Moving Lamp: Blooming Lotus

I'm back to Instructable, again. I have grown up and my project seem a little more proffesional than before.

Anyway, this is my very first Arudino project. This project was inspired by the Shard Light. The petals are driven by 2 servo, spread out like a paper fan motion. Tbh, I think I haven't finish it completely. I feel like I can make it a little better, that's why I left the Arudino outside for easy access so that I can adjust it later. The base of the lamp is hollow so that can can put in the Arudino when I'm finish.

Hope you enjoy my project and please vote if you like it.

P.S: Sorry for my bad grammar _(:3」∠)_

I started by creating a template. First I cut out 2 pieces of paper as a template :1 for the petal, 1 for the base. After that lay out the pieces and draw a plain template, then the details. Finally, I copied the finished pieces on another page, that's the final template.

Originally, I planned to make a 6 petals flower, but that means all of the piece will be in motion. That's why I reduce the number to 5 so that I can secure 1 piece to the base, making it a lot easier

The "stopper" pieces is used to pull out the petals in order. You can get this achieve this by draw a line on the base (the blue line)

I trace the base on a foam board. Later that day I found that the piece was too weak so I switch to a simple square, you can see that change later in the instuction. You can use wood for the base

The petals I cut out from an old piece of acrylic. It have some scratch on it but it's usable. I cut out the piece by a dremel, then a copy saw to finish it up

The foam board and acrylic is 3mm thick, the same width as the LED.

I'm using an LED strip for the light. I cut out the LED and solder on some wires. I used 8 LEDs: 2 for each middle pental and 1 for each outter petal

Ofc, remember to check each one before continues.

Glue the LED on the slot. As you can see, I have switched the base into a rectangular. This mean more support but less space for the LED wires.

Cut out a channel for the LED wires to run through and then glue on the stopper pieces. The LED and the wires should be flat to the surface. I tried to use some tape to isolate the wires but it's too bulging. So I just put more glue in to glue the wire apart

Glue every stopper to the base. Then put in a rod to test the movement

Remember to put spacers (not shown) on the rod, between each pieces. The spacers have the same width as the stopper pieces (I used 2mm foam board).

The middle base will be longer than the rest of the petals. You can see that cleary later in the instruction

On the most outer piece, glue on a piece of foam board, this part will pull back the inner piece when it closes.

This is the part where it goes wrong. I glue the acrylic on by hot glue, then put on a sheet of metal to secure it in place. Sadly the metal sheets doesn't stick too well, so they fell of.

But to my surprise, the hot glue stays in place and the arcylic won't fall of that easily, so I'm safe :v

The most middle part will be stationary so it is glued securely to the base.

I cut out a slot to insert in the piece and apply glue. 4 squares on the 3 pic is for the servo that will be inserted later.

Glue on the servo attachment to the outter piece.

After fitting everything together, attach the servos and then glue on the sticks, insert the stick into the holes and that's it. I used hot glue to glue in the servo since I want to be able to take it apart it I need the servos in other project.

Since this is my first Arduino project, I made to code very simple. The code itself is base on the "sweep" code. I'll improve it when I'm better at this.

And then another problem occurred: I forgot to block the light on the sides, so I take the whole this apart and then put it back. Please remember to do this step before putting the petals together. _(:3」∠)_

This step is quite simple. I poked holes so that wires can fit through, and then slide all the wires into that hole. After that I cover the side and the top, leaving the middle. Then I make a dome like piece that will cover up most of the part. All of this is made by foam boards.

For a more wood like look, I cover the box in thin sheets of wood and then and stain to darken it's color. In my country, shop don't sell veneer so I had to use wood sheets instead, it is so soft that it could break of easily, it was a pain to work with them. _(:3」∠)_

After all of that work, one of the LED wire fell of, so I take apart the box, take out the servo, resolder the LED, put it all back. In the progress, I broke the wood sheets on the box....Things can't get worse right? _(:3」∠)__(:3」∠)__(:3」∠)__(:3」∠)__(:3」∠)__(:3」∠)__(:3」∠)__(:3」∠)__(:3」∠)__(:3」∠)__(:3」∠)__(:3」∠)_

Anyway, I managed to but back the box and make it look as good as before.

I don't know the best way to power the whole thing. When I powered the LEDs by the 3.3V on the Arduino, it glows but the servo doesn't move like it suppost to. So I connect the LEDs directly to the 9V adapter through some resistor. Althought it only need 375 Ohm, I connect it to 400 Ohm in total. The LEDs is not on full capacity but it's still alright.

If you have any sugestion on how to fix the power problem, please help.

After all of that hard work, it feels good to see your product in motion.

If you like this project, please support me in the "Make it glow" and "Arduino all the thing" contest. I appreciate your supports.
Now I must study for the upcoming test _(:3」∠)_