Cube Lamp Shines with LED Light
50mm Cube lamp lights up with capacitive touch sensing, produces subtle LED lighting effects.
As seen in the video below, Andrew Drane’s cube light is triggered by a simple touch and shines with a nice dynamic glow. The build—which was itself the byproduct of a pixel clock project—went through several iterations, including versions that used a potentiometer, vibration sensor, and rotary encoder for user interface. He eventually settled on a capacitive touch sensor for activation.
Everything is controlled via the versatile ATtiny85 chip, and an array of RGBWW (warm white) SK6812 LEDs are arranged as light sources the bottom of the cube on a small PCB. A USB cable provides power for the cube, and it’s been functioning in its current setup for the past eight months.
The cube measures in at 50mm, or just under two inches, and is made out of frosted opal acrylic sheet to provide both the structure and light diffusion. The build is attached together with epoxy, including a 200mm perimeter square of .31mm enameled copper wire attached to the inside top of the cube. This wire arrangement passes capacitive readings the MTCH101 capacitive sensor.
It’s a great use of an ATtiny85 to fit everything into a compact space, and details are available on the project write-up if you'd like to create one yourself.