3D Print Cybernetic Eye

A little sci fi cybernetic eye prop I 3D-printed for a school project-a simple design employing a Circuit Playground Express w/ accelerometer to light up and change LED colour to green or red if the wearer nods or shakes their head. The design process is mostly digital, and does not require any wiring beyond simply connecting the CPX to the battery pack. It should be noted that the item is firstly designed to clip on to eyeglasses or some sort of similar pre-existing frame, and secondly does obstruct the vision of the wearer.

The actual eye parts were printed out via a Crealty Ender 3 utilising PLA filament. Theoretically, any kind of printer will do- but henceforth all 3D Print-related instructions will assume the usage of aforementioned printer. With that in mind, the supplies are as follows

1x 3D Printer (Crealty Ender 3 V1)

65g PLA Filament (I personally used Crealty brand, however any brand of PLA will do- Prusament comes recommended by some of my friends who are more experienced printers.)

1x Circuit Playground Express (CPX) with included battery pack and cable

Any 3D Modelling Software (I used TinkerCAD due to its sheer simplicity)

Any splicing software (I used Ultimaker Cura due to personal preference)

Clear adhesive tape

The modelling software utilised was TinkerCAD- using the default shapes in the menu. The design is composed of a a hollow cone (with steeple removed) on top of single hollow cylinder with a diameter of 55mm. The height of the cylinder is entirely up to choice, but it is recommended to keep it short for visual appeal. The three mini-eyes are shrunk and canted Nikon camera lenses, again available from the TinkerCAD default library. The eyepiece itself is a rectangle of length approx mm connected to a flattened concave half-cylinder with a length of approx mm.

The software used to code is the Adafruit CPX variant of Javascript. Provided in the image is the code, both in Javascript and in Adafruit's simplified block code system. To load the software onto the CPX, download the code, connect your CPX to your computer via the included cable, and drag the code into the CPX directory.

This bit is quite hands-off. Simply download the 3D model as an STL file, and place it in a splicing software. I personally like using Ultimaker Cura. Attached above are the print settings I used. Once settings are customised to your liking, hit "Splice", download the .gcode file which is generated and transfer it to your printer via the USB/memory card stick that comes with the Ender 3. After that, sit and wait- the whole design can take up to 13 hours to print.

Once the print is complete, drill holes into the three little mini-eyes so light can shine through from the LEDs on CPX at the base. Drill another, wider niche into the side of the cylinder to provide a space for the charging port of the CPX. The CPX should simply snap into place. Once that is complete, adhere the cylinder to the outside face of the rectangular eyepiece. Glue provides a more permanent and seamless fit, but using tape enables one to detach the cylinder and expose the CPX within for maintenance and troubleshooting. Then, utilise the clip on the battery pack to attach to the thinner concave bit of the eyepiece, with the pack facing outwards. The clip also acts as the method for attaching the entire apparatus to a pair of glasses. Plug in the battery pack to the CPX, press the on button, and voila.

Warning, this will block part of your vision because you're putting a lump of plastic over your eye. Admire your new glowy enhancement in a mirror utilising your other eye.