Tinylev Stand Modifed for Makerfabs Kit

thingiverse

I saw a demonstration online of the Tinylev (https://www.instructables.com/id/Acoustic-Levitator/) and wanted to build one myself. Instead of sourcing all the parts individually, I purchased a kit from Makerfabs. https://www.makerfabs.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=508 When the kit arrived, I realized that it needed a stand. *jeffbearer* had uploaded a great one that incorporated all the electronics, so I printed that out. The DC jack and switch from the kit were different than he used, so I modified the stand to accept them in a more traditional way; with an X-acto knife. For better visibility, I drilled some holes in the top and added 3 white LEDs - (1) 5mm right in the center, and (2) 3mm LEDs on each side. Each LED was connected to the 9-volt power supply through a 360 ohm resistor. This required 4 more wires going up the back, so I designed a simple conduit that snaps onto the center upright and hides the wires. I glued a length of 3/32 aluminum tube in front to keep the top and bottom arrays parallel. Without it, the top section would sag a bit and the levitated balls would start to wander. The power amp got pretty hot if left on for a few minutes, so I hot-glued a 25mm 5V fan I had lying around to the power amp heat sink. Now it runs cool as can be for hours. The Nano that comes in the kit has the header pins sticking out the bottom, and the stand is designed for them to stick out the top. So I glued some headers to the stand and inserted the Nano into them to hold it upright. I just soldered the required wires to the top of the header pins. The 9V 1A DC supply that came with the kit struggled to put out 8 volts when everything was running, so I used a 9-volt supply that I already had. It can put out 2 amps without breaking a sweat. This project works great and is a fun project to show off.