GlaDOS lamp

GlaDOS (Generic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) is the most recognizable robots from Portal. She is one of the greatest video game villains of all times, with a great character design and an amazingly interesting personality.

What is cooler than having a GlaDOS lamp hanging from your ceiling. Having a moving GlaDOS lamp hanging from your ceiling. The Robotic GlaDOS ceiling lamp is a 3D printable motorized model of our favorite antagonist, from the Portal series. It can be built with a decent 3D printer and uses servo motors to create the movement.

I am a huge fan of Portal and I always wanted to design something from the game. Several starts didn’t get me to the point where the project really took off. Finally a competition on instructables came up which was enough incentive for me to give it a real shot. I am really pleased with the result.

Gallery

The GlaDOS lamp was one of my first prop projects and it was a huge learning experience. Making it nearly broke me up, but I pulled through and I am very pleased with the result. It has won me my UP! 3D printer and has given me a lot of exposure.

Building it

Here on Ytec3D, there is a quick guide to build a GlaDOS lamp, follow this link to the instructables page where the is a full guide:

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-fully-3D-printable-GlaDOS-Robotic-ceiling-arm-la/

Made one? Go to the forum and share you pictures with everyone: http://ytec3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3

To build it you will need several things. For tools you will need:

  • A 3D printer that is comfortable with support material (I used an UP! Plus 3D printer);
  • Files and sanding paper
  • Soldering Iron
  • Basic pliers and screwdrivers

Also you will need:

  • At least 2kg of 3D printing filament
  • 2 M3 countersunk screw (16mm);
  • 2 M3 self locking nut;
  • 13 M4 Cylinder head hexagon socket screw (16mm);
  • 5 M4 Cylinder head hexagon socket screw (30mm);
  • 12 M4 nuts;
  • 32 M4 countersunk screw (16mm);
  • 4-6 M8 nuts (depending on the type you are making);
  • 1 M8 90mm piece of threaded rod;
  • 3 M8 washers;
  • 2 40mm fans
  • A power supply, capable of supplying 12V AND 5V
  • 8 1W white power leds with star
  • 9 heatsinks for 1W power leds
  • 1 1W orange power led with star
  • 2 basic micro servos
  • 1 strong digital micro servo stronger than 2 kg.cm
  • 1 strong standard servo
  • 3 608 bearings
  • 1 624 bearing
  • Paint (grey and white)
  • Filler primer
  • Black and yellow flexible wire
  • And most of all time. Making this takes between 100 and 200 hours.

The files to 3D print the GlaDOS lamp can be downloaded with the button below. The controller is the button beneath that.

Download Glados

Download Glados controller

If you downloaded the files from this site and liked it, please consider going to the Donations page. This will help the development of more free designs and plans.

A full moving lamp consists of:
4 ring open + top covers
2 ring fan in + top covers
2 ring fan out + top covers
1 base
1 mounting plate
1 helical gear 2M 10T
1 helical gear 2M 17T
1 Main pivot tube
1 Main pivot back
1 Main pivot internals
1 Moving arm
1 rotation
1 Head
1 pushrod head
1 pushrod large
1 servoclamp
1 wireblock top left
1 wireblock top right
2 wireblock small 1
2 wireblock small 2
1 wireblock large 1
1 wireblock large 2

Painting

After 3D printing was (finally) done, I started sanding the parts. 3D printing leaves lines on the parts and especially with the sterile look of GlaDOS, it was important that the surface is as smooth as possible. I used filler primer to further improve the smoothness of the surface.

The parts were painted a combination of white and dark gray. GlaDOS has no decals, so other than painting, there was nothing else to do.

After painting the whole lamp it was put together. I could fill pages detailing the process but I don’t think I am doing anyone any favors with that. I have added all pictures of the assembly in a gallery.

Controller

The controller is a scaled down version of GlaDOS, It has 4 potentiometer to measure the position. The controller sends the position to the lamp. The lamp simply mimics the movement.

Electronics + firmware

The electronics is fairly undocumented. The first version I designed did not work and the second version only ever existed on a breadboard. There are roughly three parts to the electronics. Part one is analog reading, converting the values of the controller to angles. The servo driver sends the signal to the servos moving them. The led driver controls the voltage for the eye. The whole system is driven by a 5 volt PC power supply. The firmware simply remaps an analog value to a servo angle. Basic programming skills should be enough to code it.

License

by-sa

The project described on this page is licensed under the Creative commons – Attribution  – ShareAlike license.