Rainbow Shuriken, the Disco Star

For the Not-so Stealthy Ninja, Who likes to Party !

This serves Absolutely No Purpose; Really, I just made this to look Cool :)

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I've seen many wall Silhouettes and thought it was time to make my own. I chose to make a Shuriken because it was a would have a small footprint, yet I could Tightly Pack some Neo-Pixel's into. Feel free to use whatever Design You believe would look nice on you wall (or Ceiling!). If you don't want to use Addressable LED's (because of cost or lack of electronics Exp) You can use RGB LED strips With a color controller. If you want to get even simpler, You can use RGB strips and only power 1-2 of the colors with 12V to mix what you like !

You only really need four things, Plywood / plastic for the Silhouette, Led lights, a power supply and a means to mount the lights. For tools you can get away with a jigsaw/Coping saw. After that Just use what Supplies, Tools, and Knowledge that You have available :)

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Shall we begin?

Huge Thanks to my Sister Katie for Drafting this out for me :D

Start by picking you Inspiration. Again it doesn't have to be a Ninja Star; Build what you think will look cool !

This effect will work better on larger Designs so start with a big sheet of paper (I used poster board from the dollar store) Draw your Master copy; then shine a light from underneath it to make a copy that you can cut out and use as a stencil. If you are using Circles be sure to mark the center points for the hole-saw later.

When you are happy with your Stencil cut it out and trace the Design onto your plywood. I used a Band-Saw and a hole saw to cut mine out; Use what is available to you.

Sand off the rough edges with whatever sanding instruments you have at your disposal. I used a belt sander for the straight bits, and foam wrapped in sandpaper for the inside of the circles. Spend some time and make it look nice :) After you Stain/paint it, whatever you missed will be Glaringly Obvious !

For Larger, Simpler, designs I would suggest using some angled trim like this. For straight sections simply cut the length needed. For curves, cut it into 1 inch pieces then use hot glue or epoxy to hold them in place. In my case the design was too intricate to be mounted this way. So I just used 2.5 Packs of hot glue ! Your never going to see the back of it right?

I found a "Helping Hands" type tool helped me to hold the strip in place while it was glued in place.

If you choose to use addressable lights be aware of the position of the first Led.. You need to start in a place that makes sense for your design, or your lighting patterns will look Funky! (Not in a good way)

Just use pliers to make nice clean bends. Be sure to only bend the light strips at the Copper Traces! If you do not bend then at these points you stand a good chance of stressing the solder joints, and killing some lights :(

Almost there !

If you are using the Neo-Pixels be sure that you have followed the "Best Practices" in the "Neo-pixel Uber Guide"

Specifically the Capacitor and the resistor on the Data pin. You don't want to kill $35+ in Led's over some Trivial Components right?

Mount you controller on the back of the Design, or run wires from Your project to the controller. I prefer mounting it on the back so you need one less wire running to the Design. Then all you need to do is devise the best way to mount your new toy and a few friends to Mesmerize with it O.o

I love these random projects, and I hope to see what a few people come up with :D

Feel free to ask any questions and "I Made It" posts are Encouraged !

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Take care; Party On !

Wired Mist