3D Printed Treetop Star

Solar botics
December 9, 2014

Initially inspired by the Moravian Star on Instructables and the fact that we now carry all kinds of 3D printing filament, we decided to make one of our own glowy holiday star. We have used this thing as source files to create a similar treetop decoration of our own.

After some trial and error (due to the Slicer not cooperating)...

...we printed a whole forest of perfect wintery spiky star-ends.

And, well, we just had to have someone live there for a bit. In this case, a snowman:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our  addressable 5mm LEDs were well suited to light this contraption. We drilled a hole in the bottom of each spike..

..to fit the LED's domed part:

   

And then wired everything up. It wasn't pretty but the WS2812 LED that we used made it much easier than a conventional RGB LED: rather than 3 separate channels, the WS2812 LED only has a data in and data out. Chain them all together and they work like a charm!

 

 

And here's the final product, ready to light up our office with wonderful glowing lights!

 

 

 

MORE POSTS

May 15, 2007
"Steady as she goes, steersman..."

Solarbotics / HVWTech will be on "maintenance mode" while the bulk of the staff go down to the MAKE Faire in San Mateo, California. The remaining staff have begged for some relief to make the week go easier, so we are not going to be doing any UPS shipments until Monday, May 21. And don't […]

November 7, 2004
PDXBot Video

We just received an inventory of PDXBot.04 DVDs that we're selling in part to raise funds for the Portland Area Robotics Society (PARTS). It's a pretty hefty video - over 2 hours long, with many features, including a few cameos of "The Dave and Grant Show" (we were there competing last year). It's a good […]

March 18, 2002
Tilden on MEMS Technology

Here's a link to a Smalltimes article where they interview Mark (and a few others) about using MEMS (or Micro Electromechanical Systems) in the toy industry. Read More...

December 15, 2000
Frogbots! Solar-powered, at that!

I missed the full segment of this story last weeks on "Discovery Channel's @discovery.ca" program, but fortunately, the've put the segment online at their website. I seems that JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratories - NASA essentially) is working on a solar-powered, single-footed robot frog. This seems like a GREAT idea for extra-terrestrial planet-surface locomotion. Check out […]

Solarbotics Ltd Logo
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!

Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.

Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.

cart