What to do with blinky lights?

LEDs are cool.

I got one of these Digital 32 LED 1 meter strips a while back just thinking I'd eventually find a good reason to use it. Visions of giant displays came into my mind. Though I only had one strip

When I saw one of these LED globes, I figured that may be the best way to make use of it.



Even if mine was only 32 LEDs it still had the potential to be very cool..

To begin with I figured I only needed one side of LEDs. This would give me a rather large globe and more resolution than chopping the strip in half. I already had some half inch bearing/pillow blocks (that are probably way overkill). So I went out and got a piece of threaded rod to match, and proceeded to cut out a large circle from pink insulation foam. To drive the thing I imagined using an old 550 size motor and RC speed controller.

I had no idea if such a large design would work, but thought I'd at least give it a try.. This was all about a year or two ago. I got distracted or busy and nothing came of this. I'm now trying to put a little more focus into my unfinished projects. I have also since acquired a 60 led strip.

So, with my trusty laser cutter, I have started to put together the prototype:

I used Inkscape's built in gear generator to generate some gears. Being able to quickly and easily generate and have those gears in your hand, ready to drive things, is an awesome feeling!

I then started drawing up a box to house the pillow blocks and gears and cut it out.

It looks good, and the gears mesh good, but the box is a bit flimsy I think. This may be because I forgot to put the tabs on the top of the two side pieces (one of which is missing, here) In the future I think I'll just use a box generator script and then cut the holes I need out of whit it generates.

My laser cutter goofed up on that missing side. I'm not sure why this happened. Maybe a speck of dirt was in the way of the rollers on the X axis? Add that to the checklist before running the laser..

It was getting late the other night or I would have fixed and re-cut new sides. Hopefully this weekend I can get that done and test out control of the motor.

I did get some input +John Bump on Google+ about an advanced gear extension for inkscape that can also do sprockets. Something to keep in mind for future projects!