preferred. Ultimately this system should tie into a larger screen to show the current time but that's future work.
Big Red Button Simple Box
On/Off switch on the back of the box
Very messy impromptu internals including rechargeable battery
Last summer, I had the privilege of creating a puzzle box for Chris Ramsay , the Canadian Magician and Youtube Puzzler (Not the English comedian Chris Ramsey ). Like most projects of this nature I failed to take enough photos, I rushed to complete it in a good time and I didn't even write about it here. Thanks to some very keen collectors, I have an opportunity to rebuild the box this summer. This time around I am going to write about it, documenting the design choices and code that goes into such a creation. I've even found time to list it on my puzzle website should anyone be interesting in purchasing their own copy. https://www.donteatpuzzles.com/nikolai The project was delivered in July 2024 and was filmed almost immediately by Chris and his team. I think it's fair to say that he loved it. Seeing all of my efforts being appreciated in this was is rather magical. I should just take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported me in making this, whether it was playte...
I said we'd take a little detour to make a fully functional puzzle using our two buttons and two lights and so I present to you, a Binary Puzzle. I have made two binary style puzzles before, one was purely mechanical , and the other one used a cabinet lock and a series of switches to activate it (but no blog post). Both of these are simpler ways of making the same puzzle so we need this to be different somehow. Since we have the full power of a microcontroller why not make the codes change over time. Every time you fail to enter the code correctly it will change the code, so let's dig into the system. Hardware wise it's a bit ugly, all of the information required to solve the puzzle is contained on the front of the panel which could be mounted in a box or in a wall. The reverse is just enough hardware to hold everything in place and some basic soldering to recreate everything on the previous prototype board. Two switches connected to D5 and D6 using the internal pull up...
Northants Board Game convention is right around the corner and I'm exhibiting this year so I decided I needed a better business card holder to dish out my little business tchotchke. I found a file for a mimic box that I liked and modified it to come up with this little cutie. He's a very happy chappy, just be careful of your fingers when you're taking a card.
