I had the parts for this already, just had to find time to assemble them. I had a few production setbacks, but finally got it put together. This is another project I converted over to cuttle, could have done the same in illustrator.
The LEDs don’t photograph very accurately. The image is much “grayer”. I did not added blue moon calculations.
It uses an ESP8266 to turn on one of 8 lights on an LED strip. I had problems with the FASTLED library and switched to the NEOpixel one. Since my board already had wifi I use it to correct the time each day. No need to waste space on a RTC board. I am still getting a hot spot even after adding another spacer layer and a piece of white cardstock. I am going to try print some on my 3D printer when I get some white filament.
If you have an LED behind a flat lens you will always get a hot spot. You will need to make a cone lens to diffuse the brighter light from the center of the LED lens. I have had good luck printing a cone with translucent PETG for diffuse LED lenses.
Great project! I have something similar. I have a pineapple that tells the weather with LED lights that change color as the variables change and as the color trends you can get a foggy idea of how the weather will turn. Mixing the GF and electronic gizmo stuff is very fun!
The moon phases look really sharp. I love how it’s not just a traditional flat disc/part of a disc. Adding the terrain look to it and the jagged edges steps it up a ton over more traditional designs.