Blog — lights

7/115/2023 Update - Revised connection diagram and code    I've been having a blast building Star Wars blasters.  Adding the electronic sound and lights has not been as fun.  There are options available but all of them are bit more complicated than what I have been looking for.  Proffieboards are great but they are expensive and currently hard to find.  FX Blaster OS is free but requires specific hardware and just won't run on any old Arduino board.  I wanted something that could be easily loaded on just about any Arduino board and with simple functionality.  When I build a...

When I saw the new Lego Batwing kit the iconic 80’s scene of the batwing flying in front of the moon came to mind. I knew I was going to purchase it and it was going on a wall.  The only question was how to recreate the scene. I figure lighted acrylics were the easiest way.  The next problem was how light an area big enough for the whole batwing.  Edge lit acrylics work by reflecting light from the engraved portions of the acrylic.  You can wrap an LED strip around the sheet and have it illuminate whatever has been...

I found an old glass unicorn I've had since I was kid while cleaning out some old boxes.  It originally came with a white incandescent light and was a night light.  I wanted to use it again but wanted it do more than just light up with a white light. I have an Adafruit Circuit Playground Bluefruit (CPB) that has a built in Neopixel ring. Its the perfect size to light up my unicorn.  So I generated a 3"x3"x2" box on MakeCase.  If you haven't used it the site is awesome. It lets you enter the dimensions of your box,...

My wife bought me the Lego UCS Millennium Falcon (75912) for my last birthday. Its a beast!  7541 parts and an absolute beauty when complete.  It took me a few weeks to assemble it.  For something this big, I needed a proper place to display it.  I've seen it hung on walls, set on shelves and even suspended from ceilings. For me, I feel the only thing that does it justice is its own display table.  So I decided to design and build one. I also wanted it to be customized since it was going in the basement where the...