Make your own custom Minecraft-inspired Torch lamp from epoxy resin. Embed a strand of fairy lights inside and set it on top of a Circuit Playground Express. The onboard NeoPixel lights provide a lovely, flickery torch effect. This gorgeous lamp glows from the inside out.
Add a piece of shiny copper tape to the base and you can change light modes with a touch of your finger. Capacitive touch control is just like magic!
We've provided a simple 3d printable base model, or you can get creative and design your own display mount. We made ours look like Viking Dragon Ships to go with our Dragon Wall Sconce, and now we sail into sleep at night with fiery dragonish gargoyles watching over us.
Difficulty
Electronics Build: Easy - This is a great beginner project if you're new to electronics. The wiring is really simple, and there's no soldering required.
Software / Coding: Easy - We've provided code you can drag-and-drop to program your Circuit Playground Express using MakeCode, Microsoft's free online coding program. It's easy to customize our code or come up with your own.
Physical Build: Challenging - Making the resin block is the hardest part of this project. There are a lot of ways it can go wrong, and epoxy resin can get expensive when your first or second pour doesn't go right.
On the other hand, it's really satisfying when it does go right, and you can create something that catches light - and people's eyes - like nothing else.
Adafruit Materials Needed
I want my lamp to be stationary, so I'm powering it via its USB port. If you want a mobile torch, you could also easily power it with a battery plugged into the Circuit Playground's JST connector.
I'm using the Circuit Playground's built-in capacitive touch sense ability to act as an on/off switch and mode change switch. In order to make this beautiful and accessible, I'm using a short bit of wire stuck to a band of copper tape. The copper tape will transfer my touch to the Circuit Playground. It's so elegant!
We've included a file for a 3d printed lamp base that holds the Circuit Playground Express just below the resin torch, with a channel for your battery or USB cable. If you want to 3d print the base, you'll need some filament!
Epoxy Resin Shopping List
My torch is 3" x 3" x 9". If you're making a similar sized torch you'll need about 6 cups of deep pour epoxy resin, alcohol inks or resin dye for color, and a piece of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or melamine to build the mold. You'll also need gloves, mixing cups and stirring sticks and various other accessories. I've made an Amazon shopping cart with everything I use when I'm pouring resin.
Materials for 1 Torch
- 6 cups of Deep Pour Epoxy
- Alcohol ink in your preferred color
- Graduated mixing cups in quart and half gallon size
- Lid for the quart sized cup
- Mixing sticks
- Protective gloves
- 36" x 4" strip of HDPE plastic for the mold
- Copious amounts of hot glue
- 99% alcohol to release the hot glue during de-molding
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