StarFlake Spinner - Easy, Inexpensive, Flexible

TomL8345

TomL8345

New member
I just posted instructions in the Wiki under DIY Display Construction for what I am calling the StarFlake Spinner. This is a pixel based prop that can be used as a SnowFlake, Spinner, or 2 Six-Point Stars. By setting up Sub-Models in xLights it is easy to control each function, and even come up with some more. I am still new to xLights, and I am sure an experienced sequencer could really do some neat effects with this prop, my test video is below. Take a look at the Wiki and let me know what you think!


This project was the result of a thread early this year started by bcstuff on this forum. Here is the original thread, there are a lot of great ideas contained here.
 
I'm just starting to play with controlled lights. my espPixelsticks and pixels are on the way! I'm thinking of this being in my first display planned for next christmas. How do you sequence to form the shapes across multiple strings/channels...if that makes sense....I'm a newb. Sorry! How many channels was this, if I count right it was 252 pixels....
 
Hi!

You are correct there are 252 pixels in my design, but keep in mind one of the beauties of this design is that you can customize it to fit your requirements, it can easily be made larger or smaller for your needs. I had originally designed it for a 6' diameter, but found that was too large for my space when I did my mock up.

As far as sequencing goes, that is a more complicated question. I can tell you how I do it in xLights, but I do not know how to set it up in any other software. In xLights I first did a custom model for the prop, then I set up Sub-Models for the various combinations of lights. I think I actually came up with 13 sub models that I could open in xLights and drop on effects. Some of them were Spinner, SnowFlake, Outer Star, Inner Star, and a bunch of smaller sub models to let me rotate the branches of the snowflake, or diamonds and arrows formed by the 2 stars. If you build it exactly like mine, I am willing to share my xLights files for this prop.

I have been extremely happy with the this prop. I am new to pixels this year and I am still learning how to do effects well in xLights, so everything I have for my show this year are pretty basic effects on this prop, but it still looks outstanding. Hopefully as I learn more about the possiblities of sequencing pixels, I will be able to do even more with this prop.

Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions and post some images of it in use once you have it built!
 
I ended up reducing the size of mine to 5'4" as I already had the pvc circles that I reused from my old spinners made of LED light strings.

A bonus coincidence was that it came out to be exactly 300 pixels or 3 strings of 100. I started with the big star 84 pixels and went up and down each spoke arm 15 pixels each and then the little star 36 pixels. I only had to make 6 cut points to extend between pixels that run between arms and star.

I ran out of time so I used Vixen to create the model. Created a new preview that was blank, used a spinner model first and the added in 2 star models. Created a custom model with it and then went back to my real display preview and pasted it in there.

Spinner StarFlake.jpg
 
Great work !
using exactly 300 pixels is pretty cool too.
bcstuff said:
I ended up reducing the size of mine to 5'4" as I already had the pvc circles that I reused from my old spinners made of LED light strings.

A bonus coincidence was that it came out to be exactly 300 pixels or 3 strings of 100. I started with the big star 84 pixels and went up and down each spoke arm 15 pixels each and then the little star 36 pixels. I only had to make 6 cut points to extend between pixels that run between arms and star.

I ran out of time so I used Vixen to create the model. Created a new preview that was blank, used a spinner model first and the added in 2 star models. Created a custom model with it and then went back to my real display preview and pasted it in there.

View attachment 38703
Click to expand...
 
I have added your example to the wiki.
Good to see more than one persons work on a prop.
bcstuff said:
I ended up reducing the size of mine to 5'4" as I already had the pvc circles that I reused from my old spinners made of LED light strings.

A bonus coincidence was that it came out to be exactly 300 pixels or 3 strings of 100. I started with the big star 84 pixels and went up and down each spoke arm 15 pixels each and then the little star 36 pixels. I only had to make 6 cut points to extend between pixels that run between arms and star.

I ran out of time so I used Vixen to create the model. Created a new preview that was blank, used a spinner model first and the added in 2 star models. Created a custom model with it and then went back to my real display preview and pasted it in there.

View attachment 38703
Click to expand...
 
This is great, I think I want to try building one. A question though: Is the grey PVC pipe flexible? How did you get it into the circular shape needed?
 
Yes, the grey 1/2" PVC conduit is somewhat flexible. It is certainly flexible enough to form the size circle I used. There was a great Build Video from the 2020 Virtual Christmas Summit that has some great techniques for tightening the "Rays" and some other tips that are not in my Wiki instructions. I would recommend watching the video as well!

If you build it exactly like my instructions, I am happy to share my wiring and sub-models for XLights. Just let me know.
 
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