{"id":987,"date":"2021-09-10T17:43:40","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T21:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/?p=987"},"modified":"2026-03-18T20:59:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:59:23","slug":"flying-sea-turtle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/?p=987","title":{"rendered":"Flying Sea Turtle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Background<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A birthday present I made for someone. &#x1f973;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ingredients<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Custom firmware containing the FastLED library, compiled using the Arduino platform: <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/ufanders\/flyingSeaTurtle\">https:\/\/github.com\/ufanders\/flyingSeaTurtle<\/a><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Automaton model made by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thingiverse.com\/amaochan\">amaochan<\/a> on Thingiverse: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thingiverse.com\/thing:3758189\">Flying Sea Turtle<\/a><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Base model edits, made in Autodesk Fusion 360:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Top shell: <a href=\"https:\/\/a360.co\/3A2HDjT\">https:\/\/a360.co\/3A2HDjT<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Top shell 2D drawing: <a href=\"https:\/\/a360.co\/3zcC0OZ\">https:\/\/a360.co\/3zcC0OZ<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Base with cutouts for Arduino PCB, wiring, and text: <a href=\"https:\/\/a360.co\/3k1kIzW\">https:\/\/a360.co\/3k1kIzW<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Base without the above features but converted from a mesh body and patched: <a href=\"https:\/\/a360.co\/3A6y3fN\">https:\/\/a360.co\/3A6y3fN<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arduino PCB, converted from very complex mesh body and simplified: <a href=\"https:\/\/a360.co\/38Vg9Rp\">https:\/\/a360.co\/38Vg9Rp<\/a><br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>WS2812B LED strip, IP-30 (non-waterproof): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/BTF-LIGHTING-Flexible-Individually-Addressable-Non-waterproof\/dp\/B01CDTEG1O\">https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/BTF-LIGHTING-Flexible-Individually-Addressable-Non-waterproof\/dp\/B01CDTEG1O<\/a><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reed switch: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B07RS2M9TR\">https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B07RS2M9TR<\/a><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Magnet: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B01M0XJD3O\">https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B01M0XJD3O<\/a><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I used special 26AWG stranded wire to connect the shell to the base, but this would probably work: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/CBAZYTM-Stranded-Gauge-Colors-Electrical\/dp\/B073QJZ3PD\">https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/CBAZYTM-Stranded-Gauge-Colors-Electrical\/dp\/B073QJZ3PD<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/shell_top.pdf\">Turtle shell model drawing (PDF)<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/shell_top.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download>Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Screen-Shot-2020-10-18-at-7.30.36-PM.png\">Turtle shell LED compartment drawing (PNG)<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Screen-Shot-2020-10-18-at-7.30.36-PM.png\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download>Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Assembly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Print the parts. Print the segmented turtle shell in a translucent material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cut the LEDs into individual 1-LED segments, remove the adhesive backing  of each segment and apply the LED segments to the top surface of the turtle&#8217;s back, per the 2D compartment drawing above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using 30AWG wire, connect the LED segments electrically, taking care to follow DIN-&gt;DOUT. You will need to snip little holes in the vertical shell walls to let the wires go between LED segments. Hot-glue any gaps between the top shell and the turtle&#8217;s back to make the edges look nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reed switch simply pulls a GPIO to ground, so wire according to the Arduino sketch. Stuff the Reed switch\/wire loop into the hole coming up through the base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Generally just follow the pictures for wiring and component placement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gallery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/photos.app.goo.gl\/EJsaDoVtbJRiyh3e6\">https:\/\/photos.app.goo.gl\/EJsaDoVtbJRiyh3e6<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Background A birthday present I made for someone. &#x1f973; Ingredients [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[54,56,42,6,55,44],"class_list":["post-987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-projects","tag-3d-printing","tag-automaton","tag-fastled","tag-led","tag-sea-turtle","tag-ws2812b"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=987"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1293,"href":"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987\/revisions\/1293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andersknelson.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}