Giant Spinning Holographic Christmas Tree Display

What better way to celebrate the holidays than with a giant spinning extremely dangerous metal frame that can draw a Christmas tree out of thin air? I'm going to say it right now, you shouldn't build this. What you should do is watch the video.

• 1 × 1/2HP AC Motor with 1/2" Diameter 6" Shaft
• 2 × SK9888 LED Strip - https://www.adafruit.com/product/2241
• 1 × Raspberry Pi 4 - https://www.adafruit.com/product/4296
• 1 × 12V 10A Power Supply
• 1 × 5V Step down regulator - https://www.pololu.com/product/2881
• 1 × A Ton of 40mm Aluminum Extrusions
• 2 × 8ft 3/4 Aluminum U-Channel
• 1/2-20 Bolts
• 1 × Mounted Bearing for 1/2" Shaft
• 1 × Aluminum Plate 1/4"
• Lots of various metal pieces
• 6 wire electrical slip ring
• Hall effect sensor

I don't think I need to explain this, but step 1 is question yourself if you're ready to build something like this. Its a very dangerous centrifuge(as all are) and could seriously injure you or someone else.

Take the 40mm Aluminum extrusion and put together a frame that will support your motor and spinning tree. Rigidity is your friend here. But you probably shouldn't be building this.

You need to decide the dimensions you're going to use. I ended up with a tree around 4ft tall, and 32" wide. I then painted it black so it would "hide" more when spinning. Again, don't build this.

You need mount the motor, install the slip ring, then mount the "Tree". Everything needs to be very well aligned or it won't spin. Build a mounting plate that fits your specific motor, then build a mounting plate for the bearing. Also don't build this.

There is a great tutorial on Adafruit for the electronics for a light painter. This is basically a really dangerous spinning light painter so you can copy that circuit. Found here: https://learn.adafruit.com/dotstar-pi-painter

You can build the light painter, just don't build this.

The LED strip needs to be attached to the slip ring so that you can give it power and data through the spinning shaft. Its where all the magic happens.

You also need to connect the hall sensor and mount a magnet to detect the position of the spinning tree

If everything is connected right, you should be able to power it on and test the LED strip at this point.

In your favourite video software make some animations and export them as a JPEG sequence into their own folder. Each folder will be an animation.

Again follow the Adafruit tutorial on building a light painter, then the code I modified that can be found on my GitHub. https://github.com/IdleHandsProject/pov_christmas_tree

Look at your magical digital Christmas tree! or just look at mine, because you shouldn't build this.

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