Rotating Table Display Box (RTDB), MakeCourse Fall 2015

"This instructable was created in fulfillment of the project requirement of the Makecourse at the University of South Florida (www.makecourse.com)"

I recently proposed to my Fiancee and I thought, what would be an awesome way to hold and display her ring at night when she took it off. No ordinary box would do for this masterpiece of jewelry and symbol of our love, so I decided I was going to build one, and if you follow this inscrutable you can to.

The basic plan for the box was originally just a 3D printed box with 2 white LED's Illuminating its interior and a rotating table that functioned much like a lazy Suzanne on top of a stepper motor. However the design quickly evolved into something much more detailed. Instead of just plain LED's why not include RGB (red, green, blue) ones so that I could illuminate it to any color my Fiance liked. What if I just wanted the ring hidden and out of site, So I added a door. Their had to be some way to control the box, and so the box was connected to a remote in order to control its various functions. Weeks into the development process thinking I had finally sketched out the final design I had one last request from my wonderful Fiancee, "Can you make it tell me I am pretty?" and so now it says at the push of the button that she is pretty, by adding an LCD display it is able to tell her she is pretty.

Now you say "this little box sounds amazing, How can I build one to proudly display my treasures?". Well by simply following along with this instructable from start to finish you to can build a magical box that can proudly display a treasure and tell your loved one that they too are pretty.

In order to build this you will need to gather the following materials. Some of which must be printed on a 3D Printer(.STL files provided), and some of which you can buy online (links provided).

Electrical System

1 - Arduino UNO R3

Wire in Multiple colors (I suggest Red, Blue, Green, Black, and White)

8 - Resistor (470 k ohm)

1 - Resistor (1 ohm)

2 - Common Anode diffused RGB LED(Common cathode can be used with a slight modification to the code)

1 - I2C LCD Display (2x16)

1 - 5V Servo Motor

1 - Stepper Motor (28byj-48-5v) with Uln2003 Stepper Motor Driver Board for Arduino

1 - IR Sensor

1 - IR Control (TV Remote)

9 volt on of Battery Pack for Arduino

3D Printed Parts (Print in ABS if you want to Acetone Vapor Treat the Parts, Or PLA and skip Acetone Vapor Step)

Box Bottom

Box Lid

Rotator Table

Door

Electrical Casing (MAKEBOX)

Electrical Casing Lid (MAKEBOX LID)

TOOLS

Soldering Iron

Rosen 60/40 Solder

Screwdrivers

Drill with Bits

Superglue

Large Bucket

Acetone

Tape

Nail Polish In assorted colors

The 3D parts I used were all designed using Autodesk as my CAD software. Each part is fairly simple in design. Merely open up the .STL files and you should be able to modify them very easily.

There are several 3D printed parts that should now be hot off the printer, literally. Let them cool down for a while to fully solidify, then begin the prep work. Start by placing the box lid on the top of the box and if you chose to use ABS use acetone to fuse the parts together. If you chose to use PLA simply use super glue to bond the two parts together.Next, you want to connect the electronic housing lid to the bottom of the upper box. Do this by connecting the and lining up the three holes and proceed to bond them using either glue or acetone.

After all of the parts are connected you will want to prep the holes. Because 3d printed parts can contract drill out each of the holes using a half inch bit for the center, and a 3mm bit for each side hole. After that drill a hole in front of the box where ever you want to point your remote. finally insert the LCD screen in the slot, and the IR receiver and bond them in place with acetone, or hot glue.

Now use masking tape to cover the screen and use spray paint to paint all of the parts. I choose Black, but you can choose any color you want.

Follow the Fritzing diagram provided when wiring the system together. You have the choice of soldering the components together as I did, or you can just use male and female connectors. You want to make sure that all of your parts are connected properly.

Basic setup of this project uses an arduino to power the entire system. You have an IR sensor which receives commands from a remote, the arduino then follows those commands by updating the display, turning on or off the LEDs, and rotating the servo.

Once you have verified that each of your parts works, use hot glue to place the servo motor in the center of the electronic box, then place the arduino on one side, and the breadboard on the other and wire the parts together, making sure to use tape to keep the wires well organized so they will fit in the housing. Next insert the RGB LEDs into the holes provided for them. Finally drill a hole in the bake of the electronic component box and use that hole to run a wire from your arduino to a USB in order to program the board.

Now that the electrical system is done, put the rotator table inside of the hole in the upper box, place some glue on the bottom of the table and connect it to the servo. Now place the rest of the box on top of the table and screw the box lid into place. The main form of the box should now be complete. All that we have left is programming.

You are going to want to figure out the codes for your IR remote before this step. Start be making a list of each of the IR commands before you start to program. Ounce you know your IR commands all you need to do is insert the command number in place of the one in my code. If you would like to add an additional function you can copy any one and add it merely changing the code in that are to do what you want. In order to better understand the code check out this video.

The code i used has been provided.

Now all the hard work is done, You have uploaded the sketch to the board. Feel free to use this to house your favorite collectible ring or anything else you want to display. Feel free to modify this design in any way you want as well.