“It’s a Stargate PCB for your desktop—engage those chevrons and establish a wormhole!
Stargate SG-1 is my favorite TV show of all time—full stop. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been forcing my girlfriend to watch to watch the entire series. We were around season 4 when I saw that tutorials was running a PCB Contest, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to design my very own Stargate that I could put on my desk.
This project is what I came up with. It’s a 4 inch diameter PCB Stargate, with accompanying DHD (that’s Dial-Home Device for layman), that sits on your desk and lights up! Tap the capacitive touch pad on the DHD and each chevron will light up in sequence. Get to the 7th chevron, and the wormhole lights up!
The PCB is designed as a single piece, and snaps apart. The DHD is in the center, and the outer corners are supports for the Stargate and DHD. It runs on two AA batteries, and the battery holder acts as the base of the DHD.
Logic is provided by an ATtiny85, which turns on the LEDs through a 74HC595 shift register. Read on to see how I designed it, and for instructions on how to assemble it!”