Ben Hencke
LightNews LightNews
bhencke.bsky.social
Ben Hencke
@bhencke.bsky.social
220 followers 120 following 28 posts
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Ben Hencke
evilgeniuslabs.org
It's alive, it's trapped inside, and it likes music.
Audio-reactive pattern and #Pixelblaze by @bhencke.bsky.social driving an 8x8x8 volumetric RGB LED cube with frosted acrylic enclosure.
Get your own: lectronz.com/products/led...
November 3, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
gallaugher.bsky.social
I was able to run the PixelBlaze Panama Hat with 150 LEDs for over 5 hrs, looking great at 20% brightness, using this small battery that fit under the hat & at 2.2oz, wasn't noticeable:
a.co/d/bbhObkk
youtube.com/shorts/TZBFV...
PixelBlaze Panama Hat - for tutorials see my channel. NeoPixel LEDs arranged in a matrix. #wearables
YouTube video by Build With Prof. G.
youtube.com
October 13, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
alpenglow.bsky.social
Honeycomb pattern, one of the preloaded ones on a Pixelblaze LED controller by electromage @bhencke.bsky.social
October 13, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
alpenglow.bsky.social
I made a really cool LED wall project for my house last week - spruced up an ugly black fireplace with 1035 LEDs and a Pixelblaze LED controller. Check out the full story and project progress on mastodon:

mstdn.social/@alpenglow/1...
Alpenglow Industries (Carrie) (@alpenglow@mstdn.social)
Attached: 1 image Got an ugly-ass nonfunctional fireplace that someone painted black? I’ve got the solution! I’ve had the parts and custom flex boards for a while for this and just no time. Tonigh...
mstdn.social
October 13, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
arturo182.bsky.social
🤡
A book cover saying "I'll write the code while I wait for the PCBs And Other Hilarious Jokes You Can Tell Yourself, Volume II"
September 3, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
clomads.bsky.social
Behold: the 18650 Battery Bandolier!!!! I have limited PwrTop 18s left and will be offering them with a battery at Maker Faire on a donation basis.
A long haired red head taking a selfie wearing a bandolier for shotgun shells but it’s instead 18650/ in alternating red pink and green. She is wearing a cropped rainbow Jumperless shirt and there’s a dog in the background peeking around the bathroom door. The bandolier hanging on a doorknob. There are 55 18650s on it and 4 of them are modded with PwrTop 18
September 13, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
alpenglow.bsky.social
Bzzzt! Glowies are powered by a tiny LiPo battery and rechargeable! Stay tuned for more incredibly fun designs coming to Maker Faire Bay Area! #mfba2025 #makerfaire
A lightning bolt joins the unicorn and the rainbow. All are plugged into USB cables.
September 17, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
alpenglow.bsky.social
Production today starts with a dip in conformal coat to insulate the exposed wires and pads. #glowies #alpenglowies #ledjewelry
September 21, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
alpenglow.bsky.social
Here’s the final style of Glowie we’re making! Shooting stars and flames! These fun animations draw attention without being too distracting, and their battery life is double the solid Glowies, so around 20-24 hrs on a single charge. #glowie #alpenglowie #ledjewelry #mfba2025 #makerfaire
September 23, 2025 at 12:06 AM
bhencke.bsky.social
Awesome new support board for Pixelblaze for making amazing wearables, or all kinds of projects really, with pebble strings.
alpenglow.bsky.social Alpenglow Industries (Carrie) @alpenglow.bsky.social · Aug 11
Want to make a wearable LED project? We’ve got some new helper boards in the shop! Our LED Buddies make it super easy to add USB power and an Electromage Pixelblaze Pico to any project with addressable LEDs, particularly the flexible Pebble-style ones.
www.alpenglowindustries.com/collections/...
LED Buddies
These awesome little helper boards make it easier to wire up your Pebble-style LEDs!  Pebble-style LEDs are connected with ribbon cable, and form very flexible strands.  "Standard" strands have 3 wire...
www.alpenglowindustries.com
August 11, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
evilgeniuslabs.org
Curious what it takes to write 3D patterns for #Pixelblaze by @bhencke.bsky.social?
I've written up a tutorial: www.evilgeniuslabs.org/tutorials/pi...
Among other examples is this rainbow-colored 3D Perlin noise on a three dimensional #RGB #LED cube.
Get your own cube: lectronz.com/products/led...
August 8, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
evilgeniuslabs.org
Playing with the 8x8x8 LED Cube, creating new patterns using the built-in #Pixelblaze by @bhencke.bsky.social.
Get your own cube: lectronz.com/products/led...
August 3, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
guydupont.bsky.social
I'm putting a tariff on the word "tariff"!

Hooked up an arcade dispenser to give me a ticket every time that god-forsaken word shows up on my computer screen.

20 tickets == 1 beer
April 15, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
alpenglow.bsky.social
I got these boards in just under the tariff wire, and I’m pretty stoked on them, coming soon to the shop! They’re optimized for soldering right to the back of a Pixelblaze Pico by @bhencke.bsky.social, but they can interface with any controller & are an easy way to power everything via USB-C.
May 4, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
evilgeniuslabs.org
I currently have one Fibonacci512 PixelBlaze available for sale, DM me if interested.
Please note this one uses WS2812 LEDs, not SK9822. It's still gorgeous (if I do say so myself). 😁
Fully assembled, includes #PixelBlaze by @bhencke.bsky.social
More info: www.evilgeniuslabs.org/fibonacci512...
April 16, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
alpenglow.bsky.social
Sneak peek at Pixelblaze Buddy Boards! These interface with a Pico and provide direct soldering for pebble strands, and support any strip via a connector or wires. Convenient USB-C breakout for power. Wired to a 4-pin pebble strand with backup data, then a 3-pin tape strip. @bhencke.bsky.social
April 13, 2025 at 6:55 PM
bhencke.bsky.social
PCB assembly and packing process.
March 15, 2025 at 12:58 AM
bhencke.bsky.social
I make a super fast simple sound synthesis engine.

Designed for microcontrollers, it uses little RAM and flash. Intended for 32-bit microcontrollers that have a fast multiply, like ARM Cortex-M0.

github.com/simap/MicroM...
GitHub - simap/MicroModSynth: A super fast simple sound synthesis engine
A super fast simple sound synthesis engine. Contribute to simap/MicroModSynth development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
March 11, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
thesamchase.bsky.social
520k and counting!
Thank you all for watching this and contributing to this wild ride. Hopefully we can turn this moderate success into something helpful to the world.
youtu.be/FEl_S3zHxh4
Donald J Trump Is Still The Biggest A**hole In The World (Live in London)
YouTube video by The Sam Chase
youtu.be
March 1, 2025 at 10:20 PM
bhencke.bsky.social
One of the few benefits of owning my #lasercutter is that I know exactly who to blame for its current condition.
February 28, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
alpenglow.bsky.social
Hey soldering kit makers! Struggling with new coin cell regulations and have a pile of PCBs with coin cell battery holder patterns on them? I made a thing for ours that converts them to USB power, maybe it's handy for you. 🧵
Two round circuit boards with white soldermask and blue silkscreen, left shows a CR2032 holder and the right shows a USB adapter board soldered into its place instead.
February 25, 2025 at 8:34 PM
bhencke.bsky.social
Really nice Mandelbrot viewer. Can even make videos! mandelbrot.page
Mandelbrot Set Fractal Explorer
Beautiful, fast, and precise exploration of the Mandelbrot Set online. Click to zoom. Hover to see orbits. M makes a smooth movie of your zoom path.
mandelbrot.page
February 22, 2025 at 4:33 AM
bhencke.bsky.social
So 4 pin common anode/cathode RGB LEDs can be charlieplexed! I made a tool that helps figure out how many given a number of GPIO, then added PWM on a subset of them, and refresh rates for charlieplex scanning. Shows a table for PWMable configurations.

www.bhencke.com/charlieplex-...
Charlieplex RGB — Ben Hencke
www.bhencke.com
February 14, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
straithe.com
Finished this art piece for my office!

The base for this piece is a cork board. I painted the frame, covered the cork in fabric, added a string of WS2812 LEDs controlled by a Pixelblaze V3 Standard LED controller, and then finished it up with some mirrors and flowers.

#leds #pixelblaze #wallart
February 11, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Reposted by Ben Hencke
lasermistress.bsky.social
It's that time of year where I spin up the flywheel of effort that runs There U Glow, a femme & queer created, run and centered LED-focused electronics camp. ⚙️ 🦾

Honestly, it's a balm and incredibly vital vibe in these horrifying techbro times.

Stay tuned if you are interested!

thereuglow.club
An angled shot of the front of several 10x10 pop-up tents that are glowing beautifully blue with a dark night sky behind them. People are sitting and hanging out underneath, and on the front is a prominent rainbow LED sign that says "there u glow" Two children are sitting at folding tables working on something with their hands, and crouched over each of them are two adults in femme festival clothing overseeing and teaching. In behind are two large aesthetic electronics posters on the walls of the pop-up tents surrounding the area. A woman in a black dress with a rhinestone lightning bolt stands in front of a crowd of people paying rapt attention. Next to her is a display board of LED strands. They are all inside of green pop-up tents with aesthetic electronics posters inside.
February 10, 2025 at 6:38 PM