Summary

Art project.
3-d design, electronics, programming.
Proof of concept for bigger project, maybe.

Definitely a work in progress.

https://youtu.be/58YBYkTr3eM

UPDATE 2017.02.02

This project has evolved into http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2081258

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

MakerBot

Printer:

MakerBot Replicator Z18

Rafts:

Yes

Supports:

No

Resolution:

High

Infill:

0%

Notes:

The 0 infill setting is only for the cover piece, as it is intended to be completely hollow.

I used whatever the default infill was, and regular support for the rest of the pieces.

I used a small nut and bolt run through the center hole of the scaffold and the base to hold them together.

Post-Printing

After *carefully* removing it from the raft, carefully (much harder than anticipated...) remove enough material from the bottom of the cover to accommodate the scaffold inside it.

NeoPixel LED strip

The scaffold is designed to hold the "Adafruit Mini Skinny NeoPixel Digital RGB LED Strip - 144 LED/m" which I purchased at https://www.adafruit.com/product/2970 to illuminate the sides and one of the "Breadboard-friendly RGB Smart NeoPixel" which I purchased at https://www.adafruit.com/products/1312 to illuminate the apex.

I spent some time reading through the NeoPixel Überguide before slicing the strip apart for this project. https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide/overview

Attaching sliced apart LED strips to scaffold, and soldering them back together

Soldering

To allow my micro-controller to communicate with the LEDs, and thus control them, I need to make sure there is a serial data path that connects them all.

The idea is to connect the data out of each LED with the data in of the next one. This means needing to solder a cable from the middle lead above the top LED of each strip to the middle lead below the bottom LED of the next strip, and from the last strip to the data in on the apex LED. The first LED's data in port will then be connected through a resistor to pin 6 on the Arduino.

Powering the LEDs is simpler, as they are powered in parallel. There needs to be a connection between any of the + leads on each of the strips and apex LED, and between any of the - leads on each of the strips and the apex LED.

Fastening LED strips

Zip ties are used to fasten the strips to the scaffold. The right sized ones should fit snuggly between the "teeth" on the scaffold, and between the LEDs to hold them fixed in place.

I used a single zip tie all the way around higher on the scaffold, and one per couple of sides at the bottom.

A close-up of some of the soldering and fastening and connections. Black is ground, but I didn't have anything else but red so I couldn't distinguish data from power.

Connecting to power and micro-controller

I basically followed exactly the diagram at https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide/basic-connections except that I also connected the +5v dc connection to the 5v pin on the Arduino in order to power it from the same source.

Patience!

Debugging soldering problems or damaged LEDs can be frustrating.

My ohmmeter was indispensable to test continuity and find/verify the problems.

Regardless, I still wound up damaging a single LED on a couple of 18 LED strip slices and having to replace them before I got everything up and running right. (Thankfully, 8 * 18 == 144 )

Program the micro-controller

The included FlameCrystal_RainbowFlame.ino file is an Arduino sketch. Compiling and uploading this code to an Arduino connected to the Flame Crystal results in the rainbow flame light show behavior shown in the video above.

See the comments at the top of the file for an attribution link to the original code I began from, as well as links to the needed Arduino libraries.

How I Designed This

Ramble

I started by mocking up the LED strips in SketchUp, then what a toothed rail to hold them would look like. Then I decided what the outside shell would look like, and I arranged the rails in order to be as aligned with those faces as I could. Then I connected all the rails together in a printer friendly way.

The base I threw together last, and was probably the least thought out part of the thing.

Custom Section

Lessons Learned

The toothed rails worked exactly as imagined, along with zip ties they wound up being perfect for the job of holding the LED strips in place.
I badly measured the little pedestal at the apex of the scaffold, so the single LED there does not fit as snugly as planned; I used putty to help and it's alright. However...
I'm still not actually using that apex LED, as the NeoMatrix library doesn't have a way of accommodating an extra LED on beyond the rectangular 2d array that it handles. Will need to re-write the program to add this one LED of functionality; will want to re-write the program at some point, anyhow; it's been a great easy starting point but was designed for something else.
Soldering tiny components is difficult and fatiguing, particularly if you have large hands and a lot of caffeine. If you make mistakes, you might need to undo and re-do connections. I worked on this for a couple of days before I could verify that everything was connected correctly.

Future Ideas

Bigger, more complex shapes.
Re-designing the base piece to hold the Arduino, breadboard, and power supply would be useful.
Re-designing it to be powered off of batteries.
Maybe adding an audio component to "crackle".
Re-designing it to run at night off of batteries that charge during the day.