Summary of CELEBRATING THE INFINITY OF PI DAY WITH THERMOCHROMIC FOIL
This Pi Day project by [Moritz Sivers] features a machine that displays an infinite loop of Pi digits using thermochromic foil and a thermal printer. The system fetches data from Google's pi.delivery service via an ESP8266, which prints numbers onto the foil. As the heated print fades, the foil loops back to be reprinted, creating a continuous visual tribute to the mathematical constant.
Parts used in the Pi Day Thermochromic Machine:
- Looped piece of thermochromic foil
- Thermal printer
- Heating element
- Google pi.delivery service
- ESP8266 microcontroller
It might take you some time to understand what’s happening in the video that Hackaday alum [Moritz Sivers] shared with us. This is [Moritz]’s contribution for this year’s Pi Day – a machine that shows digits of Pi in a (technically, not quite) infinite loop, and shows us a neat trick we wouldn’t have thought of.
The two main elements of this machine are a looped piece of thermochromic foil and a thermal printer. As digits are marked on the foil by the printer’s heating element, they’re visible for a few seconds until the foil disappears from the view, only to be eventually looped back and thermally embossed anew. The “Pi digits calculation” part is offloaded to Google’s pi.delivery service, a π-as-a-Service endpoint that will stream up to 50 trillion first digits of Pi in case you ever need them – an ESP8266 dutifully fetches the digits and sends them off to the thermal printer.
This machine could print the digits until something breaks or the trillions of digits available run out, and is an appropriate tribute to the infinite nature of Pi, a number we all have no choice but to fundamentally respect. A few days ago, we’ve shown a similar Pi Day tribute, albeit a more self-sufficient one – an Arduino calculating and printing digits of Pi on a character display! We could’ve been celebrating this day for millennia, if Archimedes could just count a little better.
Source: CELEBRATING THE INFINITY OF PI DAY WITH THERMOCHROMIC FOIL
- What is the main purpose of this machine?
To show digits of Pi in a technically not quite infinite loop as a Pi Day tribute. - How are the digits marked on the foil?
The digits are marked by the heating element of a thermal printer. - Where does the machine get the Pi digits?
The digits are fetched from Google's pi.delivery service. - Which microcontroller is used to fetch the digits?
An ESP8266 is used to fetch the digits and send them to the printer. - How long do the printed digits remain visible?
The digits are visible for a few seconds until the foil disappears from view. - Can the machine print trillions of digits?
Yes, the pi.delivery service can stream up to 50 trillion first digits of Pi. - What happens to the foil after the digits fade?
The foil is eventually looped back and thermally embossed anew. - Is there another similar Pi Day project mentioned?
Yes, an Arduino calculating and printing digits on a character display was shown recently.
