Luna Moth | Comp Craft Final
Moths are what is known as positively phototactic, meaning that they automatically move towards light. Although there is no definitive biological answer as to why this is, there are some who suggest that moths use the moon as a primary reference point and use it to calibrate their own flight paths. When we observe moths obsessing over lamps or artificial lights, they might in fact be confusing it with the light of the moon.
The concept behind this final project was to create a lamp fashioned loosely after the moon, and an accompanying moth whose wings could be controlled with memory alloys.
The moth I decided to design is inspired by an endangered moth species called Luna Moth, (also known as the giant silkworm moth or American moon moth).
Materials
- 12 sheets of 10cm squares, different colored card stock (I used old filing folders)
- 1 sheet of tracing paper (light diffuser)
- Texturized paper (for button and lead)
- Paper of choice to draw moth on
- Conductive Tape (for butterfly)
- Conductive Thread (for butterfly)
- Conductive Fabric (for button)
- Foam (for button)
- Some sort of fabric (to cover button)
- Needle and thread (to sow button together)
- 100 ohm resistor
- Alloy Coil (One per moth if making more than one)
- Small Crimp Beads
- Hot glue
- Soldering Iron & Solder
- Something for the base of the lamp (I used scrap wood)
- A wooden dowel (length depends on preference, the one I used is 14")
The Lamp
I. Cut wooden dowel to preferred length (this will be the height of lamp body)
II. Drill hole into the middle of the base (hole width dependent on wooden dowel width)
*I personally used wood for both the base and body of the lamp, but the design isn’t limited to this material
III. Paint base whichever color you like. (I painted mine green and left the body bare as I liked the contrast between the green and the wooden color).
IV. Before inserting the dowel into the base, apply some hot glue to the hole in the base in order to secure the structure.
V. For the lamp shade I followed an origami tutorial for a design called “Jump” by Hans-Werner Guth. Below is a quick overview of what my process looked like, but for more detailed instructions you can watch the tutorial online.
VI. Cut strips of tracing paper big enough to cover each opening from the inside to act as light diffusers. Leave one opening without covering. This will be the base of the moon, and also the entry way for your battery/LEDs.
VII. Finally assemble LEDs with a battery in a way you can fit them through the opening. I used a coin battery holder and some conductive tape. (Although not part of this project, for future iterations I would like the lamp circuit to be connected to the moth circuit so that when you turn the light on, the memory alloy coil is simultaneously activated.)
The Moth
I. Draw and cut out your moth.
II. Using some conductive fabric, cloth, and foam, create a soft button. This will serve to close the memory alloy circuit once we have created it. Make holes in the foam and after inserting it between your two pieces of cloth/conductive fabric make sure to sow it together.
III. Using hot glue, secure a resistor about a third of the way up the lamp’s body, or wooden dowel. We will use the placement of the resistor to figure out the moth’s placement accordingly.
IV. From the resistor’s bottom lead, use conductive tape to line the remaining bottom of the wooden dowel. Make sure when you reach the base of the lamp, you continue to run conductive tape all the way to the edge (this will be the lead where we connect the battery’s positive end). Solder the resistor’s bottom leg to the conductive tape to secure the connection.
V. Make two holes, one on each side of the moth’s *torso* to feed the alloy coil through. Using some crimp beads, secure the coil on the front side of the moth (the one facing the wood dowel).
VI. Solder one short piece of conductive thread to the front of the moth’s left wing, and one long thread to the front of the moth’s right wing. (You can’t see the solder job in the picture above as, once again, it is facing the wood dowel).
VII. Take the short piece of thread and solder it to the resistor we have already secured to the lamp.
VIII. Take the button we constructed earlier, and hot glue it to the base of the lamp, parallel to the conductive tape running to the edge, and right next to the wooden dowel.
IX. Grab the long piece of thread connected to the moth’s right wing, and solder it to one end of the button. The other end of the button will be the battery’s ground lead.
X. Finally, use some textured paper (or any kind you like as long as it’s firm), cut two small circles of about an inch diameter each. Hot glue one to the top of the button. Take the second, and line the bottom with conductive tape, and make sure when you glue it down on the base of the lamp, its conductive tape is making contact with the earlier path you made to the edge.
