Burned Wood Wall Art

In this Instructables I will explain how to make this Burned Wood Wall Art.

Materials

• Scrap Wood
• Wooden Panel x2
• Nails
• Screws
• Keyhole Bracket
• Solder
• Wood Oil
• Wood Glue

Electronics

• NodeMCU V2 WIFI Board
• WS2812B Ledstrip 60Led/m 2M
• 5V 8A Power Supply
• Logic Level Converter
• 1000uF Capacitor
• DC Power Connector
• Power Cable
• Perfboard

Tools

• Soldering Iron
• Cordless Drill
• Blowtorch
• Hot Glue Gun
• Hammer
• Brush

Step 1: Place the Wood

Arrange the wood the way you would like it to be. I went for two wider panels so I could put a ledstrip in between.

After arranging the wood I numbered all the wood pieces so I know how to arrange them correctly again after moving it.

Step 2: Glue the Wood

After you placed the wooden pieces you can start putting it together with wood glue. When you are done with gluing wait atleast 24 hours until the next step.

Step 3: Add the Mounting

To add the mounting for the panels you need to put a wooden panel that is just a bit smaller than the minimum size off the front panel on the back. Also make sure the panel is thick enough so there will be room to put the circuitboard and ledstrips between (1,5 - 2cm).

To attach the mounting panel I used nails that are just short enough to not go all the way through the front panel. I also screwed two big metal keyhole brackets on the corners off the mounting panel so it will be easy to hang the panels.

Step 4: Burn the Panels

When you are done with making your panels you can start to burn them. I chose to only burn it halfway. I used a blowtorch and burned it until the front turned black and edges got a bit of a coal texture. Ofcourse you can burn it and until you like the texture and color.

Step 5: Oil the Panel

After I burnt the panels I mixed oil with some brown oil paint (of course you can just use normal wood oil). Next I gave the panels a coat of the oil with a brush to make the wood a bit darker. But before I oiled them I erased the numbers using a eraser.

Step 6: Upload the Code

Plug your NodeMCU into your pc and install the ESP8266 Board Package a great instruction can be found here. After following the instruction open the attached arduino code and change the ssid and password to the ones of your router (You must use a 2.4GHz wireless network). Finally you can upload the arduino code.

Once you have uploaded the code to the NodeMCU you need to open the Serial Port. The Serial Port will print out the url you need to control the ledstrip with.

Step 7: Solder the Circuitboard

Solder the circuit as shown in the image above. Make sure the thickness off the circuitboard isn't thicker than the mounting panel.

For powering the NodeMCU v2 and the ledstrips you need to use an external powersupply. Since the ledstrips require 60mA/led and we have 120 leds you can calculate how big the external powersupply needs to be.
120 * 60 / 1000 = 7,2A so for the powersupply I will use a 5v 8A powersupply.

Step 8: Attach the Ledstrips

To make it easy to mount the panels I split the ledstrip in two parts with a header. I also made sure there was a connection between the two panels so I could route the cable behind it and make sure you cant see it.

Step 9: Mounth the Panel

To mount the panels you need to screw some screws in the wall where the holes off the keyhole brackets are. When screwing in the screws make sure they stick out a bit so the keyhole brackets have a place to mount to.

Step 10: Control the Ledstrips + Final

To control the ledstrips you need to enter the url you got from Step 6 in any browser you like. The website has 5 effects you can choose from.

• Static
• Breathing
• Fire
• Rainbow Cycle
• Rainbow Fade

To select the effect just click the button and select the settings next click upload and the ledstrip will change to the chosen effect. Note: number input is max 255.

And you are done!!!!

Comments

[MorneK3]

How big is the whole thing?

[freementia]

I love this! My kid loves city-scape silhouettes so by removing the top half, she'll have a dope cityscape for her wall.

Question- if I wanted the lights to react to music playing in the room (like this shirt https://youtu.be/no49uzOJe7A ) how would I set up the LED's?

[MorneK3]

Use the SONOFF L1 SMART LED STRIP KIThttps://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0075/8228/5897/products/s1_2000x.jpg?v=1602067133

[Capt Zen Petabyte]

You could also drill a couple of holes and mount warm-white or orange LEDs to be lights in the buildings and program them to turn on at a certain time and then 'go to bed' at a certain time too. Especially if you set the led strip to emulate a sunset.

[Frugha]

Have a look at this: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/interactive-led-music-visualizer/all tutorial to make a the ledstrips react to music.

[jtpatterson09]

Can you please list some safety rules i need them for the school project i'm doing for this cool project

[tvance929]

You just helped me to AWESOMELY cover my ugly Fuse Box!

[Pilgrimm]

How do you eliminate the stink from the burnt wood?

[Frugha]

It did not stink so I did nothing about it. I think the oil helps with masking the smell.

[bob2021]

This is great! It looks amazing. :-)

Just an alternative option for controlling LEDs: I would use a Wemos D1 Mini with WLED firmware. The WLED project is amazing and there’s a free app. It comes with many many more presets than the ones you list here. I have them in things all over the house, and on my Hyperion setups as well.

Great work!

[bob2021]

Also, as an additional to the above: I’ve never needed a level shifter or additional components when using the D1 mini with WS2812B LEDs. With the exception of placing a small resistor on the data line (D4) something like a 470R to protect it. So the led hardware is slimed down to:

1. PSU
2. LED Strip
3. Wemos D1 Mini
4. 470R resistor

If you experience erratic flickering, it’s usually that your ground isn’t good, so check all connections and touch up with flux.

Hope this helps someone else thinking of making this, as it’s a much simpler method.

[Frugha]

Never heard off WLED but it looks like a great way to control the strips.

The reason I used a logic level shifter is to make the input line 5V.
The datasheet of the WS2812B says that a logic high input will be detected at a minimum voltage of 0.7*VDD If you’re running the LED at 5V that means 0.7 * 5 = 3.5V will be needed for the WS2812 to detect the signal. Since the D1 mini and the NanoMCU both use 3.3V on the logic pins you might run into some reliability issues.

[bob2021]

That makes sense, so probably a good idea to use one but FWIW I have 11 setups like this without the level shifter and I’ve never had issues. Varying from 30 LEDs to 300 LEDs. If the wire between D4 on the Wemos and the data pin on the strip is less than 30cm, it shouldn’t be needed in my experience but YMMV. Also, with a 7A PSU, don’t forget to add a fuse! :-)

[TeddiB]

I really like the light. I would to try it as rustic look valances. My husband can do the lighting in them if he wants.

[Handy_Bear]

Nice! SPA hotel reception vibes incoming!