Easy Tilt-Based Color Changing Wireless Rubik’s Cube Lamp
Introduction: Easy Tilt-Based Color Changing Wireless Rubik’s Cube Lamp
Today we’re going to build this awesome Rubik’s Cube-esque lamp which changes color based on which side is up. The cube runs on a small LiPo battery, charged by a standard micro-usb cable, and, in my testing, has a battery life of several days.
This tutorial is a great beginner project and requires minimal tools!
I’m a relative beginner when it comes to circuits—I first picked up a soldering iron less than a month ago, and I hope this tutorials inspires other beginners to start their first circuits project. If you like this Instructable, it would make my day if you voted for it in the Remix contest!
I was inspired by Well Done Tips’ amazing Wireless LED Cube Light Instructable, but I wanted to extend it further and realized it would be super cool to have more than one color. After all, the Rubik’s cube has more than just one color—so why should there be only one light?
For a while I was stumped on the orientation detection, and thought I might have to add in a small microcontroller and accelerometer. However, since my goal was for the cube to be wireless, I knew I would need to add a battery, and since that would drain more juice than I’d like, I didn’t want to go that way.
That’s when I found <PERSON>’s LED Cube light! His lamp used a mercury switch to control the light. However, I did not want to use mercury—it’s really bad for the environment—but luckily tilt switches are a great alternative.
I also wanted to make this tutorial beginner-friendly, use materials that could be easily purchased online or in a store, and limit the use of equipment (such as a table saw) that many people, including me, don’t have.
Let’s get started!
Supplies
The following supplies are needed:
* Soldering Iron and solder
* Drill Press and small drill bit
* Hacksaw with fine teeth
* Ruler
* Sharpie
* Hot glue gun
* Clamp (for sawing)
* Sandpaper
* Respirator / n95 mask for cutting + sanding
* Wire cutter
* Wire stripper
Step 1: Materials
* Sheet of clear acrylic (a.k.a plexiglass, a.k.a glorified plastic). 492
I used 3mm thick plexiglass, probably about 24x36 (leftover from an old dissembled smart mirror).
* White spray paint - easy to find at Home Depot or Lowe’s.
* Perfboard - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FFDFLZ3/ref=...
* Red, Blue, Green, Orange, and White LEDs (can swap out one of these for yellow)
* 3.7v LiPo Battery (I used 1100 mAh) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FFDFLZ3/ref=...
* 100 ohm resistor, or 220 ohm depending on the LEDs
* 5 Tilt Switches - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FFDFLZ3/ref=...
* TP4056 Charging Module - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FFDFLZ3/ref=...
* Red and white wire
* Replacement Rubik’s Cube stickers https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082HL9FRX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The white spray paint gives the acrylic a nice diffusing finish. However, it is unnecessary if you instead buy a white translucent acrylic such as this.
So you may have noticed that the cube is not actually built from a real Rubik’s cube, like <PERSON>. I initially attempted to copy <PERSON> build process, by cutting out the innards of a cube (r.i.p. cube) and putting pieces of acrylic in between. Unfortunately, since I don’t have the machinery that he does, I used a hacksaw to cut the super small pieces of acrylic and the cube ended up being incredibly lopsided and frankly ugly. Thus we shall sally forth with a modified design: 6 square pieces of acrylic plus replacement Rubik’s cube stickers!
P.s. You may be wondering why replacement stickers are even sold. 996