Posted in Origami a Day The Softness of Things
Lamp Project – 3d modular origami circuits
Modular Origami Lamp
A lamp shade constructed out of 3D origami modules with some modules conductive and other non-conductive. The conductive Modules will link together to form the circuit. More specifically, each of the three pins on a RGB LED will be connected to a row of conductive modules. The color of the LED will be adjustable by swapping out modules in the row with either more conductive or non-conductive ones. This will change the resistance of each RGB pin, which will in turn change the color.
Mike and I decided on the basic module made for 3D origami. The next step was figuring out how to make these modules conductive. We decided to try copper leaf, which is very fragile and applied by brushing adhesive to the object you want to gild and then applying the leaf. It seemed a good way to apply an even coat of conductivity.
3D origami modules, sizing and copper leaf
Getting ready to make parts of select modules conductive
The fragility of copper leaf
Select modules are now conductive!
Conductive modules in the front (15), non-conductive in the back (70)
We had a folding party, and by the size of them, it seemed that what we were about to construct was a miniature lamp shade. This worked nicely since we were prototyping and it worked scale-wise if we were to use a single LED anyway.
Only problem was we needed to keep onward, but we couldn’t find a common cathode LED, we were testing ones borrowed from class mates and had no luck. Either they were common anode or the common cathode ones we found had faulty pins…
Our defiance towards common anode RGB leds
We admitted defeat (for now) and decided to start putting together our modules.
Here is where we learned how to cut paper in the right size, fold a module and put them together.
3D origami
Modules creating modules
Building up our form... the beginning of a model lampshade
A finished 3D origami form called a basement
Realigning our modules in order to build upward
With the added conductive modules - 85 total
We found a common cathode RGB led AND all pins worked. We were pretty darn happy with this simple confirmation.
After some searching, we were able to find one after all… but agreed to buy some first thing the next day!
