James BrownVery happy about this.
Here’s the bare circuit
I guess I’m just going to work my way through then.
Lots of people have asked, so: processor is a STM32F030F4P6 (Cortex M0, 16K flash, 4K ram), screen is a QT1306P82 (0.42" OLED).
I haven't shared the schematic because it contains an error; you need to rework the boards to route a spare gpio to the screen. This involves drilling a 0.3mm hole through one of the pads, making a break in the ground plane, and soldering a little piece of wire through.
Putting together another brick. These battery contacts are the hardest part of the build.
While that one cures, I added the trench run and got capacitive touch working in the studs.
The new one is more opaque and a closer match to Lego Blue. I also painted the edges of the screen with black lacquer, which got rid of the glowing surround. It’s a very fiddly construction. If I’m going to make more, I need to work on tooling.
murad@ancientjames I realise this isn't news to you, but these are just amazing! 😁
derPUPE
marble 弹珠@ancientjames may I ask how you made the contacts on the bottom of the brick? Are they simply wire that presses against the contacts in the side of the studs?
@ancientjames oh is it the side PCBs making contact via exposed pads? https://mastodon.social/@ancientjames/109244761058481795
Philipp@ancientjames Wow, that is really impressive!🤯
AxWax@ancientjames Wow -amazing work! 🤯
Ada Rose Cannon@ancientjames if you ever found away to mass produce these I would buy a half dozen they are amazing!
Christian Waidner@ancientjames Thanks for sharing - this is such a cool project!
Frank Fischer@ancientjames This is so amazing! 🤯
Submit this video to Lego if you are looking for a job : )
Submit this video to Lego if you are looking for a job : )
wb x64@ancientjames this is the kind of stuff that if someone asked me if it was possible I'd tell them no. Awesome work.
Daniele Verducci@ancientjames
I can't even imagine soldering components that small, let alone drilling a microscopic hole in a microscopic pad to pass a microscopic wire! 😯 Nice job!
I can't even imagine soldering components that small, let alone drilling a microscopic hole in a microscopic pad to pass a microscopic wire! 😯 Nice job!
smells of bikes@ancientjames I do this professionally and am plenty impressed at drilling 0.3mm holes for a kludge. The result is beautiful.
@smellsofbikes It was almost worth getting it wrong just for the satisfaction of fixing it.
@ancientjames I love a satisfying pcb save with a righteous board mod. I'm the person who drills and mills mods on our automated test boards at work and it's a superhero feeling to make a $20k board start functioning.
(TIL when you lay out a big board do a soldermask cutout and put copper numbers on each layer so you can hold it up to a light and see if the Fab house stack up matches what you designed as sometimes they swap for impedance matching and that's a big hassle for hitting midlayers)
(TIL when you lay out a big board do a soldermask cutout and put copper numbers on each layer so you can hold it up to a light and see if the Fab house stack up matches what you designed as sometimes they swap for impedance matching and that's a big hassle for hitting midlayers)
Non Saturatio@ancientjames
This is all cool and charming and :ablobsmilehappy:
This is all cool and charming and :ablobsmilehappy:
Matthew "Smiffy" Smith@ancientjames This is just amazing. I am assuming that the lower brick is your work. Eager to see more!
@ancientjames
This is awesome!
This is awesome!
Bobo_PK 🦄@ancientjames where is the lipo?
malte@Bobo_PK @ancientjames the black block is a power block
FritzAdalis@ancientjames @foosel omg I thought you were projecting the display somehow and I was impressed then! This is beyond!
hacked.works@ancientjames 🤩 That's absolutely awsome! Great idea and perfectly executed. 💯
And now the question that probably everybody is having on their mind: What display is that and where to get it?
@hacked_works Thank you! It uses this display: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001676905300.html - I use a bunch of them in a keyboard that apparently I haven't been posting about on Mastodon
@hacked_works It's worth noting that it's a better display than that video makes it look - I deliberately drop the resolution to make it match the original Lego brick.
DansLeRuSH ᴱᶰ@ancientjames I didn't know what to expect when I launched this video, but amazing result ! You have brilliantly solved the weakness of the Lego control screens 😄
Abid@ancientjames Raspberry Pi next generation??? 😂
Marcy Is Tired@ancientjames :OOOOOOOO
Aral Balkan
ben@ancientjames Here's hoping Lego's insane trademark/design patent/whatever enforcement team doesn't start coming after you...
Sam 🇩🇪 🇪🇺@ancientjames That's awesome but i don't think it's allowed to use the LEGO logo, which can be clearly seen at the end of the video.
@n2m3e @ancientjames for personal use it should be no problem. You can paint your own Mona Lisa if you want.
Javier@Bobo_PK @n2m3e @ancientjames AFAICT, the Mona Lisa image is in public domain. It's the physical canvas and pigments that are property of somebody.
AnotherKiwiGuy (RTM)@ancientjames what the actual f! That is hella cool! 😳
Ian Molton
Mx Autumn 
@ancientjames woah! thats amazing!
Lord@ancientjames Very nice work but can it run Doom ?
@ancientjames incredible! 🤩
Goz 🕹@ancientjames What sorcery is this?!?
Bruzel-Backe 🇪🇺 💙💛 🌻@ancientjames this is amazing.
grackky@ancientjames mastodon is full of tech people who know what's going on here. I'm not one of these people and this is pure fucking magic to me!!!! I would have lost my tiny little marbles if I saw this as a kid
msx@ancientjames wow man this is crazy!
bjoern@ancientjames great! i am also always fascinated by the clear ux of the original brick :)
Snerk RabbledauberYou are a GOD! Not even being sarcastic. Awesome!
SmittyHalibut@ancientjames WHAT THE WHAT?! I need to see the inside of that!!! That’s AWESOME!!
Raptor@ancientjames YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO