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By tzvc 2026-01-2310:55 CS background, but I've always been a "bricoleur" on the side
By resurge 2026-01-2323:05 I actually got your video recommended by Youtube earlier today! Glad my YT algorithm is on point.
But would it be possible to add an RSS feed to your blog please? (https://rootkid.me/works) That way I won't miss any of your future posts.
How much did that sheet metal frame cost you from PCBWay? Thanks for sharing.
By tzvc 2026-01-2317:27 Around $200 delivered to france
Do you have a list you would be willing to share of trusted manufacturers & suppliers that you reference for different products or materials?
By tzvc 2026-01-2314:43 I used JLCPCB for the pcb cause they integrate well with the pcb design software i use (kicad or easypcb)
And I used pcbway for the sheet metal fabrication
Honestly they are both great and similarly priced
At least in the last video it seems like he used both PCBWay and JLCPCB for manufacturing
By cheschire 2026-01-2313:38 Yep! The choice of JLCPCB after having used PCBWay is what inspired the question.
By thinkingtoilet 2026-01-2320:46 Very cool project. Thank you for sharing. It's rare where something so technical can have such an artistic manifestation. Well done.
By djhworld 2026-01-2318:44 Awesome project & video, thanks for making it
Where did you learn all the PCB design stuff to make your circuit boards that controlled the filaments?
By jenowigner 2026-01-2314:534 reply amazing project ! well done ! inspiring to see it this morning the youtube algo recommended it for me. I was thinking what would be a budget way of creating this ? maybe a $20 SDR instead of the hack rf , seems to be a waste of the hack rf to use it as a lamp :)) I think the way you did must have cost you over $1k. Thanks for the inspiration !
By tzvc 2026-01-2315:47 Hackrf is defo overkill for this. I got it cause my initial plan was to cover the whole spectrum
You could probably do it with a cheaper SDR, but it would be slower
Total budget for this is around $1k
IIRC, a regular SDR dongle will not be able to process the full bandwidth of GHZ range.
By pixl97 2026-01-2319:10 I do think most people implementing something like this, especially in the exact way this one was implemented would really just be interested in the Wi-Fi ranges.
When I was doing wireless stuff we'd show customers the output of RF analysers to show that even with their wifi turned off their spectrum was packed full of noise.
Having a large viceral display of this would quickly enlighten them.
The $5 nrf52840 should be sufficient, it can scan 114 channels (from 2400-2514 MHz) several times per second, measuring the approximate RSSI.
By bethekidyouwant 2026-01-2320:351 reply You could not use that as an SDR to make a waterfall which is required in this case
You do not need a full SDR to make a waterfall. The nrf52840 can function as a coarse spectrum analyzer, because it lets you tune to any frequency within its range, and then measure the approximate received signal strength over a period of time[0]. I have tested this myself, and it works pretty well. The only downside compared to an SDR is that it can only listen to one frequency at a time, so it will sometimes miss short signals.
[0] https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ps_nrf52840/page/radio.ht...
By bethekidyouwant 2026-01-2417:26 I know it can switch frequencies, but I predict it wouldn’t make a very pleasing visualization if the updates are slow, but maybe you are right it would look fine for this implementation which is already far off from a waterfall
By direwolf20 2026-01-2317:521 reply HackRF isn't a good SDR by any metric except for the date it came out.
By ipdashc 2026-01-2318:53 What would a better alternative be?
Love your channel! Do you have any plans to eventually open source your projects? (Both in terms of hardware and software)
To be honest, all of the hardware and software is really poorly documented. But I guess i coudl still publish it as is
By flexagoon 2026-01-2319:46 Yes, would be still great! I'm sure a lot of people would have fun playing around with it even without the documentation
I'm personally especially interested in 'Latent Reflection'. I've tried to make something similar never got to a point where I was happy with the output the AI model gave me.
Lots of tuning to get the model to not immediatly spiral into nonsense. But small models are getting better by the minute, maybe i'll revisit it with a better model and share all the code
By mechazawa 2026-01-3011:00 That'd be really appreciated. For me it just kept repeating the same phrase or just started reflecting on the prompt itself for a sentence or two after which it started spouting random nonsense like a pasta recipe.
By dangoodmanUT 2026-01-2315:391 reply You’re very good, I’m jealous of your work
By me_vinayakakv 2026-01-244:40 Nice art and a good way of story telling. Thanks for your work!
Cool project. I was going to say, the end resulting light should be a pretty saturated spectrum, given that many RF sources just keep pumping out waves, and the those waves propagating and bouncing around.
I think one fun application would be a light which represents your wi-fi strength around the house. Obviously in a smaller apartment that's really not a problem, but in larger houses it would be fun to see.
Another application would be to find hidden RF sources / leaks. I have a home recording studio, and for the life I could not find some RF source that kept adding noise / interference. I could roughly detect the frequency of the noise, but not its origin. I guess if I had a couple of RF sensors I could try to triangulate my way to it.
Yes, in the parisian apt. where I filmed the RF landscape is wild
But tuning in to the specific wifi channel you router use you could even use this piece as a signal strenght plotter!
By pixl97 2026-01-2319:16 >use this piece as a signal strenght plotter
Seems like it wouldn't be hard to filter this for something like the 2.4 or 5GHz range then put a different color filament at the demarcation point for each of the channels.
By ricardonunez 2026-01-2311:32 That’s what I was thinking, the project should yield a few different useful tools. That was a great video.
Cool project. Here's some OT: where do people learn to make these videos? Fast paced but calm narration with chill music and sped up action mixed with regular speed. It's a matter of consuming a lot of this content until the form clicks, or you need to go to influ-school?
No influencer school, no video experience whatsoever actually
I watched TONs of youtube videos growing up and I guess I took inspiration from what I liked in each: fast pace, always shows what you are talking about on screen (no talking head), include tiny projects in the main one, explain the science, use an intro to captivate and an outro to nail the point, use music to drive rythme
I film and record audio with just my phone
By kh_hk 2026-01-2315:12 Thanks! That kind of makes sense. It's always interesting to me when I see patterns that make videos work well, and I usually have a lot of questions about the production.
Another question that I hope is not disrespectful: does PCBWay and JLCPCB pay for brand placement during the video or was it just a tribute from your side?
By dangoodmanUT 2026-01-2318:271 reply Man iphones have come a long way
By pixl97 2026-01-2319:27 My wife has worked in marketing for years and setting up photo shoots/video shoots has changed massively. A huge amount of the video and pictures that don't require a specialized lense are just done with feature phones these days.
By xtiansimon 2026-01-2312:371 reply Yo. You have to make videos. Then, seeing videos that you like, you secretly try to “steal” those ideas you articulated.
Just don’t tell anybody you’re a copy-cat.
By wpietri 2026-01-2314:00 "Good artists borrow. Great artists steal." -- me
