Simulated Stage Fire Desk Decoration

This is a stage fire desk decoration that simulates flames in the same way a theater machine would.

1x Arduino Nano 33 BLE (link)

1x USB 2.0 A to Micro B cable (link)

1x Clear acrylic box (link)

1x Noctua NF-A4x10 PC fan (link)

1x 5V wall adapter (link)

1x Assorted red and yellow LEDs pack (link)

1x Full-size solderless breadboard (link)

1x 15-gram tube leaded solder (link)

22 AWG red and black hook-up wire (red) (black)

1x Jumper wire kit (link)

10x 200ohm resistors (link)

1x Double pole, single throw push button (link)

1x Roll black electrical tape (link)

Drill + Drill bits

Saw

Needle nose pliers

Wire strippers

Flush cutters

Phillips head screwdriver

1x Toilet paper tube

1x Paper towel tube

Aluminum foil

Scissors

1x Black sharpie

Solder headers onto the Arduino.

Make sure the wall adapter is not plugged into a socket! Clip off the barrel connector with flush cutters and pull apart the two black wires slightly. Strip a small section off of each wire with the #20 gauge hole of the wire strippers. Solder a ~3" piece of red wire to the half that has white lines on it, and solder a ~3" piece of black wire to the half that has text. Cover up the connections with electrical tape. Refer to the picture to make sure the connections are correct.

Put the Arduino into the breadboard bridging the gap in the middle. Verify that it turns on when connected to 5V and ground from the wall adapter. There should be a green light in the top right corner by the USB connection. The 5V V_in pin is at the bottom left when viewing the Arduino with the USB port at the top. The ground pin is directly above the V_in pin.

Wire LED circuit according to the schematic above. Plug the modified 5V adapter into a socket and connect the red wire to the + bus of the breadboard and the black wire to the - bus. Verify that all of the LEDs turn on.

Unbox the Amazon packaging and remove the parts from the package. There should be 5 clear panels and a cardboard covered bottom layer. Use the coin in the packaging to scrape away the protective casing covering each of the panels. Once you are done, you can start assembling from the base. I recommend attaching all four of the side panels first before adding the top panel just to make the assembly as smooth as possible. Be careful and do not try to force panels in without lining them up first as if you apply too much pressure it might snap.

The top and one of the narrow side walls of the enclosure will need to have holes put into the for mounting the push button, mounting the fan, and air flow for the fan.

For the top plate, drill a 1-1/2" hole in the center of it. After this, line up the fan with this hole and use a sharpie to mark where the mounting holes need to go. Drill those holes with a #10 drill bit, then put the fan inside the box and screw it in place.

For the narrow side wall, drill another 1-1/2" hole on the right side to allow for airflow. Then, on the left side of the wall, trace the push button in sharpie. Using the #10 drill bit, drill a hole in each corner. Then, use the saw to cut along the sharpie lines to make the square shape needed. OPTIONAL: use a file or sandpaper to smooth the cut edges.

This code acts a simple toggle on off for the momentary push button. The button triggers the LEDs to turn on or off. In order to test the code be sure to go to tools, and select the COM port that says “Arduino Nano 33BLE”.

Next, select tools again and then board manager. On the left hand side of the screen in the search box, search for nano and install “Arduino MBed OS Nano Boards” . Once this package is installed you can return to tools and board and should be able to select “Arduino Nano 33BLE” within the board menu.

Next, select verify in the top left corner. After successful verification, press upload, also in the top left corner. The code should now be running inside of the Arduino.

This step will involve more soldering. Orient the push button so the leads are farther apart horizontally than they are vertically. Solder two separate pieces of black wire to the bottom leads, and two pieces of red wire to the top leads. The bottom leads will be connected straight to ground, while the top left lead will be connected to +5V. The top right lead will be connected to pin D13 on the Arduino. Then mount the push button into the hole created earlier, and hold it in place with some tape.

Unbox the fan and locate two male to male jumper wires. These wires will serve as the connection to the Arduino. By looking under the sleeve of the fan cable you will find red, black, and yellow wires. Connect the black wire to the ground bus of your breadboard using the jumper wire. Connect the red wire to digital pin 12 of the Arduino. The fan will now activate and deactivate when the push button is pressed.

To make a collar that wraps around the LEDs, cut a paper towel roll so a section will fit in between the breadboard and the top of the box. Then, cut that section in half so there are two half-pipe shapes. Stretch each half-pipe so they don't curve so aggressively, and then tape them back together in a cylindrical shape. Make it so the new tube has a large enough diameter to encircle the LEDs. After that, tear off a section of aluminum foil from the roll to shape into a cylinder and tape inside the new tube. Repeat the same process with the aluminum foil for a toilet paper roll; the process is very similar, but the cylinder should be tighter. Trim any scraps that stick past the tube with a pair of scissors.

Take the newly lined toilet paper tube and tape it over the fan on the top of the box. Tear up a tissue into flame shaped pieces, and tape those along the top of the tube. If needed, cut out little slots so the tube can sit flush with the top of the box on top of the fan mounting screws. With the fan turned on, the tissue paper should flutter slightly.

Once everything is securely connected and mounted, put the AC adapter through the airflow hole on the side wall. Once this is done, plug it in and enjoy!