My best guess…
The cutouts are allowing too much light out. They should be silhouette so when they pass in front of the light they cast a shadow.
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So just shrink the image cut out size? Or is it the thickness of the box?
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I think the cut outs need to be wood and the box around them to be cut out. I also think that it’s possible the light isn’t strong enough. I am just not sure. I will have to play with the design and figure it out. I love a good mystery! LOL
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I just picked up 100 W bulb, and it still isn’t behaving well
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Also if the thickness of the wood causes shadowing, maybe a paper cut out that is adhered to the inner frame of this box would work
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Or a metal cut out, but then I would need to use the cricut.
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You need a bright, point light source for a clear projection. A candle or light bulb will give “soft” edges making it difficult or impossible to discern the shape.
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Thank you so much! What type of light do you recommend?
I am going to cut one this weekend and see what happens. I still think there needs be more solid areas so the light is forced out of the smaller openings. I will let you know how it goes. This is such a great design, I want it to work!
Mahalo!!!
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I would probably try something like a 4-sided T10 automotive bulb. I think I have some like this, if I can find one, I’ll cut one of your panels and try it…
edit: just saw your design is 5-sided, not 4. Not sure that would work, then…
What kind of housing would I use to power that bulb? I’m down with trying it out, I’m desperate at this point. I left one of them at work and someone said they would commission me to make some if they work!
Here’s what you could expect with an LED similar to those I posted above. The one I used is EXTREMELY bright, but I couldn’t tell you the wattage as I’ve had it a long time, don’t remember the source. I tested with the LED about 2" away from the mask, and the design is about 2" which was the unaltered size when I loaded your file into the GFUI.
This is the result - the wall was about 2’ away. The image gets a lot
This was in a dimly-lit room. The image gets very soft and feint as you move it further away from the wall.
I think these designs are too intricate for what you’re looking to do. I have had objects that did project a pattern onto walls, but it was a simple geometric pattern where the detail was not important and the flickering of the flame made the pattern jump around on the walls in interesting ways.
So I don’t think this is a viable solution, but to answer your question - you wouldn’t need any kind of housing, just a support for the bulb that could be cut from the same material, and use hot glue or similar. They don’t get hot, and just need 12V for power. You can buy cheap 12V power supplies on ebay or amazon, the lowest current 1A or less would be more than enough).
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Wow that looks amazing! Thank you!
So this…
https://www.amazon.com/T10-194-Led-Car-Bulb/dp/B00WBGCVBM
And this
Should do the trick?
I kind of wanted a hot bulb to make the heat rise and spin the whole thing, so would the same power supply work with a regular t10 bulb?
It would power the bulb, but it will hardly generate any heat. T10 bulbs don’t get very hot.
This just popped up in Suggested Topics - did you ever follow up on this?
my son keeps on asking me when this will be finished, but I haven’t allocated time to it. We are getting close to finishing our treehouse which has been an intermittent nine month project. I think the last of the four walls will go up today and the rest of the railing.
I would love to find a bulb that will emit enough heat to make it spin on its own, and cast a shadow. 
my daughter wants one with unicorns and mermaids.
Finally bought the LED lights, the 12 V power adapter, soldered everything together, and since there are multiple LEDs in there it casts multiple angle shadows, it would be better with just one bright LED source. Any bulb recommendations?
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Very nice!! I recently began teaching myself how to make some of these files, so I know how much work goes into them. Thank you for sharing your work!!
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