Hey! I’m Jack
Yes you read the title right, I want to turn my 3D printer into a lightsaber.
Although I don’t want to mislead you, so to clarify no I am not breaking down my printer and using it to make a hilt. Though that might be cool.
Maybe a good way of simplifying this idea would be to say “hey I want the neopixel lighting in my room to act like a lightsaber, how can I do this?”
What I am trying to figure out, is a way to integrate the ProffieOS or the fonts/styles used with it into a pre-existing module that allows the firmware of the printer to set off reactive NeoPixel lighting.
Although I would love to add more feature beyond that like maybe just random droid or starship noises that occur say maybe every 10% completion of the print or something.
The idea came from one of those videos like This
I checked the internet far and wide and it did not look like anyone had even talked about it before.
Upon beginning the quest that this idea set me upon I have been presented with several problems. I have gone into more detail below but first to summarize the issues.
- The Hardware
- Fonts & styles
- Firmware integration
Hardware
So for the Hardware this is where I honestly have know idea what to do. I thought right away why not just use a Proffie board however, I soon realized there was little I could do to integrate it with the other systems other than just power on and off. I thought maybe using and Arduino board could work but not even sure if ProffieOS would run on one of those. Then on the other end if I use a Proffie board is there a way I can have it controlled by a raspberry pi?
Essentially I need a way to emulate a lightsaber and its styles/fonts with the motion being replaced by system commands. Maybe there is someway to emulate an accelerometer to react to the commands and output them as movement to the board?
Fonts and Styles
For the fonts and styles, I realize I will need to assign a config for what lighting should happen when the system tells it too. I have actually spoken to an style and font artist or two about maybe commissioning a few fonts that could be used for this project exactly! But the issue is how I could convert or use the profiles so instead of interpreting movement into styles, the program/board would be interpreting system commands into styles. One larger issue is the current firmware (next section) does not have anything to do with sound yet, so I also need figure a way to have the fonts communicate the same way I will need the styles to communicate.
Firmware intergration
So I am using a program for my printer called Klipper, essentially it is the OS for the printer. Currently a Alpha of a module exists for reactive lighting at a minimal level, you can find that here! Essentially when the printer is in different states or actions the effects on the printer change so this is really close to what I am trying to achieve. But the issue is that I have no Idea how to have the code written for Proffie talk to the code written for the module. I will do my best to write it myself but am at a bit of a loss as at this point I do not understand how the Proffie profiles work. If anyone has some documentation I could see or suggestions or even know how I could do this I would love to hear your ideas
I think this brings us back to the need for a way to emulate a lightsaber and its styles/fonts with the motion being replaced by system commands. In the end I will do everything and anything to achieve this Idea I have!
I think it could be really cool and will accept any and all help or suggestions you might have!
(side note: my brain is a bit scattered so let me know if anything doesn’t make any sense and I will do my best to clarify! )
TL;DR
Essentially I am currently working on a project where I would like to essentially work neopixel lightsaber styles and fonts into reactive neopixels on my 3D printer. Eventually turn this into an official user mod on github for all makers to love and have fun. Any help or suggestions are more than welcome.
Some more random information if you are interested.
I am using a Voron Trident (in progress) and an Ender 3 Max.
Favourite Star Wars episode either ROTS or ROTJ
Cheers!
Jack