EPCOT Spaceship Earth

Build your own IoT NeoPixel lamp inspired by EPCOT Spaceship Earth!
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updated May 17, 2023

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I'm not sure how much it'll actually help, but I made a light guide to mount the lights into, then mount them into the sphere. It seems like it'll be easier to glue the lights into these and then let the pins locate the correct spot rather than trying to do both things at once in such a cramped area. Credit to @RyanSchriten_1692145 for the idea.

https://www.printables.com/model/1009961-light-guide-and-jig-for-epcot-spaceship-earth (edited)

I printed it on my Bambu Lab A1 at 0.08 high quality using eSun Silver PLA+ and it printed beautifully. No supports needed (though the inside is a little messy it doesn't matter).

At that layer height it took 45 hours to print plus around 5 hours to assemble at a gentle pace. Many a finger was burnt with hot glue, and lots of tidying up with a scalpel was needed.

Just one note though, you'll want to reverse the direction of the upper dome than whats on the pictures on the Adafruit written guide if you want spiral effects to work correctly.

Really nice model. Printed at 90% scale to trim down printing time a little. Ended up having to widen the LED holes but overall very pleased with how it turned out.

I love this! I’ve never 3D printed anything or done anything like this, so excuse my ignorance. I have done 3D modeling before, can anyone recommend a good app to modify the model? I want to remove the part where the USB port is and re-route the cable down the back legs.

Did anybody make this from the UK and what lights did you use. I was thinking using a usb with 150 lights but cannot find the right lights to put through the holes.

Looks great. Now to make the time to complete the electronics

I made two projects. The first one is not painted and I put it all together using the original instructions including light kit. Second one is painted aluminum color. I also made clips to glue the lights to that made it so much simpler to put together. I also used a cheaper set of lights (BrizLabs $36) I already had that I trimmed down.

@RyanSchriten_1692145 can you share the file you used for your clips? I'm sure it would help others save a lot of time

@RyanSchriten_1692145 @drakeB_596048
I liked this idea and made my own. I also made a jig to go with it. Either the clip or the jig, at least on my printer, must have small lip somewhere that just barely holds the clip in the jig. Just well enough so the glue gun won't pull it out but after the glue has a few seconds to cool, you can pull the whole thing out of the jig by the wires, without burning your fingers.

So, put the clip in the jig, a bit of clue in the clip, push the LED into the glue and pull the whole thing out. After the first 10 or 15, you can get into a rhythm and move through them pretty quickly.

That's as far as I am right now, but I don't anticipate any issues installing them and I've had no issues with the LEDs melting the glue.

Having said all that, I have no idea if this will actually make things easier, but I suspect it will since it seems like it must be a pain to get the LEDs lined up properly otherwise.

https://www.printables.com/model/1009961-light-guide-and-jig-for-epcot-spaceship-earth

Great files. My printer had issues with adhesion, so I've unfortunately got a gap between the halves of the sphere. Coding was super straightforward.

@NickFajardo_335326 Unfortunately, and this is my opinion, unless you sand it down perfectly smooth and level, they all will have that gap. Maybe someone with awesome 3d modeling skills could work with the model and add an inside lip to cover the gap???

I would really love to have a go at this but I only have 220x220 build plate. Is there any way of re-scaling it a little & not messing up the lighting sequences etc? If I scale it to fit in PS, it reduces it by about 4% but I'm worried the LED's won't fit. Any guidance appreciated.

@Barkingmad15 Reducing it will work fine, the number of light holes will not change. If you are using the hot glue method to install the lights, it will look great!

@RyanSchriten_1692145 Thank-you so much. I'll add this to my list of things to print. I always try to leave feedback too.

I opted to start my model in glow in the dark filament. Adding LED's will only make it better from here! Nice model!