So-called “magic eye” tubes are display devices, which indicate signal level by the projection of wedge-shaped shadows on a glowing view screen. They were developed in the 1930’s for use as tuning indicators in radio receivers, and as alternatives to the then-expensive-to-manufacture meter movements.
Because they haven’t been produced in decades, and because they degrade and wear out with use, the supply of functional eye tubes is dwindling. I thought there might be value in coming up with a potential substitute– something that acted like an eye tube that could replace them in applications like antique radio restoration and general experimentation.
It turns out that convincing eye tube behavior can be simulated with one or more LED’s mounted on a rotating disk. The electronics to drive the LEDs amounts to little more an an op-amp, a transistor, and some timing components.
This video demonstrates the appearance of a real eye tube in operation, and introduces the principles involved in simulating one through electro-mechanical means. The video shows that the display generated by the electro-mechanical equivalent can be fairly convincing.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Adafruit is on Mastodon, join in! adafruit.com/mastodon
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!
Join over 36,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord
CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org
Maker Business — Making sure the CHIPS act isn’t just crumbs
Wearables — Don’t sweat it
Electronics — Potentiometer conventions
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: CircuitPython 8.1.0.RC0 is out, LEGO Minecraft Blocks with Python & more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
Adafruit IoT Monthly — AI Teddybear, Designing Accessible IoT Products, and more!
Microsoft MakeCode — MakeCode Thank You!
EYE on NPI — Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — New Products 5/24/23 Feat. Adafruit Mini I2C Gamepad with seesaw – STEMMA QT / Qwiic!
1 Comment
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
That’s a pretty cool project. It definitely inspired me to put the microcontrollers up for a week and get back to basics.