Plan — Prof Brothers LED Nameplate

Original prompt

make an led molecule for Prof Brothers from Georgia Tech. we want his name in lights spelled out in LEDs on a pcb in adom's molecule format. use adom-tsci. put a usbc connector on it so Prof Brothers can just plug it into his iphone charger to light up his nameplate. he'll put this on his desk to show the students when they visit his office.

Refinements during the build

  • Used the same architecture as Larry's nameplate (built earlier in the same session)
  • Extended the pixel font with letters P, O, F, B, T, H, E, S (Larry's only needed L, A, R, Y)
  • Board sized to 136x24mm to fit the 13-character "PROF BROTHERS" text
  • Added "GEORGIA TECH" silkscreen below the LED array

Hardware decisions

  • 117 white 0603 LEDs — 3x5 pixel font, 3mm grid pitch, 3mm letter gap, 5mm word gap
  • 117 × 220 ohm 0402 resistors — one per LED, ~9mA each at 5V
  • USB-C (TYPE-C-31-M-12) on the east edge — UsbCReceptacle wrapper with rotation-invariant placement
  • 5.1k CC pulldowns — required for USB-C power delivery
  • 100nF bypass cap on VBUS
  • 4 MachineContactMedium at corners for workcell scaffold mounting + optional scaffold power

Out of scope (deliberate)

  • No microcontroller — all LEDs always on
  • No brightness control or animation
  • No ESD protection on USB-C data lines (power-only)

Build → publish workflow

cd ~/project/adom-tsci/examples/ProfBrothers-Nameplate
bun install
bunx tsci build lib/index.tsx --glbs --svgs --3d-png --pcb-png
adom-tsci start .
adom-tsci export-wiki --slug profbrothers-led-nameplate --page-type molecules