Audio Reactive LED Infinity Mirror Modules

Modular LED infinity Mirror using music reactive neopixels controlled by an ESP8266 I made for my final for school (2 modules pictured).

Tools

Hand drill or drill press

Circular/Track saw with adjustable blade depth, table saw, or a lot of hand routering (not recommended)

Hacksaw

1/4 in Plexi Point Drill bit (optional)

Drill bits

Clamps (ideal)

soldering iron

Materials

23.5 x 23.5 Mirrored Acrylic sheet (or whatever size you're using)

14 x 2.5 mirrored acrylic sheet (or scaled to size)

12.24 x 2.5 in mirrored acrylic sheet

One 4x8 Plywood sheet or other material that can become the housing (I used 3/4 in thick poplar ply)

large acrylic dowel

24 x 24 Clear Acrylic sheet

5 small L brackets

2 I brackets ( if making multiple)

One-way mirror film or semi-reflective vinyl film (Id actually recommend THIS film but I couldn't buy within my time constraints.)

ESP8266 Developer Board or Raspberry Pi

5V Individually adressable LED strips

5v Power supply with the correct amperage for the number of LEDs

470 Ohm resistor

Wire (the more LEDs the thicker the gauge)

A lot of Screws (I used 2 1/2 in Construction screws and 3/4 in lath screws but it depends on your backing. just make sure the )

3-pin male & female connectors

Raspberry Pi only: Level shifter

Software/Intangibles

Arduino IDE

Scott Lawson Music Reactive LED Strip Github

Note these are Modules, only one (The master module) needs your ESP8266 or raspberry Pi.

You can skip this step and do it later but I did it first to ensure everything worked before I spent money on supplies. I used the ESP8266 Dev board, so I'll be showing how to wire it. In the future, I'll update you on how to wire the Pi.

you want to wire your LEDs according to the diagram above. I recommend soldering to a solderable breadboard to make sure it stays wired when installing. It's important to be able to connect the LED strips in the direction they run. The strips I used have arrows pointing the direction they run and can only be connected if those directions are the same.

For all other ends or strips that is not the master module make sure there are 3 pin connectors that will fit correctly in the order of the LED strip

Here you follow the steps on Scott Lawson Music Reactive LED Strip Github. I Recommend using an anaconda (Conda) environment, I tried it on Mac without Conda and it gave me issues (I'm no coder).

You can use the Conda Reference if you're confused or check the Github Problems sections. The authors are very active in working.

Once you have your environment installed you can continue to the Arduino IDE and Config.py Setup.

Then download the required Libraries and the ESP8266 Dev Board Add-on and select whichever you bought.

Next alter Config.py and arduino file to have your wifi and router information

SSID = wifi name,

password = password.

IP Address gateway = your router's IP (standard is usually 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1)

NumPixels = the number of LEDs

Once you're done you can upload the sketch to your ESP board and run led.py as the strand test.

If your LEDs are working you then can use conda activate, then python3 visualization.py, and react to sound using your microphone. if you're on Mac OS make sure you launch a python file with the python 3 launcher app, then use conda activate [insert environment name here] in the terminal otherwise it won't be able to find the Visualization.py file.

On mac OS you can buy Loopback from rogue amoeba and setup the playback like the image which will translate the sound to both your input and output. You can do this without paying but after 20 minutes you need to reset the sound device or it'll play white noise over output.

Now for the large mirror:

1 23.5x23.5 in piece of mirrored acrylic/plexiglass,

Note: the diagram is for the mirror facing toward you so the removable film would be the first layer of what you're drilling into

I started with the large plexiglass mirror because it becomes a template for other holes. To know where to drill, I created an illustrator File for measurements (attached) and then followed the template when drilling. each hole is 1/4in. The 1 x 1 Reference square is there for another option: exporting to a laser cutting place such as Precision laser RI (or wherever is close) This speeds up the process but adds extra price. If you laser cut make sure to mirror the file as they have to laser cut from the back.

I'd recommend using a drill press if possible as drilling the holes is doable with a hand drill just make sure your drill is running at max speed and possibly use a masonry bit with light pressure to simply melt the mirrored Plexi. Then use a tapered hand reamer and deburr. Personally, I had some success with hand drilling using a Plexi point bit but also cracked some pieces.

Then I'd recommend cutting off at least the 45° edge using a bandsaw, or hacksaw

Cut a 23.5 x 23.5 in backing plate out of your plywood. I had home depot cut my piece to 24x24 but then had to resize it to 23.5 x 23.5 after realizing the clear acrylic wouldn't cover the whole thing. Then you can align Corner A (See image) on mirrored plexiglass you've fabricated to a corner on your plywood with the removable film facing up and the mirror material on the plywood (if you removed the film the mirror should reflect you)

now that it's aligned clamp your plexi over the plywood to drill the pilot holes in the plexi for a screw that will attach each material to the other. I'd recommend using a rag or a buffering material in between the clamps because you can scratch the mirror. Then you should attach your lath screws to the 2 holes shown in the diagram.

After you've attached your screws you should drill your pilot holes for the construction screws that will attach the plywood.

For this, you'll need to cut or use your

1 14x2.5 in strip of mirrored plexiglass

1 14x2.5 in strip of plywood (or other housing material)

2 12.5x2.5 in strips of mirrored plexiglass

2 12.5x2.5 in strips of plywood (or other housing material)

For each plexi strip, you drill a hole at the intersection of 0.5 from the top edge and 0.5 in from both the right and left edges edge as shown in the diagram above.

For each plywood strip, you can align and clamp your plexi over the plywood to drill the pilot holes.

after, screw in your lath screws to clamp the plexi to the wood and drill a large hole that will fit your 3-pin connectors and wires. These holes should be at opposite edges so that when you assemble you will be able to run your wires through them. If you're nice with soldering you could solder them through smaller holes but this would make the piece not disassemblable.

here you need to cut a 24 1/4 x 4 inch and a 23.5 x 4-inch piece of plywood. If you're using a 3/4 in plywood you'll need to cut a slot slightly larger than 1/8 in about 1/2 deep and 3 ⅜ in away from the bottom longways (hot dog). For this, the easiest way is to use a table saw but you can use a hand router bit and create a jig or clamp a reference edge depending on your router. Another option is to make a track saw jig and adjust the blade depth on your circular saw.

I cut these siding with a miter joint but it doesn't actually do anything besides make it more complicated and possibly look slightly better. If you do, make sure you're cutting the slot so they align when you put them together.

in your master module, make sure to drill a hole in one of the sidings so you can plug in your LED power adaptor.

Here you can in your construction screws slightly above the mirror plexi. Now you can use the screws to mark your pilot holes for the plywood with the three pieces aligned like in the illustrator file. Next, I'd recommend drilling pilot holes in the bottom of your 2.5in plywood, I used the construction screws without pilot holes and they worked for one piece but split another forcing me to remake it.

after this, I cut my square acrylic dowel to 2.5 in and glued it to corner A to support the plexiglass, I'd recommend using Weld-on or another acrylic welding glue but you can use super glue.

Here you need to take your film to wrap your 24in x 24in acrylic. I followed this tutorial along with talking to someone about how to wrap better. I used a piece of felt over a hard plastic squeegee or you can buy a special one off amazon.

Be careful, this wrapping is hard and if you buy the static cling, you're more than likely going to have bubbles and/or lift. If you're using the static cling film I also recommend taping down the 2 sides you're slotting into the siding just because I had many issues with the film lifting.

Now all you need to do is remove the plexiglass mirror's protective film (NOT the wrapped film). and assemble everything together, I screwed everything together and used 2 L brackets to attach the siding to the base for each side. then I used 1 L bracket to attach the siding to each other.

after I removed the sticky backing on my LEDs and ran the wires into the holes on across the top of the mirror. You can also do this with minimal hot glue, super glue, or double-stick tape.

Then I'd recommend screwing in your solderable breadboard, to the empty space (not illuminated by LEDs) OR, you could simply super glue it to the wood (it works).

Now have fun with your audio-reactive Infinity mirror!

I'm planning to continue this project, originally it was for school but I want to see how much more I can take it. The next steps are likely to wrap better and figure out more secure housing for the Plexiglass. Using Raspberry Pi for more LEDs, adding diffusion. Ideally, this will be able to be used for outdoor smaller DJ sets or indoor parties but I think there's a lot of potential for this project I would like to continue. If you have any ideas or continue this project or you continue on your own let me know!