Wall-Mount System for Organizing Microcontrollers and Other Hardware

[rhizotron]

Wall-Mount System for Organizing Microcontrollers and Other Hardware

I've seen other approaches resembling this, but I think my solution refines the idea some more with an improved aesthetic and more options.

I have several different terrarium and aquarium projects incorporating microcontrollers, motor & LED drivers, power connections and other hardware. Instead of trying to hide these components away, I am instead incorporating them with the displays using these wall-mount parts. The system pairs an aluminum t-track extrusion hung vertically on the wall with housings and brackets assembled with laser-cut and router-cut plastic parts.

This housing is sized to match a 1/4 perfboard, used here for 5v and 12v power connections. The reverse side has this pair of white HDPE parts that slide into the t-track and also hold the housing together with 4-40 machine screws.

You could easily make both the whole housing enclosure with 3D-printed parts, but I generally prefer the laser and router for this kind of thing. The parts have a more pleasing, finished appearance, there are more color options and I can cut them out pretty quick without having to deal with filament.

Here's that housing again plugged in and connected to a buck converter I'm using to drive a short LED strip. A white acrylic panel covers the housing and I also designed bracket parts for the converter. What is not visible here are the 1/4" clear acrylic spacers of various lengths that slide into the track to hold the housings and brackets apart.

This all just hangs on the wall with #6 wood screws + drywall anchors run though the holes in the t-track. This is a basic explanation, but I also have some more configurations to show.

Thanks for reading!

 

[crusso1993]

Nice design!

I’m going to share this in another thread if you do not mind.

 

[rhizotron]

Nice design!

I’m going to share this in another thread if you do not mind.

Sure that's fine of course. Thank you!

A couple nights ago I published a video with a setup that includes one of these wall mounts securing a controller with stepper driver. The aquarium is on a 80/20 shelf and it matches the t-track and my plastic parts pretty nice...

 

[crusso1993]

Sure that's fine of course. Thank you!

A couple nights ago I published a video with a setup that includes one of these wall mounts securing a controller with stepper driver. The aquarium is on a 80/20 shelf and it matches the t-track and my plastic parts pretty nice...

Now that is very cool! I am sure this will be of interest to many people.

P.S. - I’m going to share this one too and recommend making a separate post on it in the DIY section.

@Projects with Sam - check this and the previous mounting system out.

 

[rhizotron]

Here's another setup to show a few more options. This is a decorative nightlight/area light that grows live phytoplankton culture inside. I really like 7-segment displays and I designed an enclosure for one to show the time. The case just below that holds the Ardiuno microcontroller with RTC on a 1/2 breadboard. The timekeeping also controls a relay switch for a mini air pump that stirs the culture once every hour.

The whole thing is about 48" tall and looks pretty cool.

 

[crusso1993]

Here's another setup to show a few more options. This is a decorative nightlight/area light that grows live phytoplankton culture inside. I really like 7-segment displays and I designed an enclosure for one to show the time. The case just below that holds the Ardiuno microcontroller with RTC on a 1/2 breadboard. The timekeeping also controls a relay switch for a mini air pump that stirs the culture once every hour.

The whole thing is about 48" tall and looks pretty cool.

Dude! You should really post each item in it’s own post. This thing is wicked cool. As usual, I’m sharing this one too!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Awesome!!

 

[rhizotron]

Dude! You should really post each item in it’s own post. This thing is wicked cool. As usual, I’m sharing this one too!

I've dumped updates and explanations for several other projects over in this other discussion...

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/echoes-stromatolite-reef-hypersaline.863917/page-4#post-11170785

 

[crusso1993]

I've dumped updates and explanations for several other projects over in this other discussion...

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/echoes-stromatolite-reef-hypersaline.863917/page-4#post-11170785

Thanks for sharing the link. Happy it’s only four pages and will try to read through it later. No promises though as I have a busy day today.

 

[rhizotron]

Here's another video example. In this case the wall-mount assembly was included to reinforce the idea of space exploration. But it is a very simple setup with just a controller, RTC, relay and air pump. The LCD screen at the top also displays temp + humidity data as captured by a mini sensor breakout inside the terrarium.

 

[crusso1993]

Here's another video example. In this case the wall-mount assembly was included to reinforce the idea of space exploration. But it is a very simple setup with just a controller, RTC, relay and air pump. The LCD screen at the top also displays temp + humidity data as captured by a mini sensor breakout inside the terrarium.

Very cool! Are you using anything to maintain a certain temp?

Also, you familiar with the reef-pi controller project?

 

[rhizotron]

Very cool! Are you using anything to maintain a certain temp?

Also, you familiar with the reef-pi controller project?

No temperature control included and it's just more or less at ambient. Although it must drop a bit with water evaporation when the vent is on. Organisms are just terrestrial Cyanobacteria, which aren't very fussy about temp.

Yes I have seen reef-pi around. Have you used it? I might try to incorporate it into a build someday, but all my current projects are simple and regular arduino is the easiest approach.

 

[crusso1993]

No temperature control included and it's just more or less at ambient. Although it must drop a bit with water evaporation when the vent is on. Organisms are just terrestrial Cyanobacteria, which aren't very fussy about temp.

Yes I have seen reef-pi around. Have you used it? I might try to incorporate it into a build someday, but all my current projects are simple and regular arduino is the easiest approach.

Thanks for answering. I kind of figured it was an ambient set up but then you mentioned monitoring temp.

No, I have not built or use a reef-pi. I was very active on the thread a few years ago and started picking up parts for the build to run one of my fresh water tanks. It’s changed quite a bit since then. I do hope to build one “one of these days”!

 

[rhizotron]

Awesome!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks for answering. I kind of figured it was an ambient set up but then you mentioned monitoring temp.

No, I have not built or use a reef-pi. I was very active on the thread a few years ago and started picking up parts for the build to run one of my fresh water tanks. It’s changed quite a bit since then. I do hope to build one “one of these days”!

I have some more of these visible hardware projects on the way. I have a just regular wall clock with the same kind of housing half-finished and also have an idea for a barometer/humidity/temp display. The little mini LCDs are especially fun. Another thing I want to get into next is these stackable ecosystem components for more compact displays....

https://www.adafruit.com/category/943

The final tank setup I currently have with this system is this shallow 6-gallon intended as a display setup for phytoplankton growing. I fabricated a bracket assembly for the t-track to hold that El Cheapo gooseneck ring light...

 

[rhizotron]

Last night I got a start on another new design area: O-ring seals for airtight/watertight tube enclosure caps. I cut the round cap shape and internal cavity on the CNC router, then flipped the shape up vertically to cut the O-ring grooves on the table router with a 1/4" bit.

Naturally the piece jumped out of my grip with the first attempted cut on the table router (oops) and you can see the little check marks where it skipped along the bit.

There are formulas you can use to optimize oO-ring groove design, but of course I ignored all that and just eyeballed instead. More ideally, the groove depth would be something like 75% of the O-ring cross-section dimensions (with the round outside diameter correspondingly greater) but I made these only about half as deep.

With a test, this leaked a lot. But I'm pretty sure the water was getting around the conspicuous router bit tool marks in the bottom of the groove rather than my bad groove design. I was able to reduce the leak to a slow drip with some teflon tape inside the groove. Silicone grease will probably stop it altogether, but I'd rather figure out how to design and cut the O-ring grooves better instead of using messy grease. Fortunately I have plenty of this nice 1" HDPE I found as scrap for more experiments.

 

[rhizotron]

Cross-posting from one of my other discussion threads because I think these parts/assembly turned out pretty nice...