MP3 players, smartphones and USB sticks with 128GB and more memory are now part of everyday life. Storing and transporting music has therefore never been easier.
About 30 years ago it looked different. The "USB stick of the 80s / 90s" was the cassette.
Of course, I still have a lot of them flying around and still don't have the heart to dispose them. On the other hand, it also breaks my nerd heart that these tapes rot in some box in the basement.
That's why I was looking for a way to combine "the old" with something practical and thus get the cassettes out of your boxes.
The result is the pxlBlck_CassetteLamp. A lamp that uses semi-transparent cassettes as a lampshade and, thanks to WiFi connection, can also be used as a source of information for events in the SmartHome in addition to the lamp function.
What you need and have to do to build your own pxlBlck_CassetteLamp is described in the following article.
Safety instructions
I know the following hints are always a bit annoying and seem unnecessary. But unfortunately, many people who knew it "better" from carelessness lost their eyes, fingers or other things or hurt themselves. In comparison, a loss of data is almost not worth mentioning, but even these can be really annoying. Therefore, please take five minutes to read the safety instructions. Even the coolest project is worth no injury or other annoyance. https://www.nerdiy.de/en/sicherheitshinweise/
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The links to online stores listed here are so-called affiliate links. If you click on such an affiliate link and store via this link, Nerdiy.de receives a commission from the online store or provider concerned. The price doesn't change for you. If you do your purchases via these links, you will support Nerdiy.de in being able to offer further useful projects in the future. 🙂
Requirements
For the construction you have to master SMD soldering tasks. The following articles provide tips on how to do this.
- Electronics—My friend the soldering iron
- Electronics – Solder THT components by hand
- Electronics - Soldering SMD components by hand
Required tools:
Required material:
In the following list you will find all the parts you need to assemble.
Collect the parts you need
So that you can start building your pxlBlck_CassetteLamp, you should first find all the parts you need.

For the construction of the pxlBlck_CassetteLamp you need (among others) the following parts.
- 8x semi-transparent audio cassettes
- 1x Wemos D1 Mini 32x WS2812 or SK9612 LEDs in 120LEDs / m length
- 3x cables approx. 10cm long
- 3D printed base
- 3D printed mounting frame
- 3D printed lid (optional)
- 4x M3x10 cylinder head screws
- 8x M3 nut
- 4x M3x16 cylinder head screws

Another view of the required parts.
For this example structure I printed the base out of cork or wood filament. Of course, you can also use any other 3D printable material here.
This photo also shows the parts that you can use to control the lamp using the APDS-9960 gesture sensor. The light can be switched on and off using gestures, dimmed lighter and darker and the color can be adjusted.

As an alternative, you can also control the lamp using two rotary encoders.
So the lamp can be adjusted with a pen. This is a small "homage" to the combination of pen and cassette that used to help you roll up unwound cassette tapes. 🙂
The STL files for printing on your 3D printer can be found in the repository for the pxlBlck_RingClock under the following link.
Screw on the mounting frame
First you should start with the preparation of the mounting frame.

You will need the following parts for this.
- 4x M3x10 cylinder head screws
- 8x M3 nut
- 3D printed base
- 3D printed mounting frame
Glue on the LED strips
In the following step the LED strips are mounted on the base.

For this you need the prepared base including the mounted mounting frame and the four LED strips, each with eight WS2812 or SK9612 LEDs.

Make sure that the small arrows on the LED strip always point in the same direction, and also with the following LED strips.

Again, make sure that the arrows point in the same direction. In this case, all arrows point counterclockwise.
Solder the LED connection cable
After you have installed the LED strips, you now have to solder them together and solder a connection cable. This is not always easy with this type of LED strip due to the small size of the soldering pad. Therefore, you should take your time for this section. You can also find tips for using the soldering iron in the following articles.
- Electronics—My friend the soldering iron
- Electronics – Solder THT components by hand
- Electronics - Soldering SMD components by hand

Now look for the soldering pad on the LED strip which is marked with a minus sign and is relatively close to the through hole in the 3D printed base.
Then tin it with some solder. This makes it easier to solder the connection cable later.

After you have prepared the soldering pads, you can start soldering the leads. To do this, first solder the red line to the soldering pad marked with a plus sign as shown.

After you have soldered the supply lines, the line for the data input can now also be soldered to the LED strip.

To do this, tin-coat the upper left contact of the LED (visible in the picture) with some additional tin-solder.
In this example, the line is soldered directly to the LED because it is a little easier to solder compared to the very small soldering pad at the beginning of the LED strip.

Close-up view of the soldered line.
It is important here that there is no short circuit with the neighboring contacts and soldering pads when soldering.
You should also make sure that the arrows on the LED strip "point away" from the connection line.
Solder the LED strips together
Soldering the LED strips together is also a bit tricky. Here, too, you should work carefully and give yourself a little more time. Make sure that you do not create any short circuits with neighboring contacts and measure again if necessary. 🙂

To do this, solder the soldering pads of the adjacent LED strips marked with a minus sign to one another as shown.

As before, you should connect the contacts on the LED strips to one another. This time, however, the middle contacts.
Connect the ESP8266 or Wemos D1 Mini
After the construction of the LED strip has been completed, you can connect the microcontroller to the LED strip.

For this you need a breakout board based on the ESP8266-ESP12E.
I recommend using the "Wemos D1 Mini" here.

Then prepare the contacts of the Wemos D1 Mini with some solder.
To do this, tin-plate the following contacts with some solder.
- G
- 5V
- D6

Now you can solder the first connection line to the Wemos D1 Min.
Solder the black wire to contact "G" of the Wemos D1 Mini.
This black line should be the line that you previously connected to the contact marked with a minus on the LED strip.

The red line should be the line that you previously soldered to the contact of the LED strip marked with a plus.

Ultimately, you should solder the signal / data line of the LED strip to the "D6" contact of the Wemos D1 Mini.
Option 1: Prepare the APDS-9960 gesture sensor
There are basically two options for controlling the colors and brightness of your pxlBlck_CassetteLamp. The first - described here - works with the help of the "APDS-9960" gesture sensor. With the help of this sensor, the lamp can be switched on and off by gesture movements over the lamp and its color and brightness can also be changed. The gesture sensor works quite reliably depending on the ambient brightness. Sometimes, however, it does not recognize every gesture correctly.
Further information on connecting the APDS-9960 gesture sensor to ESPeasy can be found in the following article.
The other control option is implemented using two rotary encoders. You can find information on this in the section Option 2: Prepare the rotary encoder holder

In order to prepare the connection line, you should now strip the ends approx. 5mm and tin them with some solder.

The sensor can then be attached using the mounting holes and the M3x16 cylinder head screws and therefore can be …
Option 1: Mount the APDS-9960 gesture sensor
After mounting the APDS-9960 gesture sensor on the bracket, it is now time to mount and screw the bracket to the base of the lamp.

Solder the red wire of the sensor to the contact "3V3" of the Wemos D1 Mini.
You should also connect the black wire to contact "G" of the Wemos D1 Mini.
Make sure that the red wire is connected to the "VCC" contact and the black wire to the "GND" contact of the sensor.

Solder the blue wire (sensor SCL) to contact "D1" and the green wire (sensor SDA) to contact "D2" of the Wemos D1 Mini.
Attach the cassettes to the mounting frame
After mounting the gesture sensor, you can now mount the cassettes on the lamp.

For this you need the prepared base of the lamp and eight semi-transparent cassettes.
You can of course also use tapes with less transparency. Combine here as you like it best.

In the following steps, the cassettes are attached to the mounting frame with some hot glue.
Make sure that the cassettes are staggered onto the frame.
Option 2: Prepare the rotary encoder holder
The second option for controlling the pxlBlck_CassetteLamp consists of two rotary encoders, which are mounted in such a way that they can be controlled from the outside using a pen. In this way, the brightness and color of the lamp can be adjusted.

For this you need the components shown on the left.
- 2x rotary encoders
- 2x M3 threaded inserts
- 2x M3x16 countersunk head screws
- 8x cables approx. 10 cm long in different colors
- 2x cables approx. 3 cm long
- 1x 3D printed bracket
- 2x 3D printed encoder attachment
- 1x bracket clamp
- approx. 20cm shrink tubing suitable for the cable diameter
