Motion Galaxy Lamp

This Instructable explains the process of designing a night light that has a galaxy on the front. I love to decorate my room, and one of my favorite ways to add decorations is by adding different types of lights. I came across a Motion Galaxy Lamp and wanted to try to recreate it. I'd like to thank RP HOBBYIST, who made the Instructable that I followed.

This project is a cylindrical shape with an acrylic plate with the design of a galaxy on the front that rotates. It also has fairy lights that light up the galaxy pattern turned on. Another feature of this project is that it has a speaker that can be connected to devices via Bluetooth.

I'd like to thank Ms.Berbawy for helping me with this project! I made this for my SIDE project in her Principles of Engineering class. She helped me out a lot when I didn't know what to do for some parts of the project.

Materials:

1. Speaker
2. Bluetooth Circuit Module
3. Motor
4. DC Jack and DC Jack Power Adapter
5. Small breadboard
6. Filament for 3D Printing (I used PLA Filament for all of the pieces that I needed to 3D print)
7. LED string Lights
8. Black Acrylic
9. Clear Acrylic
10. Gorilla Glue
11. Hot glue
12. Double-sided adhesive tape (The paper linked isn't the exact one that I used, but it is the same type of product)

Tools:

1. 3D Printer (I used printers from Prusa)
2. Slicer (I used PrusaSlicer)
3. Adobe Illustrator
4. Fusion 360
5. Laser Cutter
6. Hot glue gun

The first thing that I did for this project was start the 3D Design for everything. There were three main components that I had to design: the main component, the back lid, and the stand. These components took a bit longer to design because I had to think about how they would connect together. There were also two small pieces, the motor holder and coupler, which were relatively easier to design.

The Main Body (picture 1)

The design for the main component was pretty simple. I started by creating a circle with a 162 mm diameter, which I extruded 100 mm. Then, I used the hole function to create a hole that was 150 mm and went all the way through the piece. To create the pillar that's inside the cylinder, I started by creating an offset plane 79 mm away from the front plane (picture 2). On the offset plane, I used the sketch feature to create a rectangle with a width of 26 mm and a length of 16 mm. I also made the rectangle centered horizontally and 26.5 mm away from one of the edges of the cylinder (picture 3). The reason for the pillar being closer to one edge of the cylinder is because this pillar is what the motor for the acrylic plate will rest on. This is why the pillar is closer to the side where the acrylic plate is going to be. I used the extrude tool to extrude the pillar by 65 mm as a joint operation. Then, on the side closer to the acrylic, I created another sketch. I selected the cylinder's rim as the plane on which the sketch will be made. Using the center diameter circle, I created a circle that had a diameter of 158 mm and made sure that the circle was centered. Finally, I used extrude tool to cut the circle in by -3mm (picture 4 and 5). This extra space creates space for the acrylic plate to rotate.

The Stand (picture 6)

I started creating the stand by making a sketch of a shape that was almost triangular (picture 7). The hypotenuse was slanted by 30 degrees. I extruded that shape by 162.149 mm, which makes the stand the same length as the diameter of the lamp. After that, I needed to create a curved surface on that the lamp would rest on. To do so, I made a sketch of the slanted surface of the object. I created a circle with a diameter of 163.449 mm and centered it with the stand. After that, moved the circle slightly up so that there was space between the edge of the circle and the bottom of the stand (picture 8). Then, I selected the space underneath the curve to extrude by 38.10 mm (picture 9). The object had a weird bottom that wasn’t flat, so I just followed the outline of the bottom and made a line going across the bottom to make it a closed sketch. I used the cut operation from extrude to make it go all the way across the bottom so the bottom of the stand was flat (picture 10).

The Motor Holder (picture 11)

Making the motor holder was pretty easy. To create it, I made a sketch on the front plane. I used the line tool to create the shape, which is hard to describe so I've uploaded a picture of the sketch above (picture 12). Then, I used the extrude tool to extrude the shape by 10 mm (picture 13). I also decided to fillet the corners by 0.5 mm.

The Motor Coupler (picture 14)

To create the motor coupler, I created a sketch on the top plane that had a diameter of 30 mm. Then, I used the extrude feature to extrude the sketch by 5.5 mm which had a taper angle of -25 degrees, and I filleted the edge by 5 mm. On the top surface of the extruded portion, I created another circle in the center with a diameter of 15 mm. I extruded the smaller circle by 8.5 mm. Then, on the surface of the part that was just created, I created another circle in the center using the sketch feature that had a diameter of 3.30 mm. I used the extrude feature to use cut as the operation and go through the object by -9.8 mm. To create the curve on top of the stand, I first used the sketch feature to create a curve on the front plane, making sure it was connected to what I had for the stand so far. After creating that sketch, I used the extrude feature under the surface category so that I could extrude a sketch. Then, to connect the edges of the curve to the rest of the stand, I used the thicken tool. I selected the curved surface and thickened it downwards by 20 mm.

The Back Lid (picture 15)

To create the back of the cylinder, I used the sketch feature to create a circle that had a diameter of 162.149 mm, which is the same size as the cylindrical portion. I extruded that circle by 2.629 mm. On the top surface of that extrude, I created another centered circle that had a diameter of 146.3 mm. This center circle is 15 mm smaller because that is how thick the cylinder is, and this piece needs to snap onto the back of the main component. I extruded that circle by 7 mm. Then, on the center of the component, I created a circle that was 40.5 mm wide, because that was the diameter of the speaker that I used. This part should vary depending on the specific speaker being used. I cut that circle all the way through the component using the extrude feature. After that, I create another sketch on the top surface of the component. This time, I created a rectangle that was 12.5 mm by 11.5 mm and filleted all four corners by 3 mm. This small rectangle is the location for the DC jack, so these dimensions will also vary depending on the supplies used. After I finished the sketch, I cut the rectangle all the way through the component using the extrude feature with the cut operation.

After finishing all of the designs, I uploaded them as 3mf files onto PrusaSlicer, because that is the software compatible with the 3D printers that I used, the Prusa Mini+ and MK3S+ .

First, I arranged the designs on the build plate. I printed all of the designs separately because I finished the design for all of them at different times. The only design that required supports was the main component, which needed a support for the pillar in the center.

The settings for most of the components were relatively similar, but varied a little bit.

The Main Body

• Print Settings: 0.25 mm DRAFT
• Filament: PLA
• Printer: Original Prusa MINI+
• Supports: Support on Build Plate Only
• Infill: 10%

The Stand

• Print Settings: 0.30 mm DRAFT
• Filament: PLA
• Printer: Original Prusa i3 MK3S+
• Supports: None
• Infill: 10%

The Motor Holder and Motor Coupler

• Print Settings: 0.15 mm QUALITY
• Filament: Prusament PLA
• Printer: Original Prusa MINI+ and MK3S+ ( I used a MINI for the Motor Coupler and I used a Prusa i3 MK3S+ printer for the Motor Holder because that one was available for use)
• Supports: None
• Infill: 15%

The Back Lid

• Print Settings: 0.30 mm DRAFT
• Filament: PLA
• Printer: Original Prusa MINI+
• Supports: none
• Infill: 10%

The next thing that I decided to do was connect everything. I thought the directions on the Instructable that I followed would be too advanced for me to follow, so I wanted to try to use a breadboard because I thought it would be easier for me. For the breadboard, I just attached two wires for the positive and negative charge to the DC Jack, and I connected them to two different rows on the breadboard. Then below those two wires, I connected two wires for the motor and put them in their respective rows. After that, I also used two wires to connect the Bluetooth Module to the breadboard. The Bluetooth Module also had two channels to connect the Bluetooth Module to stereo, so I connected two wires from the Bluetooth module to the speaker.

I'd also like to add that the breadboard I used didn't have the power rails like most larger breadboards. Instead, all of the terminal strips were connected by rows, so I didn't have to add extra wires to connect the terminal strips to the power rails.

To start off, I opened a new file on Adobe Illustrator. I selected print mode, made the width 24 inches and the height 12 inches, and changed the color mode to RGB for the document settings.

To design the acrylic plate, I uploaded a .png to Adobe Illustrator, and vectored the image as a high-fidelity photo, and did some editing to remove everything except the vector lines I wanted to cut (pictures 1-4).

I used the paintbrush tool to fill in any gaps that were also accidentally deleted before, and the eraser tool to erase some rough edges to smooth the design a little bit.

I also added a circle that was the diameter of how big my acrylic plate was going to be, which was 5.7 inches. I added the circle by using the ellipse tool under the draw category and made sure to make the height and width the same size. I also grouped all of the planets and stars in the .png by highlighting the galaxy and stars and selecting 'Group' under the objects menu. After grouping all the objects in the .png, this ensures that when trying to align everything using the align tool, the stars and planets don't align in the center on top of each other. Then, I selected the circle that I made using the ellipse tool and the galaxy design and used horizontal center align and vertical center align to make the design centered inside the circle. After that, I also chose to group the circle and design together as well by using the group feature.

Once I was done with that, I used the selection tool and dragged it across the entire picture to select it, and changed the color. I made sure that there was no infill and made the outline red. More specifically, the settings for the shade of red I used were R: 255, G:0, B: 0 (picture 5). This is the color for vector cutting that works with the laser cutter I used but could differ based off of what laser is being used.

Cutting the acrylic plate required some work beforehand. RP HOBBYIST, the owner of the Instructable that I followed, used a CNC to engrave the design on acrylic, but I was going to use a laser cutter. I realized that because I was cutting the acrylic, once everything was cut, all there would be left on the acrylic plate would be giant holes in the shape of the planets. So to fix this, I used two pieces of acrylic: one black acrylic, and a translucent one. To attach the two pieces together, I used double-sided adhesive tape. I peeled the wrapper on the adhesive off of one side of the adhesive and put it on top of the black acrylic.

Then, using the laser cutter, I cut the design and the circle outline on black acrylic. On clear acrylic, I didn't cut the galaxy design but just cut a circle that was the same diameter as the black acrylic

After that, I had to attach the black acrylic to the clear acrylic without the outlines of all the planets and the other designs. So what I did was remove everything from the black acrylic so that I would have all the planets and stars separated from the main piece of black acrylic. I peeled off the other side of the adhesive wrapper and put the black acrylic on top of the clear acrylic, making sure to line them up. After this step, I had the black acrylic lined up on top of the clear acrylic and all the empty spaces where the planets were.

The next step was very tedious and time-consuming. What I had to do was remove the outlines of the planets and attach the centerpieces of the planets in the correct space on each planet. For instance, for the sun, I removed the outline of the sun, and the pieces that I stuck on top of the clear acrylic were the center circle and triangular rays of the sun. I attached these pieces to the clear acrylic in the same way, by peeling the protective sticker on the adhesive, and then sticking the piece in its correct spot.

The first picture is a picture of the acrylic with the design when it was first finished being cut. The brown paper is the protective wrapper. The second picture is from when I was in the process of attaching everything, and the third picture is the finished result.

The last step is to assemble everything. I glued the DC Jack in the rectangular hole designed for it in the back lid and I glued the speaker to its designed area also on the back lid (picture 3). I glued the Bluetooth circuit module and breadboard to the inside of the back, so that it would be on the inside of the cylinder (picture 1). I centered the motor on top of the pillar, and put glue on the ends of the motor holder which I put on top of the motor to secure the motor. I glued the motor coupler to the center of the acrylic plate and attached it to the shaft of the motor (picture 3). I also reconnected the circuit in the way I had it set up before after the glue I used for the components was done drying. For all of the pieces that needed gluing, I used Gorilla Glue.

Another variation between my project and the original was that I didn't use an addressable LED strip. I used LED string lights to light up the project, so I hot glued the LED string lights to the inside of the cylinder. I tried to wrap the lights around pretty loosely so that the light would be distributed towards the center rather than being tightly wrapped around the edge of the cylinder (picture 4). I glued the on/off switch for the string lights to the back of the cylinder where the speaker and the jack are (picture 3). I glued it on the outside to make it more accessible to turn the lights on and off.

Thank you for reading through my Instructable, and I hope you enjoy making this project!