Glowing Pulsating 3D Heart
I wanted to create a glowing, colorful heart with a white orb moving around based on how the heart was rotated. Alongside this, I also wanted it to pulsate red when registering a user's heartbeat.
In the end, I was not able to fit all electronics inside the heart and settled for only having the LEDs inside of the actual heart. As such, this is a guide replicating the steps I took. To make everything fit inside the heart, the overall print scale should be around 2000% in Ultimaker Cura.
Supplies
- 21x - WS2812B RGB LEDs with JST-SM connector
- 2 x - 330 Ohm resistors
- 1x - Arduino Nano
- Female Shield Headers for testing
- 1x - Arduino Uno - For testing components
- 1x - Prototype Breadboard - For testing
- 1x - MPU-6050
- 1x - PulseSensor Kit
- 1x - Piezo buzzer
- 1m 22 awg solid core cable
- 1x - 4xAA Battery Holder
- 1x Red LED
- Solder tin
- Prototyping cables
- 1x double-sided prototyping PCB Board
- 3D printer
- Ultimaker Cura with the Mesh Tools plugin
- ~6-8 meters of transparent PLA filament
3D Printing
- Step 1-1: Download and Install Ultimaker Cura
- Step 1-2: Register an Ultimaker Cura Account
- Step 1-3: Install the Mesh Tools plugin
- Step 1-4: Import the "heart_gem_pt_1_3.obj" file
- Step 1-5: Rotate the model to sit flat
- Step 1-6: Scale the model to 1050% on all axes
- Step 1-7: Go to Extensions > Mesh Tools > Fix model normals
- Step 1-8: Set the print settings to normal
- Step 1-9: Press slice
- Step 1-10: Copy the print file to a usb or sd-card and print the model
- Step 1-11: Repeat step 1-5 to step 1-10 for the "heart_gem_pt_2_3.obj" and "heart_gem_pt_3_3.obj" files.
Assembling the Components
- Step 2-1: Solder the components according to the provided diagram.
- Step 2-2: Upload the glowing_heart_source_code.ino file to the Arduino Nano
Downloads
The Result
Step 3-1: Glue the "heart_gem_pt_1_3.obj" and "heart_gem_pt_2_3.obj" parts together
Step 3-2: Encase the pcb and battery