LightBox - 3D and Arduino - Girls Go IT

During the summer camp organized by Girls Go It from Moldova, which is a community group that encourages and guides girls in the IT field, I participated in the 3D and Arduino Prototyping part. In 3 weeks I learned with the aid of my mentors how to create a lamp, which represent my final project. Respectively, I took an idea with a light box with an inscription and I designed the electronic and 3D part.

The concept of this light box is that it has 3 lighting modes: static light, fading, blinking. Each time you press the touch button, the modes changes consecutively and the box lights up in white color and highlights the text on its surface which can be entered manually.

The dimensions of the box are:
-length 95 mm
-width 150 mm
-thickness 87,5 mm

I created letter plate that are inserted manually. To make it easier and possible to print, I created a special place in each plate to insert the letter.

The dimensions of the letter plate:
-lenght 27,5 mm
-width 15 mm
-thickness 2,5 mm

Next I will show you the steps how I created this box.

For the first, we need these 2 apps that can be accessed from the browser:

- Fusion 360, to work with 3D design

- Tinkercad, for the implementation of the electronic part

For modeling I used the tools and commands:

• Create sketch (creation of sketches, drawings)
• Edit sketch
• Line, polyline, circle commands
• Create offset plan (creating an additional plan to make sketches on it)
• Extrude (obtaining an object by stretching the length of an axis of a figure)
• Revolve (obtaining an object by rotating a sketch around the reference axis)
• Inspect, measure (to obtain the value of the size of a line, or between 2 points)
• Cut, join (for cutting one object from another, or combining them)
• Move, copy (copying, moving and translating bodies) etc.

Assembly steps:

1. This model is composed of several bodies, which I obtained with the help of the above commands. The size of these bodies was given by the conditions imposed by the execution technology and by the functional role of the 3D model. Minimum allowable thickness (1.5-2 mm). Approximately all the pieces exceed the thickness of 2 mm, which will make printing easier.
2. Because there are elements connected inside the box, I created in its body some additional fasteners, such as clips and pins.
3. Also in this model have been added adjustable objects such as the case-front plate, plate-letter. These were adjusted to 0.2 mm.
4. On the left side, outputs for Arduino power supply, USB connection and additional touch button were expected.
   
   Cick here to open the project in Fusion 360

I. For the electronic part I needed:

• Arduino Uno R3 board
• Breadboard small
• LEDs white - 12
• Resistors - 6
• Pushbutton -1
• Cables
• USB

Assembly steps:

1. I connected the Breadboard to the Arduino board through the pins : 5V with - , and GND with +.
2. To save space, I connected 2 LEDs to one resistor with a value of 100 Ω (ohm). In total I used 12 LEDs and distributed them so that they light evenly.
3. With the cables, I connected the LEDs and the resistors to this digital pins: ~ 11, ~ 10, ~ 9, ~ 6, ~ 5, ~ 3.
4. I used a Pushbutton and connected it to pin 2.

II. Programming

Through the code which I also wrote in Tinkercad, I was able to program 4 modes of lamp functionality, namely: Switching ON - static light, Fading, Blinking, Switching OFF. Each time I press the button, the modes will change consecutively at a set time interval.

Here is the file with code ☟

The project has not yet been physically implemented, but it will soon be.

Thank you for your attention!