Gesture-controlled DNA lamp

Kostiantyn uses a laser cutter to score the inside of two wooden strips of walnut veneer, making them flexible enough to wrap around a cylinder. He brushes them with resin, so when the resin dries, it holds the shape of a spiral – do this twice, and you’ve got the beginnings of a DNA double helix made in wood. Add a plywood base, a strip of addressable LEDs and a PAJ7620U gesture sensor, plus an ESP8266 controller, and you’ve got a unique gesture-controlled desk lamp.

What we love about this project is that the woodworking element is just about possible to recreate without the laser cutter. All you need is a hand steady enough to cut hundreds of tiny lines to the same thickness, direction, and depth, and then do it again for the two strips that form the two strands of the DNA, and the thinner wooded strips that hold the NeoPixels in place, all without making a single mistake. That’s the sort of work that more sensible makers such as Kostiantyn leave to the machines, leaving him free to do the more difficult, creative work, such as coming up with the idea in the first place.