this post is guest written by Ruth! https://hackaday.io/ruthgrace

segment boundary adjustment

Several strips of LEDs had to be replaced. After replacement, I adjusted the boundaries of the digit segments. The digits panels each have one looong string of LEDs, and the code marks where each segment of the 7-segment display starts and ends on the LED strip. I did this with some test code that flashed groups of segments for one second each so that I could see the boundaries and adjust them: top vertical segments, bottom vertical segments, and horizontal segments.

code: https://github.com/ruthgrace/mannys_sign/blob/master/test%20code/Segment_test_code_V1.0.ino

photo:

Looking good!

animation on zero

I also noticed that there was a bug when the sign counted to zero -- it would continue counting, attempting to do so from a negative number. I updated the code so that instead of bugging out when the countdown reached zero, the sign would continue to display zeros, and fade their color from red to blue, like the visual representation of a swing vote.

1.00 remove debris

There were already some plastic sheets in the bracket for the sign, but they weren't tall enough to protect the sign from the weather (they may have been used to hold up the sign from behind, but i don't think that will work now that I have nicer casings for the LEDs). I removed these.

bracket, ladder, removed plastic sheets on the bench below:

this is what the bracket looks like after removing the plastic sheets... pretty grimey. maybe I should clean it out next time we're there.

plastic cover + caulking

I bought a new taller plastic cover from TAP Plastics and I transported it home on a cargo bike

I also got a small piece of plastic that I want to laser cut a cover for the right and left ends of the bracket out of. First, I prototyped the shape in paper

so that I could test it on the bracket

i made some adjustments based on my paper test. The most annoying part of this part of the project was figuring out how to tile a large PDF to be printed on muitiple pieces of letter-sized paper, since I had run out of my Adobe Acrobat subscription. I was able to do it using imagemagick and ghostscript using the answer here: 

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/627887/separate-high-resolution-single-page-pdf-into-multiple-pages

blackout cloth cover

The sign should be covered before the big reveal, so I bought some black out cloth and sewed it into one long strip

I cut some holes where it needs to hang on the bracket and surrounding wall:

Next I will hem the fabric and secure the holes with Fabritac around the edges so it doesn't fall apart.