We had the last spiderweb electronics work party last night and finished assembling all 60 node lights. Each one includes a battery holder, accelerometer, controller, and a pair of LEDs, and they’re designed to fit in the center of an aluminum clamp node that will join each cable crossing in the web. Tonight I’ll work on programming all these chips and start calibrating the algorithm based on the actual results I get back from the accelerometers.

In other news, Ava and I are talking about cutting down the title-free CB750 frame I am no longer going to use as an electric motorcycle and put it to work as the back end of the electric scrambler trike we were already planning to build for Burning Man. With a 350-watt, 24-volt motor it won’t go very fast, but the idea is to construct a comfortable, visually impressive e-bike for playa cruising, and the playa has a 5-mph speed limit. The big fat motorcycle wheel and coil springs will make for an awesome mutant look. We’ll have to retain an actual pedal mechanism in order to qualify as an e-bike, but that’s a small compromise.

…wait, Burning Man? Yes, it looks like I might end up going this year after all. I have no project and almost none of my friends are going, besides which the whole ticketing fiasco left a bad taste in my mouth, so I hadn’t planned to go. (Thus the whole Floodland effort – I needed a Burning Man project that wouldn’t actually involve going to Burning Man!) But Ava’s going with the Iron Monkeys, so I’ll have a place to crash, and a ticket opportunity basically fell into my lap, so I think I’ll take a few days and swing by for a flying visit.