Night Bloom
aka The Pinecone
This is my final project for CSC 235. For this project, I wanted to make something more artistic, so I decided to make a fun lamp that uses an IR sensor and remote to change colors. I also decided to make the lamp into an abstract shape of a flower blooming out, but paint it black so as to have the NeoPixels stand out. The lamp itself is 3D printed in multiple parts and spray-painted black. The inside has a tall base where the NeoPixels, IR sensor, and Arduino board go, and the lamp can plug into a power sources to be used, such as a 5V USB charger. If the lamp is plugged into power, it can be turned on and off with the remote as well as change colors.
While I made this project for my final, I also liked making something more artistic for this project and not with so much depth in functionality. I got to play around with 3D designing my own lamp and also played around with an IR sensor, which I wanted to use since it is easy and doesn't require any external features to use like other buttons or touch sensors need. This project was meaningful to me because I got to expand on my 3D design skills some more while still working with an Arduino and coding. This project took a long time to make and finish since I needed so many parts 3D printed, but I'm glad I was able to start early enough to finish it and I'm happy with the result.
I began with modeling the lamp in Fusion360. I first made the base with different layers and rings to build the pedals off of, then modeled each layer's pedals and duplicated them 6 times around the layer.
After everything was modeled, I began 3D printing. I first printed off the different rings for the layers of the base, then began printing off each individual pedal to hot glue onto the rings. In total, there were 5 different ring layers printed and 36 pedal prints. I printed off each layer at a time and slowly pieced them together as each print finished.
Once everything was glued together I spray-painted everything black. Even though the overall form is reminiscent of a flower, I wanted this project to have a darker look that was more simple and wasn't too colorful.
For the inside of the lamp, I decided to make a base that the lamp could be removed from so I could access the Arduino and components inside. The base is made from a laser-cut piece of plywood and a wooden dowel. I then attached the NeoPixels in a spiral around the dowel and attached the breadboard and Arduino on sideways so it could fit into the lamp. Once everything was attached, the lamp could be placed onto and through the base with the only thing sticking out being the power cord.
Once the lamp is on top of the base, it only needs to be plugged into power to work. Since the base is loose, it needs to be picked up from the bottom (also because the it could break if held from the top), but the power cord will also help keep the inside base from falling out of the lamp.
