Brothers Noe and Pedro Ruiz at Adafruit has got you covered this Halloween with a 3D printed NeoPixel LED Gas Mask. Inspired a bit by Star Wars, Fallout, and Guardians of the Galaxy, this sweet, flashing gas mask is perfect to accompany your 3D printed Star Lord Element Guns.
As with all of their projects, you’ll need a handful of electronics and other parts that you can purchase from the DIY site: “1 16x NeoPixel Ring, 1 24x NeoPixel Ring, 1 Laser Diode – 5mW, 1 GEMMA, 1 Costume Goggles, 1 500mAh Lithium Polymer Battery, 1 Slide switch, 1 2.5 meter EL Wire (Any color), 1 EL Wire Inverter.” You’ll also need a 3D printer with a build volume of at least 180mm x 150mm x 150mm (7.1″ x 6″ x 6″). Noe warns that the 16 parts for the gas mask require about 14 hours total in 3D printing time, though they won’t require any support structures. Optimized for FDM/FFF 3D printing, it’s recommended that the parts be printed at tight tolerances to be snapped together upon completion.
Noe uses a GEMMA mic-controller to run the NeoPixel rings and laser diode, powered by a lithium polymer battery. The GEMMA is programmed and configured via Adafruit’s flavor of the Arduino IDE and they’ve been nice enough to provide an Arduino sketch along with the project to give the NeoPixel rings their colors. After programming it, you’ve got the task of assembling everything, including soldering wires from the NeoPixel rings and the laser diode onto the GEMMA.
Without going into the step-by-step details, which can be found at the Adafruit Learning System, know that you’ll need some gluing and soldering skills. In the end, you’ll be left with a super sci-fi mask that will convince all of your friends that you’re from the future.
If you do happen to pursue this project (or any other for that matter), let us know! For a brief overview, of the project, watch the Ruiz Bros. video below. Dystopian Halloween, everyone!
