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Components and supplies
Necessary tools and machines
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Apps and online services
About this project
This lamp was based on a similar lamp called "Fiber Optic" LED Matrix by jbumstead. Using OpenSCAD, the goal was to replace the 12mm Diffused Digital RGB LED used in jbumstead's design with cheap WS2812B RGB strips and to make the container for the LEDs and electronics as thin as possible allowing cheaper 7mm glue sticks to be used.
Printing the CaseThe only part that requires supports is "Hot Glue Matrix - Bottom.stl". I used a 0.2mm layer height and a 15% infill. I found that by increasing the hole size using a 19/64" drill after printing made it easier to insert the glue sticks into their respective holes.
Assembling the Lamp Section1. Cut the WS2812B LED strips into 16 strips each containing 8 LEDs.
2. You cannot wire the LED strips together directly on the top or bottom forms as they are placed on each form upside-down. Stick 8 strips onto a flat surface with the center of each strip 15mm from its adjacent strip. Arrange the strips so that every alternative strip faces the opposite direction.
Ensure DIN is in the top-left corner. Wire the strips as shown above. I used wire-wrap wire but you can use any thin insulated copper wire. Once it is wired, add three long multi-strand wires to GND, DIN and +5V. These wires will go through a hole and join up with GND, DOUT and +5V of the bottom section. Now feed the three wires through the hole on the "Hot Glue Matrix - Holder Top" form and carefully place the strips upside down into their respective channels. The strips should sit flat. If not check the strips are the correct way round. They only go in one way. There are channels for the wires as well. Once the LED strips are in position, use Blue Painters Tape to secure them in place.
3. Wire up the bottom plate in a similar way. DOUT is top right. Add the three long multi-strand wires to VCC, DIN and GND before placing the strips upside-down onto the form. These wires will go to the PCB.
4. Don't connect the wires from the top section yet until all the glue sticks are in place.
Adding the Glue SticksThis will require some patience. Firstly you need to sort out the glue sticks. The 7mm glue sticks that you get from eBay are around 100m long. I found that they varied a bit. Mine came in packs of 30 so I had 90 sticks to find 64 of similar length. Also I needed to increase the hole size using a 19/64" drill after printing to make them easier to fit in the holes.
I also used a clear drinking straw to place the three wires that connect the top and bottom strips together into.
Add the glue sticks one row at a time starting at one end and working your way to the other end. Once they are all in place, measure the distance between the top and bottom at each corner. They should all be EXACTLY the same. If not, adjust the depth of the glue sticks accordingly. Once you are happy with the alignment, remove the glue sticks from each corner and put them back in-place with a small amount of super glue. (Don't get super glue on the LED). This should make the structure quite robust.
Connect the Top and Bottom StripsCarefully lift the bottom strip near the hole, trim the three wires and solder them in-place. +5V to +5V, DIN (top) to DOUT (bottom), GND to GND.
Making the PCBI have included the Eagle files if you wish to get the board commercially made or do as I did and make it yourself. I made my board using the toner method. You can just use a piece of proto board if you wish as the schematic is very simplistic and easy to wire up. The 4 mount holes should be drilled out with a 2.5mm drill and a thread created with a 3mm tap. Use 6mm M3 screws to hold the board in place.
IMPORTANT: Set the output of the DC regulator to 5V BEFORE fixing it to the board.
Final WiringWire up the slide potentiometer, push switch, power switch and DC power socket as shown below:
Connect the wires from the LED strips to the PCB.
SoftwareThe software included runs a series of test animations. The button cycles through the available animations. The potentiometer adjusts the speed of the animations.
UpdateI tried to update "Hot Glue Matrix - Top.stl" to fix the problem of it not fitting correctly. However there appears to be a bug in the Hackster.io site when you try and delete an attachment. Now most of the files appear to be missing. You can obtain the STL files, Eagle Files and Software from my Thingiverse page.
Code
Custom parts and enclosures
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Schematics
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