Fluid Simulation Pendant

(mitxela.com)

Comments

adriand 14 January 2025
Fascinating video. I watched almost the whole thing without planning to, I got sucked in.

This is one of those examples of software that reminds me of my struggle to understand how LLMs are passing code evaluations that culminate with people declaring that they are now better than even the best human coders. I have tried to get LLMs (specifically, Claude and ChatGPT, trying various models) to assist with niche problems and it's been a terrible experience. Fantastic with CRUD or common algorithms, terrible when it's something novel or unusual.

The author creates his own version of a "FLIP simulation". I'm going to go out on a limb and posit that even ChatGPT's unreleased o3 model would not be up to the task of writing the software that powers this pendant. Is this incorrect? I realize perhaps that my comment is a little off-topic given that this is not an AI project. However, this project seems like an excellent example of the sort of thing that I am quite skeptical the supposedly "world-class" artificial software engineers could pull off.

mncharity 13 January 2025
> access to a lathe is a fundamental human right

A teacher once told me their (middle? high?) school was the last in their state with lathes. Something which couldn't be created there today, and couldn't exist now in some other states, but which had been repeatedly grandfathered, since its creation with many others, just after World War 2. And that it would disappear upon the first serious accident, leaving none at all.

asplake 13 January 2025
polishdude20 13 January 2025
This is super cool! I love the simulation aspect of it.

On the same note, I've been working on a bike POV display with lots of LEDs and just got "live-ish" video working over wifi with it:

https://youtu.be/hxAHBvuyqpY?si=8XraFuG_Fi54Bs7T

ayoubd 13 January 2025
I really love mitxela's project ideas and process videos, I recommend checking out his other projects as well
fasten 14 January 2025
This project is an incredible mix of artistry and engineering. the attention to detail in both the fluid simulation and the hardware design is mindblowing(especially the clever use of charlieplexing to optimize LED placement congrats!!
neumann 14 January 2025
this is so incredibly impressive. I find projects and the people who do this so inspiring and also deflating because while I can appreciate the work ethic and polymath skills needed for this I couldn't recreate this. I'll just have to hang back and appreciate.

Any other similar creators with this level of polish (pun intended) and interests to follow?

JKCalhoun 14 January 2025
Weirdly I am drawn to his previous idea of using an actual liquid (mercury) to trigger the LEDs. So much simpler to lay out in KiCad, no 4-layers required....
leephillips 13 January 2025
So, so beautiful. I was shocked at the price. I was expecting something about 10x what he's charging.
tantalor 14 January 2025
I would not use "prototype" to describe this as he did.
Swoerd 13 January 2025
I would love to see a version with wireless charging, though that might be tough with the all metal enclosure, perhaps it could be done through the front/screen section.

Also, adopting the screen off function Apple watches use could be a cool addition, for that it would need a light sensor. On an Apple Watch, you can switch the screen off by simply covering the screen with your hand.

solardev 14 January 2025
This is the only piece of jewelry I've ever seen that I immediately crave. Wish it were still on sale!
londons_explore 14 January 2025
Those LED's could have been packed much closer together if one was willing to have adjacent LED's share a single pad.

Since the LED's are all the same component and therefore heat at the same speed in the oven, I don't think that would cause tombstoning.

elcritch 13 January 2025
Fascinating that with such a simple simulation you can see grain boundaries like those in metals forming. Look at the second image, those are almost identical to what they looked like in our material science courses.
LolWolf 13 January 2025
wait, this is amazing !

I am tempted to make a slightly sillier version of this w/ a circular lcd rather than the uhh retro-cool smt leds honestly just to avoid the multiplexing design

great work!! super cool

ge96 13 January 2025
dang, great video and nice write up

I can see a good video as far as show/don't tell my stuff is dry/way too much info. Guess it depends verbatim tutorial vs. just showcasing.

albus0x 14 January 2025
Such a cool project. The only thing - I wish LEDs were blue
ionwake 14 January 2025
Is this for sale? Its so cool
fitsumbelay 13 January 2025
the whole mitxela store is t-i-g-h-t the metal shop close-ups are zomg :salivating-face: ...
Archit3ch 13 January 2025
Does it send MIDI?
brcmthrowaway 14 January 2025
The led screen is disappointing
m3kw9 13 January 2025
put diamonds on top of those LEDs and you can sell it to rappers.
byearthithatius 13 January 2025
Or we could just fill the same container with....water
CamperBob2 13 January 2025
The HN guidelines say not to complain about the formatting or presentation of the article, but often the page design is so insanely terrible that someone can't help but post a complaint about how they couldn't read it because X, or how it didn't work on browser Y, or how the information density was so annoyingly low it wore out their mouse or pointing finger, or...

This isn't one of those posts. Good job to the author. This article is not only nicely written but also a pleasure to read.