Rotating Christmas tree

diyer

diyer

Full time elf
Joined
Jan 5, 2013
Messages
149
Location
Sunbury
One of our grandsons had gone to see a circus and turned up at our place with little hand held fan with LED’s on the blades, pretty cool... which gave me the idea of making a rotating LED tree?
With a visit to a local aluminium supplier, a few parts off of eBay and an old B&D cordless drill that I had, I assembled it and gave it a run last weekend.
I put a speed controller on the drill and tried it at a few speeds, but flat out looked to be the best (~250RPM) The slip rings are rated to a max of 500RPM.
I just added some RGB strips to the edges on one side with separate circuits for bottom mid and top, they were just running on the FUN on the controller for the test.
I’m not sure if it will make the display this year?? I really just made it to see if it would work. It’s not something you could mount at ground level, so I could put it on the garage roof maybe, I’ll see.
2016 08 27 18 37 09 - YouTube
 
Credit to you for having a go, very creative and looks good..


Would it not have been possible (and maybe easier/more reliable) to achieve a similar effect with a static tree and the appropriate effects programmed to it?
 
Very cool diyer have you considered using a 12v wiper motor from a car usually have 3 speeds plus are geared for lower rpm s
Am interested in where you purchased the slip rings would like to see some pics of if possible please
 
Roosta said:
Credit to you for having a go, very creative and looks good..


Would it not have been possible (and maybe easier/more reliable) to achieve a similar effect with a static tree and the appropriate effects programmed to it?
Click to expand...


But where would we be if we all accepted the bicycle as the "Done Deal". Great idea.
 
I'm more of a constructor than a programmer, so building things comes easy to me. As I said, it was just a spur of the moment thing and it cost very little in materials, less than $50. Just some of my time and ingenuity to get it operating.
The slip rings were these on eBay: skull_music [/color]272160697697 Black Metal 12 wires 2A AC240V Micro Collector 250RPM Capsule Slip Ring Circuit
Some pics are on YouTube Rotating Christmas tree - some construction pics - YouTube
 
Interesting take on tree lighting

Ive seen this done on large scale for signage. The only thing I have a concern with is the speed of rotation to get the effect and the dangers associated with that when scaled up. Because if a child got too close then that could be a very bad outcome
 
I like the idea. How is the persistence of vision in person? Possible to "paint" some things as it spins?
 
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