It all started in the end of December 2018 where my brother and I visited the 35C3 (Chaos Computer Club Congress). We were flashed by the lightshows, the cool projects, the music and the nice talks. However, especially the bunch of displays got my attention. I had the idea to install a nice display in our living room, controlled with an internet connected microcomputer, in order to send messages to my family and (the more boring part) to display time and date and maybe some weather information, etc. ;-).
One evening I surfed on Ebay to search for different kinds of displays (LCD, LED,…) and I stumpled over an auction where someone selled old split flap display from the DB (Deutsche Bahn). You may ask, what is a split flap display? You know them – they are used e.g. on airports to display flights status, gates, etc. (ok, nowadays, mostly LCD displays are used for that, but 20 years ago, split flaps where used for that kind of application). It didn’t take more then 2 seconds to realize that I need to build up my display out of split flap modules. Why? Because they combine mechanics and electronics and they have that great sound when writing letters on the display. However, a few hours later, I have learned that I’m not the only one who is intereseted in that stuff. The modules on Ebay were selled for a few hundrets of Euros, although they were old and damaged. And yes, there are some companies selling professional split flap displays – but for thousands of Dollars.
Hmmmmm, so why not designing and building my own selfmade split flap display?!? Nice idea – but as always, I was not the first one with that idea. I found several projects, all good, but all had some – well – let me say disadvantages. No, I don’t want a displays out of MDF, flaps out of paper or modules with hugh gears. So I decided to start my own project with the following targets:
- Modular (flexible in terms of amount of units). I planned my display with 20 units / digits but maybe I want more…
- Cheap (max. 20€ per module)
- Internet connected so I can send messages via TCP or UDP
Weeks later, I would say, that the project is/was successful. If you are interested in the display click here.
Split-Flap 