Story
I had an 11th hour change of heart, and felt inspired to make something more challenging than my previous idea. I originally thought of making myself into a giant walking camera–the housing would be around my waist and I pictured a neopixel ring for the perimeter of the lens, with a few white LEDs acting as the flash to go off at timed intervals.
But then I had the idea to make a Visual Rain Stick. My thought is to have the LEDs travel down inside a hollowed out wood tube with chamfered edges, sparkling as they go, through sporadically placed drilled out holes. My goal is to create a visual embodiment of an audial product. I’m opting for warm white lights to compliment the wood (which I plan to finish in a rich, potentially darker tone), and to give it a more natural feel. For the light sequencing I’ll be utilizing the falling, wipe and twinkle animations in my Arduino code.
with CNC’d holes for the lights.
Parts List
Adafruit Mini Skinny NeoPixel LED Strip – Warm White 3000K – 60 LEDs/m – 1m long, Anker PowerCore 5,000mAh Portable Charger, 470Ω resistor, 1000µF capacitor, ~2″ x 36″ pinewood strip, Poly or paint to finish the wood.
Build Plan
Cut (2) 1″ x 40″ wood panels
Dado cut a 1/2″ channel in each
4″ dado cut at one end of each to accommodate the power bank (+ 4mm)
Drill holes along panels
Build circuit
Hot glue LED strip along dado
Glue wood halves together
Poly or paint to finish
Circuit
(Still in progress!)