Introduction: ZeeZee Lights: Personalized, 3D Printed DIY Smart LED Light

By

Personalized, 3D Printed DIY Smart LED Light

Designed for the kids, but could be used for grown-ups too 😊. Could be used as a night lamp, decoration, sign, logo, etc.

This tutorial covers a video guide on how to design and produce your ZeeZee lights.

Supplies

The URLs above are affiliate links and the ones I used, verified, and recommend them.

Step 1: Design

There is a step-by-step tutorial (of 13 steps) in the video below, so you can make your own 3D letters and covers, but if you want a shortcut, you can buy it on Etsy.

I designed it using the fantastic Autodesk Tinkercad free online tool and I encourage you to try it by yourself, especially if you are a beginner. Make some changes on your own, try to improve the design.

If you looking for a more powerful tool, take a look at the Autodesk Fusion 360.

STLs used in this tutorial are available on Thingiverse.

Step 2: 3D Printing

I used black and white PLA filaments. Black for the letter’s body and white for the letter cover/shading. As initially designed as 100 mm tall and 30 mm thick, letters ZITA took about 5 hours to print with 0.6 mm nozzle and 0.4 mm layers. 

A few useful tips: Learn from my mistakes 🙂

  • When printing white covers, do not forget to clean your nozzle before. Black leftovers will ruin your cover and it will not be clean white.
  • When the cover is printed, let it cool down before you take it from the printer’s bed. Covers are thin and if you pull them while are warm, they could be easily deformed.
  • If you are not satisfied with the cover’s size (too loose/tight) change the cover’s bevel (step 12 in the video).
  • Print letter covers horizontally flipped, to get the smooth side (bedside) on the outside.

Step 3: LED Strip Installation

When you are done with printing it is time to install an LED strip to assemble the whole thing.

First, I glued the LED strip (just peeled off adhesion tape on the strip) to the wall of the letter, as displayed below. Then I took one side of the strip and soldered the wire and pushed it through the hole in the back of the letter.

When I was sure that the LED strip is nicely spread out and working, I used a hot glue gun and glued the strip for good.

When all the letters are done, an LED strip is installed, take all the wires, and solder them to the female power supply connector.

I used a 12V LED strip, so basically I can power it right now using just a 12V power supply. LEDs will glow but we’re missing the fun, smart part.

Step 4: LED Controller

LED Controller I used is a powerful little bad-ass. It works like a charm and best of all it is cheap.

All you need is the Magic Home app and follow the instructions you got with the device. If you are not sure how to power it up, take a look at the video, I recorded the installation procedure.

In addition to the light control itself, there are more fun options such as Mic control. You can play music, or even sing and your light will react to the sound.

Step 5: The End

Feel free to adjust this project to yourself. For example, you can use an RGB LED strip or maybe 5V LED strip to power the whole thing from the AA batteries. 

Anyway, whatever you do, have fun, and please share your work on social networks!

This tutorial is published also on PowerUserTutorials Follow for more tutorials.

Video is made using powerful Wondershare Filmora app, probably the best video editing app for beginners. They have a free version too, so feel free to test it out.

Make it Glow Contest

Participated in the
Make it Glow Contest