Sugar Skull Stormtrooper Nightlight

This light work by lightning acrylic from the side, the acrylic is etched which creates a nice glowing effect.

The acrylic is etched and cut with a laser cutter. Inside there is an Arduino that powers the 5v RGB LEDs, and it's programed to very slowly fade between different colors.

You'll need:

• Acrylic (250x300x4mm)
• MDF 4mm
• Arduino Nano or Mini pro
• RGB LEDs (ws2812)
• USB cord
• Glue
• USB charger / USB outlet (for power)

Credits to Guardian angel 15 for the artwork.

Step 1:

I used illustrator and live traced some artwork I found, to create vector outlines.

Then sketched astand on freehand, just making sure the electronics would fit inside.

Step 2: Cut the Material

A laser cutter comes in handy for cutting out the parts.

Step 3: Connect the LED

Connect the LED to a Arduino, Nano or Mini pro are tiny and can easily be hidden inside the stand. And the nice thing with these is that you can power them with any old USB charger you may have laying around.

Here's a simple guide:

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberg...

Two small M4 20mm bolt are holding the main pieces of the stand together.

I hot glued the LEDs to the stand. Don't get glue on the circuitry, these LED seems very sensitive to that type of interference.

Step 4: Program the Arduino and Connect Power

I used a USB cord, and snipped of the side of it.

I'd recommend using something like the Arduino nano which you can power directly with a USB mini cable, without soldering.

The attached code is a quick and dirty edit from AdaFruits neopixel library. It fades the LEDs between different colors slowly.

Step 5: Almost Done..

Trial put together.. looking good.

Step 6: Paint Top and Front

I spray painted the top and front black and cut out some letters to fint in the front panel.

The pieces of the stand that are not held by the screws i just glued together using a glue gun.

Step 7: Voilà!

All done!