Fusion Furnace Build

[Imadesignerd]

and with that, I am finished printing all the parts for this project, minus some custom parts to accommodate my electronics. Having the E3D REVO system for this project was amazing. I did a lot of nozzle swaps, when appropriate, for the various parts and achieved some amazing results. I printed the detail parts with a .25 nozzle at .062 layer height. Should only need a single pass of filler primer and then paint.

Finally got around to assembling the top with CA glue. I also used some JBweld steel stick to help fill some of the larger gaps. That stuff is amazing. It's a 2 part epoxy putty. Just knead until fully blended and apply to where you need to fill gaps. Dries within 10 minutes and is SUPER strong. Sands easily and can be saved with an xacto knife. Then I added the top with a bit of steel stick/CA glue and took to it with the tried and true red bondo brand small crack filler. Once sanded I will likely come back again with the steel stick to fill gaps. Then one final sanding.

[savagecreature]

Let the sanding begin!
Awesome tip about the JB Weld steel stick. I'll have to give it a try on the next project.

[Lichtbringer]

So cool.

More and more i think i need another 3D printer. This time a bigger one (around 300×300×400) that can handle more sturdy material than my resin printer. I love it for model building, no print lines so next to no sanding, but it's clearly not the best for bigger parts.

[Imadesignerd]

As savage creature mentioned....SANDING. My FAVORITE thing.




These two went well...but the lid....not so much



As i was sanding it, the dang thing slipped out of my hand and onto the floor cracking in several places. Aw well, nothing that some CA glue wont fix up.

While that dries, on to electronics. Got everything wired and soldered up and the bench test seems to be working well, except...the microphone. I think I fried it while on the breadboard. DOH! Anyway, I got the LEDs pulsing the way I want them to. Just need to tidy up the sound portion when a new mic comes in the mail. Check out the link below for a sneak peek at bench testing.

https://imgur.com/kpR3B6c

[kresty]

Ugh, hate it when that happens.

[Imadesignerd]

krestyUgh, hate it when that happens.

Yeah, I wasn't exactly thrilled about it, but its all part of the process it seems.

I am still working my way through the electronics. Everything seems to be working, but I think I made my .wav file the incorrect bit rate. If someone out there is choosing to go my direction with the project, be sure to read the specs of the file types on adafruit's website. I fixed the file, but haven't had a chance to test it yet. Outside of the sound board not playing the file (which is likely my fault) and the the microphone seeming to be bad (also my fault) everything is working as it should.



I also decided that I should design a simple PCB for this project, both to keep it tidy with less wiring, and to help others make a set up similar to mine more easily, should they want to. This design will be powered via USB pigtail into the adafruit huzzah32 board. I chose this approach as it was easier to use the Adafruits built in step down converter rather, allowing me to eliminate using an additional piece of hardware. Also, Adafruit doesn't recommend using 5v power directly to the BAT pin as this can cause several issues.

I also included a secondary 5V power source for the LEDs that comes in through LED VCC. This is only to supply 5V power to the LEDS. I could have wired the LEDs directly to the WAGO connectors, but this seemed like a more elegant approach. When bench testing I ran into some crazy LED flashing issues that were found to be due to needing common grounding. As such, all components on this board share ground traces.

There are two outs from the board to the LEDS, one includes power and signal, while the other is for power injection only. This is probably over kill, but will prevent voltage drops across the string of LEDs. I am using 144 LED per meter strips, so I should have around 200 in this project when I am finished. If someone was to use, say, 60 LED per meter strips, they only need to use the one port on the far left.

The circle is the new microphone that I will be using, an INMP441, which was suggested by the WLED discord. This mic is apparently ultra sensitive and uses an I2C rather than analog, resulting in a cleaner signal and better performance from the LEDs. Again, this mic is likely over kill for this project, since my goal isn't to play high fidelity music, but it costs about the same as the analog mics, so why not use the better approach? Also, it gives me some experence should I want to try other projects in the future.

The SND terminal is where I will wire the switch that will trigger the sound board. I have included an updated wiring diagram as well for fun.

[Imadesignerd]

I started printing and assembling my chassis for the electronics. Good fun. Reconsidering some of the wire routings and lengths. I have reconsidered ordering a PCB due to the cost. If others were interested, I would consider ordering a batch for the group but otherwise, I will just use this prototype board i had lying around.

Please excuse the mess on the table. I am a messy builder while in process. haha

[kresty]

There are very few builds around, so it's probably not worth a batch of the PCB.

Looking good!

[Imadesignerd]

I picked this project back up when my wife was out of town.



I am thinking I should just finish the filling, sanding and painting so I have a finished prop to look at and then come back to wiring.

[kresty]

I picked this project back up when my wife was out of town.

Sometimes I make the most progress that way!

I like the pcbs for the leds. How did you populate them? I tried doing something smaller and it went poorly.

I'm not sure there are enough builds to do a real run in a sensible manner. Many only a couple a year. It might be helpful though if folks wanted to use that technique.

Did you try lighting them all? That seems like a lot of leds!