llCOOL!
Hey guys, it's Devin here with Make Anything, and... Maybe you recognise this-
Dual-colored twist container from a video I did just last month.
Pretty cool, but you know, I've done a lot of twist containers by now,
And I thought I might be done with it, but... I've realised that it's never over.
Nevertheless, I decided I wanted to do something a little more experimental with this container,
just to switch it up. And it just so happens that this grey material is actually a glow-in-the-dark PLA
From MatterHackers.
So I decided to take advantage of that and turn this into a glow-in-the-dark lamp.
It's a relatively simple project, but still pretty cool, so I thought I'd share it with you guys.
And I'm just gonna run through the process today and show you what I did.
Let's take a look.
So, first of all, here's my file in Solidworks.
The process of making this twist container is basically the same as all the ones I've done in the past,
So I won't show everything.
But, I just wanted to show you how I split up the file for dual-color printing.
So, basically, I created these V-shaped sweeps that follow the same spiral as the twist container itself.
And I made several of these, so they cut through the center of every semi-circle cutout,
As well as the center of each section between those circular cutouts.
And then I'll just use the "split" command with those surfaces as the split tool
So that I can have all these separate spiral shapes.
And this method of cutting creates a really cool effect where it's always one color on the left side,
And the second color on the right side, no matter how much you twist it!
Here's a time-lapse of one of the sides being printed,
and I had to speed this time-lapse up a lot because it's a 55-hour print!
So, even with taking just one photo per minute, this time-lapse had over 3,000 frames.
This is definitely the longest print I've ever done, and it came out just amazing on my BCN Sigma.
Here's the second half printing, and you can see how there are actually two extruders on this printer
That take turns filling in each different color.
And that allows you to create these really clean, two-color prints without any blending between the two colors.
Here's the print a little further along, and while the print came out pretty clean,
There was a lot of stringiness in this half, so maybe I should have used some different print settings-
For that glow-in-the-dark filament. But the fit was really tight, and even little tiny imperfections-
Made it hard to slide.
So I went ahead and did some manual labor, taking a little piece of sandpaper,
And smoothing out the entire inside surface of this outer shell.
Now, to turn this into a lamp, I took this light bulb fixture, and I cut it on the band saw.
That way, it would fit into the bottom of my twist container.
So I just cut that down to shape, making sure to avoid cutting through any of the metal contacts, of course.
And then I sanded it smooth. That way it looked nice and clean.
I placed the fixture on top of this bottom section of my twist container.
That way, I can make sure it fits, and I'm gonna have to screw this down,
so I marked some points on the fixture itself where I could drill holes to screw it down,
And then I projected that down onto the container itself.
That way I can create holes in the container that line up with the fixture.
So with those dots lined up, I'll go ahead and drill the holes with a hand drill.
That way, I'll be able to feed through a nut and bolt to stick it all down.
I'm also gonna need to make another hole out to the side, here, for the power cable.
That way, I can have it coming out of the bottom of the lamp, as well.
That cable's a little larger, so I used a bigger drill bit, and I didn't have the most beautiful technique,
But, luckily, I didn't break the container and everything was good.
For the cable and plug, I'm just using this extension cord, and cutting off the female end,
Stripping those wires, and I'll attach those to the light bulb fixture.
I'll twist up the wires, feed them through the bottom of the container,
And then connect them to the fixture.
This is a really convenient light fixture I had because I don't have to solder any of the wires in place.
It just has these screws that hold the wires down.
So, once I had those connected, I went ahead and put the bolts in place.
Through the bottom of the container.
It was kinda hard to hold the nut from the inside, but I did manage to tighten it, and get it stuck down to the bottom.
Next up, I screwed in my UV black light, and I made sure to use an LED bulb.
That way, it wouldn't get hot and melt my plastic.
The light didn't seem too powerful, and it is only two watts, so that's good for saving energy,
But we're gonna have to see if it's powerful enough to have a cool effect.
I printed out another bottom piece, here, that's gonna hide the screws and the wire coming out of the bottom of my container.
Make everything look a little more clean.
So I'll just feed the wire through the slot I created, and the part just friction fits into place.
There we go! Now we have a nice base so that the wire comes out to the side,
And the lamp sits flat on the table.
Obviously, there's the closed position, but you can also rest this outer half on the top of the lamp, like so.
That way, more light can get out.
So, I can plug that in, and during the daylight, it's not too impressive.
But, let's see how it looks in the dark...
I really love the blue, glow-in-the-dark filament, and it's even more vibrant in real life.
So when the lamp is in its open position, like this, it's basically charging the glow-in-the-dark filament.
And then you can close it again, and it'll hold its charge for a while.
Alright, well there you guys have it: my glow-in-the-dark twisty lamp.
Yeah, it's kind of an unusual look for a lamp. After all, that's not what I was designing in the first place.
I just happened to turn it into that. But, you guys know I really like glow-in-the-dark stuff.
So, I'm pretty happy with it.
That's it for today, but I've always got more stuff coming up,
So make sure you're subscribed if you like what you see, and, well, until next time...
I'm Devin, this is Make Anything. Don't forget to stay inspired.