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  • Author Author: tariq.ahmad
  • Date Created: Date Created
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Lamptopus: Spinning LED Desk Lamp -- Episode 592

Looking for a fun, low-intensity electronics project for yourself or to share with loved ones? Look no further than Lamptopus! Lamptopus brings light and motion to an articulated 3D printed housing, complete with a top hat. Based around an Arduino Uno and other common hobby electronics components, Lamptopus is sure to bring a smile to those around you and a sparkle to any dark corners in your workbench.

Watch the Video:

Bonus Content:

Code:

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Schematic:

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Bill of Material:

Product Name Manufacturer Quantity Buy Kit
Arduino Uno Arduino 1 Buy Now
Servo Motor MULTICOMP PRO 2 Buy Now
NeoPixel LED Ring ADAFRUIT 2 Buy Now
Hook Up Wire BELDEN 1 Buy Now
Solder Flux KESTER SOLDER 1 Buy Now
Linear Voltage Regulator TEXAS INSTRUMENTS 3 Buy Now
Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor VISHAY 2 Buy Now
Capacitor TDK 2 Buy Now
Desoldering Braid EDSYN 1 Buy Now
 

Additional Parts:

3D Printer Filament,Translucent PLA Filament
transparent PLA for lighting up the lamptopus from the inside
9V battery
9V battery holder with on-off switch and solderable leads (already had on hand, amazon)
5V 2A DC power barrel jack for Arduino Uno
Soldering Iron + Soldering Hands / Clips
Hot Glue
Electrical Tape
3D printer, or can use an on-demand print company to get STLs

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You'll gain yourself an achievement and some points if you get it right! Make sure you also leave us a comment below to let us know what you think about the episode.

Lamptopus!

Lamptopus!

Watch the Episode 592 of element14 presents

Criteria

- Answered the question correctly

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- Points!

 

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  • I really enjoyed the presentation. Your quirkiness is unique and made me want to keep watching.

    I have a few comments and questions. I will put them in the order I generated them.

    You have a workbench and what appears to be a lab, why work in the kitchen next to the olive oil bottle?

    You have extra hands tool, how many times will you need to be less than successful before you convince yourself to pause and go get the tool?

    You mentioned a Nano burnout and suggested you would tell us how. I didn't catch the how, If it was in the video, making me watch it a second time to find out is more than fair.

    You have a 5v supply to power the microcontroller use it for powering the servo.

    I know you wanted to develop a circuit to use a regulator. Take the regulator to another project that has more focus. Using a regulator to drop 9V battery to 5V is just not cool. All that wasted power could be twisting more.

    Again, keep up efforts like this. It was fun to watch.

  • in reply to colporteur

    Thanks so much for your kind words and suggestions! 
    -kitchen was closer ATM. Workbench was a disaster that I didn’t have the energy to clean up at that time. 
    -it will take many times. 

    -I believe I shuffled across the floor and shocked it pretty good. I also recall dropping it. Sorry Nano…

    -That was my first plan. Decided to change it to use the regulator. 
    -you are correct, it was hot! :-) anyways, yes I totally agree there are certainly better suited projects for the regulator and more efficient ways to use the power. It is ok though, Lamptopus didn’t mind. And I got to use a regulator for the first time, which was my main goal! 

    thanks so much for watching!

Comment
  • in reply to colporteur

    Thanks so much for your kind words and suggestions! 
    -kitchen was closer ATM. Workbench was a disaster that I didn’t have the energy to clean up at that time. 
    -it will take many times. 

    -I believe I shuffled across the floor and shocked it pretty good. I also recall dropping it. Sorry Nano…

    -That was my first plan. Decided to change it to use the regulator. 
    -you are correct, it was hot! :-) anyways, yes I totally agree there are certainly better suited projects for the regulator and more efficient ways to use the power. It is ok though, Lamptopus didn’t mind. And I got to use a regulator for the first time, which was my main goal! 

    thanks so much for watching!

Children
  • in reply to rubyzoom

    Your explanation of using a code block to control both the servo and LED at the same time reminded me of a story.

    I had built a Nano project and the user wondered why I couldn't ramp up the voltage on a motor and read sensors at the same time. I told them it had to do with the number of squirrels doing the work in a Nano.

    There is only one thread in a Nano doing work. The thread being a squirrel. A squirrel can't gather nuts and drink water at the same time. It eithers drinks water or gathers nuts. The Nano with only one thread to do work can either run the motor or read sensors.

    SBC have multiple cores with multiple threads. Multiple squirrel burrows with multiple squirrels in each burrow. In this configuration some squirrels just gather nuts while other go for a drink and while others are doing nothing.

    My squirrel analogy has helped non-techie types understand concurrency and multitasking without requiring a computer science degree.