FLIP Fluid on Flip Dots

Date: 24 Sep 2026
Status: Complete ✅

This is the chronicle of my journey to implement a FLIP fluid simulation on an electromechanical flip-dot display. For those unaware, FLIP stands for Fluid Implicit Particle. I will admit: the primary catalyst for this project was the irresistible nature of the wordplay.

While the technical deep-dive is documented here, the visual results and a full demonstration can be found in the accompanying YouTube video.

---

🌊 The Motivation: Flippin' Fluid Simulations

Over the past few years, I have dedicated myself to creating various fluid simulations. While I've shared the fluid pendant and the volumetric display publicly, many of my other works remain secret will be published eventually.

Despite their visual appeal, these projects share a fundamental flaw: LED-based liquid is completely silent.

I spent a long time wondering how to synthesize "swishing" sounds for these simulations. Then it hit me: an electromechanical display—specifically flip-dots—would provide the organic, tactile noise automatically. Combine that with the pun, and the project became inevitable.

The Sourcing Struggle

Finding these displays is an exercise in frustration. Currently, only one manufacturer remains, and they operate via exclusive partnerships with high-end art studios.

• Breakfast Studio: The most prominent name in the field.
• The Barrier: They generally ignore anyone with a budget under $50,000.

I once performed contract work for a firm that owned a massive flip-dot array. I tried every angle to get access to it.

"I genuinely offered to forfeit my entire salary just to put a fluid sim on their display."

To my absolute shock, they still said no.

---

🗺️ Path to Some Panels

I began frequenting hackercamps and networking, which led to several fascinating leads. There was even a proposal to form a buying collective to commission new panels from China. After all, if anyone can mass-produce complex hardware affordably, it's the Chinese manufacturing sector.

Anatomy of a Dot

These displays are more complex than they appear. A single disk is a "sandwich" of roughly six different materials.

Key Technical Characteristics:

1. Non-volatility: Dots maintain their state without power.
2. Magnetic Architecture:
   • One permanent magnet inside the dot.
   • One permanent magnet in the base.
   • Two cores that are polarized to toggle the state.

Eventually, I connected with Sam (Look Mum No Computer). His museum of obsolete tech is a goldmine of weird donations. He had a massive stockpile of flip-dot panels—possibly reclaimed from buses or old stock. While many were damaged, Sam was happy to let me have a few, provided I could figure out an efficient way to drive them.

Panel Specifications

I used one damaged panel for spare parts. Upon inspection, I noted the following:

• Horizontal Layout: Dots are grouped in 7s, leading to a width of $28$ dots.
• Vertical Layout: $13$ dots high (likely due to the designer's fondness for prime numbers).

---

🔌 Connecting the Dots

Tiling these panels presents two significant engineering hurdles:

• Physical Constraint: The PCB extends beyond the edges, preventing a truly seamless physical tile.
• Temporal Constraint: The original drive circuitry is sluggish, requiring $\approx 1$ second for a full update.

The Physics of the Flip

Thanks to research by Mike from mikeselectricstuff, I learned the critical timing requirements. While the physical act of the dot flipping takes $\approx 60\text{ms}$, the electrical pulse required to polarize the cores is incredibly brief:

$\Delta t \approx 1\text{ms}$

By increasing the voltage, we can potentially shorten this pulse further, allowing for a faster matrix scan.

Matrix Logic

The panels operate on a matrix grid. To activate a specific dot, you set the column to a specific polarity and pulse the corresponding row.

The Original Driving Method:

1. Hold column line $\rightarrow$ High.
2. Pulse all rows that need to be "State A".
3. Flip column line $\rightarrow$ Low.
4. Pulse all rows that need to be "State B".
5. Advance to the next column.

Proposed Optimization: By utilizing higher voltages and simultaneous pulsing, we can reduce the scan time significantly, moving away from the slow sequential updates of the original hardware.