Star Trek: TNG Warp Core for Your Apartment

Engineer Chris “K-money” Koolmees, apparently unsatisfied with simply watching Star Trek reruns, decided to create his own “little” piece…

Jeremy Cook
7 years ago

Engineer Chris “K-money” Koolmees, apparently unsatisfied with simply watching Star Trek reruns, decided to create his own “little” piece of the show: a nearly life-size replica of the warp core that powers the Enterprise.

The physical build was handled mostly by Chris’ father, who constructed the center of the core out of rings of MDF plywood, joining them together will a filler paint to make it look like one unit. Light rings were vacuum-formed, and a series of NeoPixel RGB LED strips inside allow each to illuminate individually.

A Raspberry Pi and Arduino Mega are used in tandem to control this warp core. The Pi runs a Python script which loops through the lighting/sound cycle. It plays a certain sound, then sends the Arduino an ASCII character via USB serial to signify the speed or color change, which performs this light cycle to loop through the six-ring setup.

The results are normally something straight out of Star Trek, though it can be set up for different themes like “Patriotic,” or “Christmas,” and more effects could be implemented in the future.

The project, which now takes up room in Chris’ apartment isn’t just for looks though, it houses a home server and NAS (network-attached storage) in the center of the frame. Though this device took a full year to implement — a far cry from the three days that was initially imagined — it’s an amazing build that certainly has neighbors wondering what is actually going on inside his unit!

[h/t: CNET]

Jeremy Cook
Engineer, maker of random contraptions, love learning about tech. Write for various publications, including Hackster!
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