The Dial Toner

A mechanical, hardware hex color picker for your favorite design software

Guy Dupont

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Description

1. Dial in a color using the dedicated hex switches.
2. Watch the RGB LEDs change to show (*an approximation of) the color you have in real-time.
3. Smash the key switch to send the color to your computer.

Features:
- Dual RGB LEDs (one in front, one in back)
- Low profile Kailh key switch
- Configurable output - color can be sent in hex, RGB, CMYK, or HSV.
- Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller running CircuitPython

*Important note - The colors emitted from the RGB LEDs are going to look a bit different from the ones on your computer screen. The onboard lights are only meant to be a rough reference. It's for fun! Not a precision instrument.

Details

I have prototypes available on Etsy!

[ Video Incoming ]

Here is the schematic:

Components

6 × 16-position DIP switches I used: Nidec Copal SD-1110
3 × 74LS151 Multiplexer IC For more input pins. Could have alternatively used shift registers.
24 × 10k ohm pull-up resistors I used 3 X 8-resistor arrays
1 × SK6812-MINI-E reverse mounted RGB LED
1 × 74AHC1G126W5-7 TTL Buffer For driving the RGB LED's data line from 3.3v logic (not totally sure if necessary)