Your infinite glove just needs a little more to snap your fingers.
Original author: jiripraus
Translated by: Arduino_xy
www.dfrobot.com.cn
Ever-Blooming Tulip
A mechanical tulip sculpture that blooms with a gentle touch and emits colorful lights.
Complete Video:
Hardware Materials
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1 * Arduino Nano R3
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1 * SG90 Servo
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1 * TTP223 Touch Module
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1 * 1mm Brass Wire
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1 * 2mm Brass Tube
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1 * 0.3mm Insulated Copper Wire
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7 * WS2812 5050 LED Lights
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30 * White Surface Mount 1206 LEDs
The Story
An eternal flower, an eternal love. A perfect gift not just for Valentine’s Day to give to your loved ones. This tulip blooms in any color with just a gentle touch. Its six petals slowly open and light up. When the petals close, they create incredible ambient light and leaf patterns.
How to Achieve
Before I tell you how to create this beauty, let’s briefly talk about how it works. The tulip consists of six petals, each with five surface mount white LEDs. Each petal is connected to an Arduino output pin. The center hides seven RGB LEDs. From an electrical perspective, the entire flower is negative voltage, and the veins in the petals are positive voltage. The petals open via a push rod that extends all the way down the stem to the base. The push rod is controlled by the motion of a small servo. The small leaves on the side of the valve rod connect to the TTP223 touch sensor inside the base and create a capacitive touch pad. The wooden base contains the servo, touch IC, and Arduino Nano. Let’s build one ourselves!
I haven’t told you the dimensions of the materials or the exact shape of the flower. I believe each flower should be unique.
Making the Petals (4 hours)
Let’s start with the most satisfying part – the blooming petals.
The first thing you need is a blooming template. I made a plaster cast into a tube mold. After drying, I shaped it into a tulip flower. You can also 3D print it, but I don’t have a 3D printer. Plaster is great because it’s easy to work with, and you can draw on it with a pencil. Each petal is 1/4 of the template surface, so when they have 6, they will slightly overlap to form the precise appearance of the tulip flower. I drew the shape of the petal on the plaster surface with a pencil. When I was satisfied with the shape of the petal, I carved it into the plaster with a knife to help me secure the rod in place during soldering.
The petals are made from 1mm brass rods, wrapped around the shape. Inside the petals are 5 1206 white LEDs and a ‘vein’ structure from the same wire. First, create the circumferential wire and take your time bending it. Cut a small piece of tube and place it at the flat part of the wire – this will be the hinge where the petals will move. Solder the ends of the wire together, ensuring not to fill the tube with solder. It needs to move freely. Complete the petals with LEDs and the vein structure. Watch me make a petal. I feel ashamed, this is the only shot I have of making this flower.
Now make 5 more. All petals need to be exactly the same. This is really important. Otherwise, they won’t form a beautiful tulip shape when closed and may even get stuck.
Making the Blooming (1 hour)
It’s time to solder all the petals together. The base of the flower is hexagonal – 6 petals. The petals are fixed to the hexagon via hinges. However, the hexagon is slightly irregular. I failed many times. The petals need to overlap each other, and if the hexagon is regular, it won’t allow that. Three petals are close to the center (inner petals), and the other three petals are slightly offset (outer petals). To do this, I created a template and printed it on paper. The red shape is the final irregular hexagon made of two nested regular hexagons. Solder all the hinges (tubes) to the hexagon.
The light coming out from the center of the template will help you solder the petals in the right position. The center of the petals needs to follow the rays coming out from the center of the hexagon. Finally, when you close the petals, you will have the final flower shape.
Making the Valve Rod and Push Rod (1 hour)
First, I completed the internal mechanism of the blooming, then added a rod and push rod. This added a lot of pain to the making. At one point, I almost wanted to throw it away and never look back. The movement of the petals is produced by a 1mm brass push rod moving freely inside a brass tube. The petals are connected to the push rod via a very small hexagon, with a hinge on each side of 2mm – the push rod head. The hexagon sits vertically on the push rod with a small rod passing through the center of the hexagon. This is the work of a watchmaker.
To make the push rod head, I made a second template. First, bend the wire to form a tiny hexagon. Then cut a small tube of 2mm long and place it on the wire. Solder the wire to complete the hexagonal shape. Again, ensure not to solder the tube to the wire. Continue soldering the wire to the center of the hexagon. And complete the rod by soldering a 1mm wire perpendicular to the center of the push rod head.
Cut the brass tube to the required length. And now comes the second crucial part. The stem needs to be perfectly vertical to the hexagonal base of the flower, needs to be at its exact center, and needs to have enough space for the push rod head to move downwards to close the petals. First, I soldered two wires to one end of the valve rod to form a V-shaped expansion. These will be 2 of the 6 wires connecting the rod to the vertices of the hexagonal base.
So flip the flower upside down and solder the V-shaped expansion to two opposite vertices of the hexagonal base. Check the shape. If you place the rod inside the rod, it needs to come out at the center of the flower. Take your time here to perfect it. This is really a crucial part. When you use it, solder 4 wires between the rest of the hexagonal top and the top of the rod. Ensure not to solder the hole inside the tube!
The Petal Mechanism (6 hours)
I almost threw it in the trash. You have to nail it! For this part, I was inspired by steam engines and their rods, pistons, and flywheels.
Fix the flower in an upright position with the stem. Pass the push rod through the valve rod, head up. Solder a short tube perpendicular to the bottom end of the push rod and make a small link with 1mm brass wire to connect the servo and the push rod (see above). It should be able to push the push rod up and down using the servo. Connect your Arduino and give it a try. Before you start soldering the link between the petals and the push rod head, you need to adjust the servo mechanism using Arduino. Write code so that the push rod can move up and down to align with the very top position of the blooming hexagonal base. In the lowest position, it is at the bottom of the blooming V-shaped base. To make the push rod movement as soft as possible, use the hole closest to the center of the servo arm. The servo needs to rotate longer but with a shorter step. As the push rod moves up, it pushes the link and petals down. As it moves down, it closes the link and petals.
The petals are currently missing a key component – the petal pin. This hinge allows the petals to move. The hinge sits on a rod (see below), which is soldered to each petal parallel to its base. The petal pin needs to be above the surface of the petals so that it can be seen fully opening in the animation. Make such a rod with a tube hinge and solder it to the first petal. This will require a lot of trial and error to find the right size of the rod and its distance from the base of the petal to allow the push rod to fully open and close the petals. Use trial and error. Solder the rod in the right position and add a link between the push rod pin and the petal pin. If your push rod is at the top position and your petal is fully open, the space between the push rod pin and the petal pin is the length of the link.
Now try pushing the push rod up and down to see what happens. If it works smoothly without any friction, the petals can close and open you’ve completed (with the first petal)! If not, try different lengths of the link or different positions for the rod. To complete the blooming, replicate the same bars and links on the remaining 5 petals. When the flower blooms, the 3 outer petals need to be slightly lower to allow them to properly overlap the inner petals when closed. Finally, you should be able to close and open the flower. Don’t panic if you don’t have the perfect shape on the first try. It just means that all the petals are not exactly the same. It may require a lot of fine-tuning to create the perfect shape – the length of the link and the position of the rod may vary slightly.
The Stamen (1 hour)
Inside the blooming flower, I placed 7 LEDs to glow from within. These LEDs only need one DATA line to control and can be daisy-chained. I soldered 6 of them between two small hexagons (of course, another template). The lower hexagon is the ground, and the upper part is positive voltage. Solder the appropriate NeoPixels leads to these hexagons. These LEDs are placed at a 45-degree angle, shining to the sides. To make it better, place the seventh LED in the center of the upper hexagon. Last but not least, connect DATAIN and OUT to create the daisy chain.
This structure requires two wires to reach the base – VCC and DATA. The ground is taken from the flower stand. Solder one 0.3 insulated copper wire to the upper ring for VCC, and the second wire to the first LED in the daisy chain for DATA. These wires will reach the base in the end. Make them at least 3 times the length of the stem. Before soldering, the ends of these wires need to be released from their transparent insulation. The heat won’t damage it. Use a knife to remove the insulation. You can now test the LEDs to ensure they work properly. Be gentle with these copper wires. If you accidentally strip the insulation elsewhere, a short circuit may occur!
Place the stamen structure in the center of the flower. Slightly offset from the hexagonal base of the flower to leave enough space for the petal links. For me, it is 1 cm higher than the blooming hexagon. Connect all the vertices with brass rods to form a sturdy structure. The flower is complete! Now test to see if the petals can still move freely.
Rooting (2 hours)
The petals and LEDs need power lines to light up. The entire floral sculpture will be a ground, but the RGB LEDs have 6 petals and 2 wires that need to connect to the Arduino at the base. For this, a 0.3mm thin copper wire with transparent insulation will be wound around the tube stem. The two wires for the LEDs are already complete. Solder another 6 to the loose vein wires on each petal near the hinge and run the wires through the blooming structure under the stem. Ensure not to bend these wires at sharp angles, as they can easily break.
Now collect all the wires near the top end of the valve rod and use zip ties to secure them. Don’t over-tighten, let the wires pass through it. Now organize all the wires inside the blooming well. Ensure the petals can move freely, and the push rod does not collide with the wires. Are you done? Now tighten the zip ties.
The wires are now uncontrollably winding around the valve rod. You need to patiently wrap them slowly around the stem. Tightly and evenly. I spent at least an hour on this step. When you reach the end of the rod, place another zip tie to secure the wires there and use transparent strong glue to fix them in place. Ensure not to seal the tube with the push rod!
The last missing wire is a ground wire. Solder another copper wire to the bottom end of the valve rod. You should end up with 9 wires coming out of the flower. Now it’s wise to connect all the wires to the Arduino and test for any short circuits and that all LEDs light up.
Making the Flower Pot (2 hours)
I want this flower to grow out of a flower pot that will also hide all the electronics. I used a piece of wood to process it into a cylinder with a height of 4 cm and a diameter of 9 cm. I don’t have a lathe, so I used a circular saw to cut the original shape, then used a pressure drill as a temporary lathe. Then I carved a 2.5 cm deep and 7 cm diameter opening to fit the servo, Arduino Nano, and touch sensor IC. At the bottom, there is also a small opening to accurately install the Arduino Nano USB port to be able to connect the USB cable from the side.
If you have a flower pot, drill a hole with a diameter of the flower stem – possibly at the center. Try to fit your flower. Be careful with the wires. If you bend them at sharp angles, they will break. Finally, I also added a large hole from the inside of the base to give more space for the servo arm and link.
Touch Leaf Pad (1 hour)
The mechanical tulip needs some interactive element that allows it to bloom. I chose the TTP223 touch sensor. But where to place a touch pad? I decided to add a little leaf on the side of the stem, which makes the flower look more natural and also serves as a capacitive touch pad. Touching it will trigger the TTP223 sensor and tell the Arduino to open the flower. When you finish such a complex sculpture, this will be a piece of cake for you. Use the same technique as with the petals to omit the LEDs. I also created a template for myself. Drill a small hole in the base next to the rod hole to fix the leaf there.
If you don’t want to or can’t use a capacitive touch sensor, you can add a regular button on the base. It will do the same job.
Putting It Together (2 hours)
This is the last step of assembly! Are you nervous? Insert the flower stem back into the hole in the base. Now, this is an important step. Measure twice before cutting! Open the blooming flower. And cut the end of the push rod coming out from the valve rod flush with the valve rod. Now, when you close the flower again, the push rod should pull out of the stem. Solder a short tube perpendicular to the push rod. This will be the hinge for the link and the servo arm. When you release the flower and the rod, it should fully open because the tube will also act as a stop.
You can now glue the rod to the base. Ensure the end of the valve rod is flush with the inside of the base to leave as much space as possible for the servo arm. I used strong glue again. Ensure not to glue the push rod to the valve rod. This will ruin your work!
Next, glue on the leaf pad. Be able to connect the leaf pad to the TTP223 touch sensor before you solder the copper wires to it.
Turn the flower upside down. Be careful around the sculpture, don’t break it now! What a waste that would be! First, place the servo in its final position. Its arm should already be prepared from the test bench. Just find the best position to connect the link to the push rod where the servo arm can move freely inside the base. To secure the servo system in place, I used a metal plate and two screws. I want to keep flexibility in case of servo failure or misplacement. But if you are confident, you can glue it down.
If you have the TTP223 module, solder the wires to the original TTP223 module touch pad (the other side where the components are located) on the leaf pad. You need to scrape the protective silk mask to expose the copper layer. Stick the touch module.
The last component entering the base is the Arduino Nano itself as the brain of the tulip. Place it in the opening of the base so it can connect to the computer and all other components:
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Servo Data Wire – D9
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TTP223 Touch Sensor Data – D2 (using interrupt)
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NeoPixel Data – A0 (any output pin can work)
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Petals – D3, D4, D5, D6, D10, D11 (any output pin can work)
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Flower Ground – GND
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VCC Wire – 5V
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TTP223 Touch Sensor GND – GND
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TTP223 Touch Sensor VCC – 5V
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Servo GND – GND
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Servo VCC – 5V
Coding (1 hour)
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