H-2-Opus

What kind of home project has 82 legs, horns, and will never have all of the "bugs" worked out of it? The
answer is "H-2-Opus", a musical water fountain. It features a scene of insects surrounding a pond.

Water fountains are all nice, but I find that ones with computer-controlled leaping streams of water are
especially interesting. A local amusement park has one with arches of water jumping between ponds, which
started my fascination. Disneyland and Universal Studios go a few steps better. What finally convinced me to
try one of my own is seeing the magnificent musical fountain at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. My fountain
takes quite a different approach than this, but all of us who have an interest in computer-controlled motion
should be mesmerized by the Bellagio’s ultimate display.

What can I do?

Since Bellagio’s lake-sized fountain won’t fit in my garage (or budget), I made "H-2-Opus" to a scale that I can
handle. It is controlled by midi and has 36 valves, 5 servos, 7 lights, 3 lasers, and a fog machine. The scene and
the creatures are made from copper and brass, and the metals are polished, with patina, or enameled. From the
floor of the pond arise 16 spouts in a big ellipse, and another spout comes from the very center.

Where many of the insects just squirt the water to music, there are several special features as well. A tiny bee
sits on a flower, and when it becomes his turn to solo, he flies from his flower while playing his saxophone
(squirting water) and maneuvering above the pond. Then a turtle on the other side squirts water at him before
he lands back on the flower.

In the center is a hut with a saxophone-playing ladybug in it. The ladybug pivots back and forth as he plays. He
"rocks out" as he blows his sax and kicks his leg to the music. Hidden inside the hut are two 10mm
cubic-zirconia (CZ) which rotate, while two lasers hit the CZ’s from below. The laser beams are split into many
beams. The lasers are taken out of laser pointers. A tiny fog machine fills the hut with fog, which makes the
rotating beams of the lasers visible, and can also fill the pond with fog when desired. My whole desire for the
fog machine was inspired by wanting to see the laser beams, but having a bunch of fog on the pond with the
lights on it turned out to be a cool effect, and it seems that people really like this effect.

The ring of spouts in the pond also makes patterns of water with the music. The center spout has a
servo-controlled pinch valve that can change the volume of water from this spout, and make it grow from low
to high. There is a laser coming up through the stream of water in the center, which illuminates the water from
inside the spout. There is also a spotlight at the base of the center spout that can illuminate the spout on the
outside.

Set inside the front rim of the pond is five colored halogen spotlights. The center light has a servo-controlled
color wheel, enabling this light to have 4 colors. The band conductor at the front also has a light inside his
podium.

How it works

The music is played on a floppy disk midi player (Yamaha Midi Data Filer MDF-4), although for programming
the display I used the midi output of a computer. By using a music sequencing program, the events can be
clicked in with a mouse. A solenoid-valve’s activation can be dragged to an earlier or later time, or turned on
for a different duration of time. Then I can watch it perform to a section of the music, and change the
performance to suit the mood of each portion of the musical piece.

When a piece of music is choreographed with everything performing to the music, then the midi file is saved
and added to a floppy. When the fountain performs, the midi player plays one tune after another from the
floppy.

Fifteen channels of the midi are actually music, but the 16th channel is what controls the fountain. Each "note"
turns something on, or starts a servomotor routine. There are 84 notes worth of events in controlling everything.
Some of the notes perform multiple functions together.

Midi and Electronics

The midi music goes through to a sound module and computer speakers for the sound, with channel-16 notes
set at volume and velocity of "1" so that they are not heard.

The 16th channel is filtered with a PIC 16F877 microcontroller. Channel 16 goes from the PIC to four Basic
Stamps (BS2SX) that actually control the fountain’s parts. I am an amateur in electronics and programming (a
dentist by profession), and constructed Thorsten Klose’s midi filter as a starting point. A few modifications to
his code were all I needed. A midi note for channel 16 is made into a byte that holds the function number and
on/off status, and sent on 8 parallel lines to Stamp A.

The Stamp A reads the byte from 8 pins of the PIC. It then either turns on a light, or sends data serially to the
other three stamps to turn something else on. By splitting the duties between the stamps, one stamp can fly the
bee in the x-axis, another stamp fly it in the y-axis, and the last stamp squirt the bee’s saxophone while the bee
flies. The Basic Stamps work very well for an amateur like me, as they are so easy to program. Making
everything perform artistically with the music took a lot of programming and re-programming to get the
performance to look good.

The outputs of the stamps control servos, solenoid valves, and relays. The solenoids and relays run at 24
VDC, driven by ULN2003A Darlington transistor arrays. The relays turn on the 12VAC halogen spotlights,
the motor that rotates the CZ’s, and operate the footswitch plug on the MDF. A solenoid also pushes a button
on the front of the MDF. Transistors (2N2222) help the stamps turn on the lasers.

There are a lot of different power requirements, and what a pile of power supplies is needed! It is important to
have a separate 5V supply for the microcontrollers and the servos. The servos will cause the Basic Stamps to
sometimes reset if they are on the same supply. This is most likely to happen if a big crowd or somebody
important is watching.

Flying and Dancing

The bee "flies" by means of a scissors jack. One servo controls the y-axis direction that actually makes the bee
fly in an arc: up and out from the flower. Another servo controls the x-axis direction, making the bee fly back
and forth. Between the arc of the y-axis direction and the back and forth of the x-axis, the bee seems to fly in 3
dimensions. There are four different routines for the bee to fly, with different motions and lengths of program to
go with different pieces of music.

The ladybug has a servo that pivots him back and forth. A cam arrangement inside of him pulls a Kevlar thread,
which lifts one leg as he goes to each side. The movement of the ladybug while shooting water from his
saxophone makes a nice effect. He has six routines from a single kick to longer programs for his "solos". The
fog is made by a small ultrasonic fog maker that makes the water into a very fine mist, which flows down from
the inside top of the shack, and then across the pond of water.

Construction

A welded steel frame, using 3/4" steel tube, supports the entire fountain inside. Plywood forms the floor of the
inside, and on top of this are the electronics. The electronics have an acrylic enclosure over all, and a fan keeps
it all cool inside. In this enclosure is the midi player, sound module, microcontrollers, relays and power supplies.
Everything electrical in the fountain is protected from the water by enclosures or shields, so that if something
goes wrong all will not get destroyed by 4 gallons of water getting sprayed all over the inside (this has
happened a few times! Murphy’s Law at work!).

In the middle are rows of solenoid valves. I used surplus 24-volt DC valves. It is helpful if these do not use too
much current, so that the driver chips can handle the load. Nearby is the lower reservoir, which contains the
500GPH submersible pump. Each supply tube has a flow-adjusting valve made from a big nut with a #8 screw
tapped through the side. The screw presses a copper pad that pinches the tubing. Using distilled water keeps
everything running smoothly, and is kind to the finish on the metals.

Above the valves is the pond. A ring of plywood supports the base of the pond, and another ring supports the
rim. Between these two rings is room for servos, lights, and mechanical drives. The white lights are colored with
pieces of colored gel, like DJ’s use.

The outer part of the base is made of 1/16-inch polycarbonate sheets laminated with 5 layers. They are glued
with solvent made for solvent-welding plastics. The skirt on the top was formed on the fountain. The base was
formed on a plywood jig, using two cutouts separated by some 2x4 lumber pieces. The layers are put on one at
a time, squirting solvent onto it a foot or so at a time, clamping it in place for about 10 minutes, then doing
another section. When it is done, it holds its shape, and can be cut, filed and sanded to final trim. Blocks of
acrylic plastic glued inside allow the base to rest on the plywood at the edges, so then only a few screws are
needed to anchor it in place. I love working with plastics: the glue joints are very strong, the material is strong,
and it handles water well with no surface treatment.

The base was first painted to block the light, and make it less transparent, and then painted with a simulated
rock coating. The inside is lined with carpeting to help dampen the sound of the solenoid valves. Wheels on the
bottom help to manage the 250-pound weight.

click to enlarge
pictures

close up of pond

Ragtime keyboard
player

Tuba Player

Ladybug

Bee sits on a
flower between
flights

Ladybug is moving
back and forth,
playing a saxophone
and kicking his leg

Bee

The conductor
leads from the
center.

Right side: the bee is
flying and squirting
his saxophone.

The Blues
Brothers

Servos controlling
the flight of the bee

Lady bug servo,
lasers, pinch valve
servo in the back

Servo controls a
variable pinch
valve, to control the
height of the center
spout.

Turtle: the components
of the turtle shell are
supported by an
internal skeleton, so
they appear as if
"floating"

Horns on the left.

Front view with the
cover off

Two servos control
the flight of the bee.

Musical "notes" are
actually signals to
operate valves, lights,
etc.

Drawing of the inside
construction

Inside back view

circuit board with
microcontrollers

French horn

Copper, Brass, and Bugs

My orchestra is made of mostly copper and brass. I made insects because they are whimsical, easy to make, and it does not look strange to have them of
many different sizes. I used different sizes of brass tubing, brass rod, and brass balls for many parts of the insects, and sheet copper (.025") and brass
(.050") for the bigger pieces. It is all soldered with a propane torch, Tin/Silver (96/4) alloy solder, and paste flux. Heat shielding compound is a wonderful
clay that allows you anchor one piece that you just soldered, and solder something else next to it without melting and destroying the joint you just made.
Most everything that squirts has a 3/32" inside diameter.

The spider web and some insect wings were made of .025" stainless steel wire, soldered with hard silver solder.

I made all of the parts, including the instruments. Some pieces were soldered together from existing shapes (tubes, balls, etc.). A small lathe helped turn
most of the horns. A few parts were cast from brass, using the lost-wax process. The ladybug’s saxophone was cast in four pieces and then soldered
together.

The copper is worked by heating it red hot, then quenching it in water. It becomes softer, and can be pounded into compound shapes. As it gets shaped,
it also gets harder, so sometimes repeated heating and quenching is needed to keep it workable. Pickling it in 10% sulfuric acid removes all of the black
discoloration.

Some of the metal was colored by patina, and then coated with clear finish that is originally made for cars. The green areas use the clear finish, with blue
and green pigments from an auto body shop mixed in. The color makes a nice effect over the clean copper showing through. Some of the parts were left
polished: little parts like eyes and bigger parts especially like the instruments. The finish keeps it from tarnishing.

The top rim was first made of several layers of plywood, which was shaped to slope down to the pond. Then copper was formed around it in four
pieces, and soldered together. A rim of 3/8" copper tubing makes a border on the outer edge.

The fountain now resides in my office waiting room, and is a big hit. People come to my office just to visit my creations. The music is mostly big band
music, with up-tempo beats, horn fills, and multiple parts. This makes for a lot of action with the water. There are six tunes in it now, including such tunes
as "In the Mood", "Peter Gunn", and "Don’t Get Around Much Anymore". This kind of project is very fun to work on, and it is amusing to scheme up the
different performing events.
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Biography

Victor Chaney is a dentist in private practice in Vallejo, CA, where he keeps the fountain on display. Before dentistry, he received his bachelor’s degree
in Physics. His electronics education comes from books, magazines, and Internet. He also plays pedal steel guitar in a Rock-and-Roll/Country band,
“Coyote”. His last fountain, "Insectopia", won top prize: Creativity Trophy in the Best-of-Show Competition at the California State Fair.

Technical Stuff

PICcode.zip contains computer code for the PIC microcontroller that analyzes the MIDI music.
stampcode.zip contains the Basic code for the Basic Stamps, and a spreadsheet telling which pins had which functions.
FountainNotes.doc contains additional notes on pumps, lasers, patinas and a few additonal notes for the more serious builder.

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Resources

1. The MDF-4 Midi Data Filer can be found at www.americanmusical.com

2. Thorsten Klose’s extensive work with midi is at: www.ucapps.de/index.html , and my modified version of his midi filter is linked above left, used with
permission.

3. Fountain foggers, and other fountain supplies can be found at Artistic Delights Fountain Supplies.

4. Solenoid valves and pumps can be found at Mendelson Electronics

5. Micro-Mark has telescoping sizes of brass tubing.

6. Brass balls and gears are great at McMaster-Carr Supply

7. Incredible selection of metals, parts, and materials is at Small Parts, Inc.

8. A good reference for working and soldering metals is The Complete Metalsmith by Tim McCreight, available from Micro-Mark.

9. Patina chemicals and sulfuric acid are available from Bryant Laboratory.

10. Urulac #9778, is a "catalyzed clear exterior coating" by G. J. Nikolas & Co., Inc., at 708-544-0320, sprayed on with a little aerosol spray kit from
the hardware store.
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This is taken from an article I wrote for Nuts and Volts Magazine, and it appeared as the cover story in the June, 2003 issue. It is reprinted by permission
of T & L Publications, Inc.

Comments?
Questions?