Mini Fireplace of a Song of Ice and Fire Theme

Mini Fireplace of a Song of Ice and Fire Theme

A mini fireplace with burning flame surrounded by ice, to make a song of ice and fire in your home. For fans of Game of Thrones.

Story

“I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shied that guards the realms of men.” ——Oath of Night's Watch, A Song of Ice and Fire

I always admire the name of “A Song of Ice and Fire”, which shows the philosophy of conflict, the beauty of nature as well as the optimism life attitude when facing adversity.

It is the warmest scene that I can think of when I think of a warm family to spend the winter happily around the fireplace. However, due to the limited space, not every family can have a big warm fireplace. If so, why not make one by yourself?

Inspiring by the meaningful name of “A Song of Ice and Fire”, I made a mini fireplace that combine these two opposing elements in the nature, hoping to pass the warmth and hope in this winter. If you would also like to have a fireplace in your house, or especially you are a fan of Game of Thrones, follow me to make one to delight your winter and life.

Parts

BBC Micro:bit X1

Grove Shield for micro:bit V2 X1

Grove - RGB LED Ring (24-WS2813 Mini)X1

Grove – Ultrasonic Distance Sensor X1

Grove - Universal 4 Pin Buckled Cable X2

USB Fan (5*5cm) l 3.7V lithium battery X1

Acrylic Plate (5mm)

Acrylic Ice Cubes

Tools

Laser cutting machine

Hot melt glue gun

Acrylic glue

Scotch tape

Scissors, art knife, ruler, etc.

I use AutoCAD to design a 320*90*195mm acrylic shell for the fireplace, which size I think would be more suitable for the components size. You could design other size and appearance for the fireplace by simply modify the.dxf document I attached. Just be aware of the size of each component you have replaced.

Choose the color you like and cut the parts of the shell. Just note that my fabrication drawing was based on the 5mm thick acrylic plate and do not use other plate of thickness.

Assembly the acrylic parts with the special glue for acrylic. This procedure takes a lots of patience and be aware of the glue curing time needs 30seconds and not to loosen the two parts you are gluing together before that.

It is easy to connect the USB Fan and Grove – RGB LED Ring with Hot Melt Glue. You should make the Fan under the LED Ring, and it is better to make both wires on the same side.

Use the left acrylic parts after finishing the shell of the fireplace to make the holder for the USB Fan and LED Ring. Put the USB Fan and LED Ring combination on the holder

The parts of the holder for the USB Fan and LED Ring With the shell assembling and the holder, the appearance of the fireplace is almost finished.

Cut a piece of tissue into many different shapes of triangle, and stick them up one by one piece with scotch tape to the acrylic part as shown on the picture. Put this part on the top of the LED Ring.

I chose BBC micro:bit and Grove shield for micro:bit to finish this project since it is easy for everyone even you don’t have electronic knowledge and too much coding experience. The coding platform is Microsoft MakeCode (https://makecode.microbit.org/#editor), which brings computer science to life for all students with fun projects, immediate results, and both block and text editors for learners at different levels.

Connect the Grove – Ultrasonic Sensor to P1 port of Grove shield for micro:bit, and the LED Ring to P0 port. You should use The USB connector of Grove Shield for micro:bit to power the circuit since the project requires high input voltage.

If you want to make coding yourself, before you get started, you need to load two packages by clicking the “Extensions” on the coding interface and using the package name “Grove” and “Neopixel” as keyword to find.

Belowed is the code I’ve programmed, which have the interaction effect that to change the fire color and brightness when you move your hand in front of the sensor. You could change one or more parameters to have it shown the color and effect you like.

After you finished the code, connect the micro:bit via the USB, and download the.hex document to the micro:bit, then you will see the flame has been lighten up! You could test the code and modify it to perfect.

Choose any photos you like and make it your unique fireplace. Print and stick up the decoration. Last but not least, put on the “ice” to the level of the bottom of the “flame”. If you don't have acrylic fake ice rock as mentioned, try to use rock candy, hahahaha!

I guess you cannot wait showing off your great work to your families and friends already! Run and go shooting some great pictures and videos now! You are very welcomed to also share your unique work with us. Should you have any further question about this project, or want to share your work with me, feel free to drop an email to wym627@qq.com. I am Makerming from Shenzhen, China. Finally, thanks for reading, your comments are the biggest support to my work.