Flip Dots!

I saw flip dots (also called flip discs) last year for the first time and instantly knew I needed some in my life. If you’re not familiar with them, check out how they work!

The particular model I have is the ALFAZETA XY5, which may be the easiest way to get up and running, but certainly not the least expensive.

After getting the board, all you need is:

1. 24V power supply
2. Something that talks over RS485 (in my case I used an ESP8266 connected to a MAX3485 board)
3. Their documentation that defines the controller data protocol

I plan to write in more detail how it all works, but for this demo the stack is:

1. SwiftUI app that runs SwiftGFXWrapper (which is mainly Adafruit’s GFX Library under the hood)
2. The app sends the entire pixel buffer over UDP to the ESP8266
3. The ESP8266 sends data to the XY5 over RS485 using their controller’s protocol

Update: Here’s more info on how it all works!