Folding Lamp Becomes A Tasty Reverb Tank

November 3, 2025 by Lewin Day 6 Comments

If you’re a musician and you want a reverb effect, there are lots of ways to go about it. You can use software plugins, all kinds of rack-mount effects, or pedals. Or, as [David] has done, you could go with a lamp.

[David’s] build is straightforward enough in concept—he just chose a relatively unconventional item to use as a reverb tank. The lamp might seem like an odd choice, but it actually does a decent job at resonating because of its metal construction and the multiple springs that tension the structure. [David] turns the lamp into a reverb by fitting it with a Vidsonix Ghost audio transducer to put sound into the structure—picture the magnetic driver of a loudspeaker without the cone fitted, and you get the idea. Piezo elements were then used as contact mics to pick up reverberations from the lamp itself. Everything was assembled with a bunch of lab stands that give the build a rather nice aesthetic. The reverb time isn’t particularly long, but the sound is hauntingly beautiful.

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Building A Minecraft Lantern For Halloween

October 21, 2025 by Lewin Day 5 Comments

Sometimes it’s fun to bring props from video games into the real world. [Hulk] has done just that with their latest Halloween build—creating a working replica of the lantern from Minecraft.

Key to the build is the 3D printed enclosure, which faithfully mimics the look of the in-game item. By virtue of Minecraft’s simplistic visual style, it’s a relatively straightforward print, without a lot of quirky geometry or difficult overhangs that might otherwise trip up your printer. It’s printed in six parts and assembled with acrylic lenses which act to diffuse the light coming from inside.

Electronically, an Arduino Nano runs the show. It’s hooked up to a pair of NeoPixel addressable LED rings, which provide rich RGB colors on demand. Rotary pots are installed on the enclosure to enable the color to be tuned to the user’s desire. Power is courtesy of an 18650 lithium-ion cell and a TP4056 module ensures the battery is kept happy when charging.

It’s a fun prop build, and one that would be the perfect addition to any Minecraft costume. Except for maybe a chicken jockey, because they don’t use lanterns. In any case, we’ve seen similar work before, too.

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DIY Book Lamp Is A Different Take On The Illuminated Manuscript

July 1, 2025 by Navarre Bartz No comments

People have been coming up with clever ways to bring light to the darkness since we lived in caves, so it’s no surprise we still love finding interesting ways to illuminate our world. [Michael] designed a simple, but beautiful, book lamp that’s easy to assemble yourself.

This build really outshines its origins as an assembly of conductive tape, paper, resistors, LEDs, button cells, and a binder clip. With a printable template for the circuit, this project seems perfect for a makerspace workshop or school science project kids could take home with them. [Michael] walks us through assembling the project in a quick video and even has additional information available for working with conductive tape which makes it super approachable for the beginner.

The slider switch is particularly interesting as it allows you to only turn on the light when the book is open using just conductive tape and paper. We can think of a few other ways you could control this, but they quickly start increasing the part count which makes this particularly elegant. By changing the paper used for the shade or the cover material for the book, you can put a fun spin on the project to match any aesthetic.

If you want to build something a little more complex to light your world, how about a 3D printed Shoji lamp, a color-accurate therapy lamp, or a lamp that can tell you to get back to work.

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Broken USB Lamp Saved With A Bit Of Woodworking

January 1, 2025 by Tom Nardi 1 Comment

For many of us, when we think of creating a custom enclosure, our minds immediately go towards our 3D printer. A bit of time in your CAD program of choice, and in an hour (or several), you’ve got a bespoke plastic box. A hacker’s dream come true.

But extruded plastic is hardly perfect. For one thing, you might want a finished piece that looks a little more attractive on your desk. Which is why we appreciate this quick hack from [Tilma]. When faced with a broken LED light and minimal equipment, he decided to transplant the repaired electronics into a scratch-built wooden frame that not only looks better than the original, but is more functional.

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Proper Mag Lev Controller Makes Snail Lamp Much Cooler

August 28, 2024 by Lewin Day 5 Comments

Magnetic levitation has not quite revolutionized the world of transit the way some of us might have hoped. It has, however, proven useful to [mrdiytechmagic], who has put the technology to grand use in making his levitating snail lamp.

The build is actually relatively complicated compared to some levitating toys you might have seen before. It uses a number of coils to produce a magnetic field to levitate the 3D printed plastic snail which contains the lighting element itself.

The actively controlled levitation base uses a magnetic sensor to detect the changing field as the snail moves above it. It then varies the current going to the various coils to keep the snail balanced and in place. Power is transmitted with a further larger coil, much as in a wireless phone charger. This is picked up by a circuit in the snail, and used to power the LEDs inside.

It might not have been our first choice, but having seen it in action, we can’t deny a levitating 3D printed snail is pretty impressive. If you’d prefer something slightly more befitting such a high-tech looking presentation, perhaps a hovering SpaceX Starship would be more your speed.

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Build Your Own RGB Fill Light For Photography

April 19, 2024 by Lewin Day 12 Comments

Photography is all about light, and capturing it for posterity. As any experienced photographer will tell you, getting the right lighting is key to getting a good shot. To help in that regard, you might like to have a fill light. If you follow [tobychui]’s example, you can build your own!

The build relies on addressable WS2812B LEDs as the core of the design. While they’re not necessarily the fanciest LEDs for balanced light output, they are RGB LEDs, so they can put out a ton of different colors for different stylistic effects. The LEDs are under the command of a Wemos D1, which provides a WiFI connection for wireless control of the light.

[tobychui] did a nice job of building a PCB for the project, including heatsinking to keep the array of 49 LEDs nice and cool. The whole assembly is all put together inside a 3D printed housing to keep it neat and tidy. Control is either via onboard buttons or over the WiFi connection.

Files are on GitHub if you’re seeking inspiration or want to duplicate the build for yourself. We’ve seen some other similar builds before, too. Meanwhile, if you’re cooking up your own rad photography hacks, don’t hesitate to let us know!

Cheap DIY Microscope Lamp Makes Tiny Macro Shots Look Great

March 16, 2024 by Lewin Day 9 Comments

For optical microscopes, light is everything. If you don’t have a good amount of light passing through or bouncing off your sample, you’ve got nothing for your eyeballs or a camera to pick up. To aid in this regard, [Halogenek] whipped up a nifty microscope lamp with some LEDs.

The build uses a neat arch-shaped PCB with a hole in the middle for the microscope’s optics to pass through. Surrounding this are the LEDs, which provide a circle of light focused on the sample, akin to the ring lights so favored by today’s online influencers. The LEDs are powered via USB C, so the lamp can be run off of any garden-variety phone charger you might have lying around.

[Halogenek] reports that the lamp has proven useful for extreme macro shots of PCBs. It’s an easy build to replicate or redesign your own way if you’re doing similar work.

Microscopes are super useful, and there are all kinds of hacks you can do to make them perform better in your quest for science. Meanwhile, if you’ve been jazzing up your own lab hardware, let us know—we’d love to hear about it!