Synoptic Labs

A week or so ago I picked up a modest quantity of Wood’s Metal, a low melting-point alloy which melts around 158 degrees F. I’ve been playing with the idea of using it as a dynamic circuit element in a display of some sort.

On saturday I built a LED array with pins that extended through the bottom of the circuit board as a proof of concept. The idea being that the LED’s would all be wired up with their cathodes tied to ground above the board and their anodes extending as naked pins beneath the board. Power would also be wired as separate naked pins beneath the board. Liquid metal could then be flowed underneath the board, randomly connecting and disconnecting the LED’s from power, turning them on and off as the metal flows by.

The initial test worked really well. I put the completed board on a paper plate upon which a small quantity of Wood’s metal was kept molten due to a hot plate underneath. I sloshed the plate around and, sure enough, the LED’s lit up in a rather dynamic (and dare I say, organic) fashion. I didn’t happen to get video of it unfortunately, however video was being recorded by someone else. If I’m able to get a copy of it I’ll post it.

Wood’s Metal:

I continued to experiment with the effect today and, while I’ve learned a fair bit more about how Wood’s metal reacts (it doesn’t react with air at nearly the rate I first suspected), I still haven’t managed to capture an interesting video. Nevertheless, I look forward to further experimentation of this effect.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 10th, 2008 at 11:44 pm and is filed under Tinkering, make. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.