Our Maker In Residence intern, Louis, is spending the summer making all sorts of cool Raspberry Pi builds. Here, he tells us about his foray into NeoPixels to build a Pixie clock (that’s a Pi-powered Nixie clock).
This project was inspired by Nixie tubes, an old technology used for displaying digits. The trouble with Nixie tubes is that they are quite dangerous, requiring 170 volts to produce their characteristic glow, and very expensive, since they are no longer mass produced. A safer, more modern approach is using LEDs to light the edges of engraved acrylic.