We’re back in the office after a brief break for a plague. So I got into the mirrors and uploaded some moving portrait videos.

First, the right side:
https://youtu.be/5647bHkcUw0

And on the left side:
https://youtu.be/HT6_DEtfaSc

The 2nd mirror I made was for my office using a really wide piece of one-way mirror that I had fall into my lap. After a lot of tribulations, I got it done. But I was never really happy with it. The mounting system was clunky, it hung away from the wall a lot, there was a huge dead space in the middle, I used two different processors for the monitors, power was via a concealed power strip mounted on the wall, etc.

I just finished upgrading the double-wide mirror to a triple-monitor setup. New frame, new facing, better mounting and a power plug that I highly recommend to anyone.

First, I build the support frame. I added a rabbit around the inside to hold the glass.

Next I built the facing out of chair rail molding. This is the same material as previous (the boss likes it).

After staining the facing, I joined the support frame to the facing. Eventually, the glass will sandwich between these two pieces. The metal L brackets are screwed in so that I can transport the entire thing as a unit and detach the pieces when it’s time to migrate the glass from the existing mirror to the new frame.

Next, I cut a hole for the power plug. I found these on Amazon. I did have to wait a couple weeks while they shipped from China, but I think they were worth the wait. No more inline switches on power cords!

The power port is wired into a power strip that I also bought off of Amazon. This will provide a place for the monitors and Pi to plug in. It just has enough slots. I’m using every AC and USB socket on this thing. I tried glueing it to the support frame but it didn’t work. I ended up zip tying it in place.

Quick testing to make sure I didn’t miswire anything. You can see some other steps here: the support frame has been painted black so it won’t show through the one way glass. The holes in the support frame for the power cords and USB cords have been drilled and the cords are threaded. The power cords were snipped in order to make it through the holes, so I reconnected those with some wire nuts. There are some pieces of scrap wood on the support frame that are screwed in with one screw. Those hold the monitor up against the glass so the monitor doesn’t slide out due to gravity. They’ll rotate into place one the monitors are in position up against the glass.

After testing, I took it to work and installed in over about 3 hours. I had someone in the office help me which was a lifesaver. It’s heavy! We took down the old mirror, disassembled it, moved the glass over to the new frame, screwed the facing on, flipped it over, removed the monitors from the old mirror, took off the bezels, installed them in the new mirror, took down the old VESA mounts, put up the new French cleats and then finally hung the mirror.

I went back today to configure it. I think it turned out really well!
https://youtu.be/A4nr88bGblI

And the mirror was a hit.

I’ll have more on this in the next couple of days. But here’s a preview just to whet your appetite.

Now that photos are working again, here are some photos of the refreshed Magic Mirror Mark II. All three screens are active and the look is much cleaner.

And a close up of the switch.

IIRC, @michmich looked into offering this as a commercial product and he ran into patent and licensing problems. The laws of your country may vary, but the short version is you can’t offer a magic mirror as a commercial product without involving lawyers and giving the patent holders some sort of payment.

You may be able to make one for your friends as a favor, with them picking up the expense of the materials. But you won’t be able to turn this into a business without careful and professional legal advice.

@skr Because I’m a crap coder in Javascript.

Sorry for not helping earlier, folks. I was at a wedding and delivering my mirror as a gift. I’ll investigate and see if I can’t improve the mirror code.

You should not ever have to modify the compliments.js file. You should be able to pull it off with just modifications to the config.js file.

I confess, after reading the name of the module I had a completely wrong impression of what it was going to do.

So this was an interesting project. I showed my first mirror to my boss and he was so impressed with it, he voluntold me to make one for the office. He gave me a budget and told me to complete it at my own pace. Other than “make it impressive” and “modern”, I was given more or less a free hand.

I considered mounting a 65" TV and doing it that way, but I had a piece of one-way glass fall into my lap. I figured it would be faster to use it than order a chunk of glass large enough to make that ginormous mirror. The trouble is… the glass is 88" x 15". It’s repurposed from a faux-fireplace thing that my neighbor is installing in his bathroom (don’t ask). So in the end, I decided that two monitors behind one glass would work. This way, there’s always a portion that is just reflection so people can primp.

So I started out by working out the mounting problem. With two monitors and a really long piece of mirror, I decided that I could keep the bezel on the monitors and use commercial wall mounts that attach to the VESA holes in the back of the monitor. The mirror hangs off of the monitors, instead of the frame supporting both the monitor and mirror.

First step: Route a rabbit into the frame so that the glass will sit flush with the face of the frame.

A quick coat of stain in case someone sees it from the side:

Paint the inside edges black to cut down on the visibility of the lighter edge through the glass:

A layer of window weather stripping goes in the rabbit to provide cushioning to for the glass, and also to push the glass up against the moulding.

Screw the moulding down over the glass and into the frame. The moulding is a fairly simple round over type, usually used for chair rails. I wrapped it in a vinyl wrap with a carbon fiber pattern.

I haven’t ever mounted anything in an office before. They don’t use wooden studs, so I was unsure how to mount this thing into the walls. On the building construction supervisor’s advice, I build a mounting plate out of pine. A quick pass with the router put a good edge on it, and a stain plus sealant gave it some color.

Time to install everything in the office! Here’s what it looks like beforehand:

The mount is up along with the monitor mounts attached to the mounting board.

Monitors, power strip, RasPi and Fitlet in place:

And finally, we hang the mirror over the top of the two monitors.

@seedhe - The module framework that @MichMich created is where the technique of hosting the mirror on a Pi really shines. While the Magic Mirror is more-or-less a customizable web page, the ability for the modules to call background processes adds a level of utility.

For example, I can put a static web page up on an Amazon cloud IP and just hit that from my mirror. It will display static data and maybe some things from various APIs, if I code it cleverly enough. But that’s about it.

With the OS working behind the scenes, I can display anything behind my firewall (IP cameras, weather stations, temperature sensors, PIR sensors, etc.). I can also plug in a camera and/or microphone and use the data from those devices in my modules.

It also allows you to scale up if you need to. A Raspi is pretty slick for its size and cost. But if you put something like a NUC behind it, you can use that processing power for some really cool features. Voice recognition, facial recognition, complex animations, etc.

This is excellent work! It’s so nice to see true innovation. Great job.

@Zack1324 - Absolutely. Over time, they just go bad. That could be the problem.

I would copy the config.js file to another computer first, then format & burn the Raspbian OS to the new card. Run through the Pi setup, use @sdetweil installation scripts to get Magic Mirror up & running and then copy the config.js to the new card. Then it’s just a matter of installing the modules.

I use Win32 Disk Imager for putting images onto SD cards.

@Alphons - Yep. The boss bought a package of spooky videos from AtmosphereX. They’re designed to be run on your TV or projected onto your wall or windows as part of your Halloween decorations.

I edited a few of them together into a 3 minute video and set it to play on a loop.

We’re back in the office after a brief break for a plague. So I got into the mirrors and uploaded some moving portrait videos.

First, the right side:
https://youtu.be/5647bHkcUw0

And on the left side:
https://youtu.be/HT6_DEtfaSc

@videogame95 - I normally put a travel power strip inside the frame for the mirror. I’ve since started adding external switches that cut the power to the power strip, but you can get by with just using the power strip’s plug.

Once you have the power strip in the frame, you can plug in the 3.1 amp adapter into the strip, along with the monitor, LED supply or whatever else you have back there. With some careful shopping, you might find a strip with a USB C plug built into it.

In the future, please post requests for help in the Troubleshooting section of the forum.

@navneetjain - First, it really depends on what country you’re in. In the USA, you can sell off a mirror that you’ve made for yourself, but you can’t turn it into a business selling the mirrors. The reasons involve the patent on the method of displaying information through a sheet of one way glass. Mich looked into it a few years ago and decided that the licensing the patent from the company that owns it wasn’t worth it.

Of course, the above advice is highly depended upon how your company enforces patent infringement. I am not a lawyer and would recommend seeking a good one before starting a business selling the mirrors.

@fribse said in What’s the best way to block out area of mirror that doesn’t have a monitor behind it?:

@bhepler What is ‘construction paper’? But, yes, the adhesive needs to be invisible.

That may be an Americanism. It’s a thick paper used in craft projects that comes in a variety of bright colors. I was first introduced to it when I was 5 or so, cutting it up with safety scissors to make family portraits. It’s roughly the thickness of business card stock, but it comes in large sheets.

If you are familiar with the cartoon South Park, they use construction paper to make the characters and then animate them (or at least they did in the beginning).

I use black construction paper and tape it to the back of the glass. It sounds like the challenge is to get the paper attached without visible adhesive.

You might be able to use a spray adhesive. There are a couple types that are designed for attaching wood laminate. A light & even coat could work. You would have complete blackout with the paper instead of additional reduction in transmission like you would with the window foil.