SLIDER build guide

This is a full description of everything you need to do to get SLIDER up and running.

Parts list

Part	Part no.	Note	Link
Box top	n/a	3D printer required. ABS was used in the prototype, PLA is probably fine.	STL file
Box sides	n/a	as above	STL file
Box bottom	n/a	as above	STL file
Motor controller	Pi Hut 102514		The Pi Hut
Display	Adafruit 1080	Or any other Adafruit Mini 8x8 LED Matrix w/I2C Backpack	Adafruit
Arduino Micro	A000053		RS components
Motorised slider	PSM01-082A-103B2		RS components
Rotary Encoder	PEC11R-4220K-S0024		RS components
Rotary encoder knob	3/07/TPN170 006 BLACK	Any 6mm splined will do.	RS components
Battery contacts	RS stock 185-4775	Any will do.	RS components
F-F Jumper wires (x?)	MIKROE-511	Any will do.	RS components
Anti-slip pads	SJ5018N	Any will do.	RS components
M1.2x6 machine screws (x4)	RS stock 418-7218	For mounting Arduino. Any will do.	RS components
M2x6 machine screws (x4)		For mounting 8x8 displays.	Easy to find (ours were just taken from the lab)
Countersunk M3x6 machine screws (x2)		For mounting motorised slider.	Easy to find
M3x12 machine screws (x4)		For mounting motor controller.	Easy to find
M3x20 machine screws (x8)		For closing box. Any length ≥ 12mm is fine	Easy to find

Electrical connections

Electrically connect the components using the following schematic. Every connection is a single Female-Female jumper wire, except the connections to the rotary encoder, for which you will need to strip one end of each jumper wire and solder it to the rotary encoder pin.

Electrical Schematic

Hardware assembly

It’s fairly obvious where everything attaches to. Note which screw is for what from the parts list above. Here’s some images of what you should end up with. You may find it useful to wrap the encoder in a little electrical tape as shown to reduce friction with the top of the box. Be careful setting the wires, try to minimise friction between the encoder wires and everything else. You may also find it useful to add a little adhesive putty (Blu-Tack) on the connection from the motorised slider to the bracket.

Jumble of wires inside SLIDER Wires going to the rotary encoder Mounting of the rotary encoder to the bracket.

Installing the firmware

Install arduino-cli, then run the following commands from a *nix box:

git clone https://git.sr.ht/~ecc/SLIDER-firmware # get the firmware
cd SLIDER-firmware
make setup # install the dependencies
make build # compile the SLIDER firmware
make flash # flash the firmware onto an attached SLIDER device.