Recently saw a post in an LED group on the book of faces with a similar project. I though it was cool. Since I had some acrylic tubing on hand, and a bunch of LEDs and a pile of cheapo off the shelf controllers, the forge and some scraps made this fairly easy. All I had to do was buy some fire pit glass and it was game on.
With Remote:
I thought about putting a pixelblaze in one of these but went with a cheaper solution. Just started playing with the blaze and it has a ton of potential.
One of the controllers has no remote and runs a bit too fast for my tastes. I overlooked the buttons that would have allowed me to tweak the settings before sealing it in the base. Still came out ok. Not bad for a $6.88 off the shelf led brain. The other controller has a remote and I was able to pick patterns and speeds that I like, even after sealing it up. $8.50 well spent. For less than $2 more, the one with the remote is the way to go.
I had clear acrylic 2 tubes and 10 lbs of firepit glass so I ended up with 2. More videos and pictures here.
The acrylic tube I used was 4 inch OD x 8 inches long. I got it on ebay years ago. They still have such.
I recommend the with the off the shelf brain with the remote. The instructions are somewhat obscure but with some effort, they can be deciphered. I have seen worse. Count on the battery for the remote to either not be included or to be dead on arrival.
LED strips like these would work well. 60 leds per meter or 30 leds per meter. I used the 30 type.
I used 5 volt LEDs. I think I used about 1 meter. I did not keep track or measure. I made 2 of these cells from a 5 meter strip and still have about half of what I started with. 5 meters would be way too many for one.
This is a good power supply for those LEDs. More than capable at a low cost. The key is 5 volts here matches the 5 volt LED strips and the supply can give at least 2 amps. This can do 4 amps. I use these often. It plugs into the other end of the controller. So, no soldering there either. $10 bucks.
I made a simple center core out of scrap clear acrylic (thick) . Designed it in the GF UI. Made it just shorter than the tube length. wrapped the leds around this, secured with clear tape. File:
Take care handling the fire pit glass. Tiny shards are sharp. Blood makes your art better but got gloves?
Routed power through a small hole in the center of the base. You put the controller in there in a manner that allows connection to the leds and feeds the power connector out if you plan ahead. Do not be like me. Plan ahead.
This is very nice work! Love the lamps and effects. Alos love the mix of GF and controller stuff! For a simpler way to something similar there is this…Upcycled Glass Lamps 2.0 - YouTube
