Giant LEDs
By Andrew Gregory. Posted
This article was originally published as part of HackSpace magazine, which has since been incorporated into Raspberry Pi Official Magazine.
This giant LED is completely pointless, but as a great man once said, all art is quite useless. It is, however, completely beautiful.
Everything is created by Robert Fitzsimons, from the casting to the handmade moulds, the only off-the-shelf parts being the electronic components.
He’s made a series of videos documenting the process, showing a Zen-like focus on perfectionism that we think shines through in the finished article.
In the first version, for example, the legs were made of 6mm copper tubing; in the final version, they’re cast resin with brass welding rods embedded for strength and conductivity.
A quick intro to Python – short scripts, rapid results.
To get the right compromise of transparency and diffusion, Robert has included 0.0075% zinc oxide (white pigment) into the resin that makes up the LED bulb, and every aspect of the build has undergone loads of tiny tweaks and modifications to get as close to perfection as possible. This is a great build.
Features Editor Andrew trawls the internet for Cool Stuff while keeping the magazine running smoothly.
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