LEGO enthusiasts, brace yourselves because Christmas has come early! We're talking about the insanely cool LEGO microcontroller OLED terminals created by James "Ancient" Brown. We've always been amazed by them, but until recently, there wasn't much information available about how they were made. That's changed now, thanks to a fascinating new video from Ancient himself that provides an in-depth look at the process.
The video is a maker's dream come true, complete with ASMR-style close-up shots of each step in the process. It's a bit different from your typical how-to video because there's no talking, but that doesn't detract from its appeal. Instead, you get to enjoy the soothing sounds of the materials being crafted into something amazing.
As it turns out, making one of these terminals requires a whole bunch of different skills and crafts. The video shows everything from soldering tiny PCBs and RP2040 microcontrollers to mixing and molding resin. And let's not forget the custom 3D prints that are necessary to hold everything in place!
Watching the process is nothing short of mesmerizing. Ancient has clearly perfected the art of making these terminals, and it shows in every step of the process. But perhaps the most impressive part of the video is seeing the final result. The resin screen glows beautifully, and the OLED display is crystal clear. It even appears to have touch controls that respond to different pushes!
We can only hope that one day Ancient will release the build files for these terminals. However, after watching the video, we understand why they might be hesitant. There's a lot of work that goes into creating these amazing devices, and it's not exactly an easy project to replicate. For now, we'll just have to settle for admiring them from afar and feeling a little bit envious of Ancient's skills.