We appreciate it’s only October, but hear us out. The Pi Hut’s 3D Xmas Tree is only available for pre-order until the 15th, and we’d hate for you to find out about it too late. So please share in a few minutes of premature Christmas cheer as we introduce you to this gorgeous kit.
Oooo…aaaaahhhh…
Super early Christmas prep
Designed by Pi Towers alumna Rachel Rayns, the 3D Xmas Tree kit is a 25-LED add-on board for the Raspberry Pi, on sale as a pre-soldered and as a ‘solder yourself’ version. You can control each LED independently via the GPIO pins, allowing you to create some wonderful, twinkly displays this coming holiday season.
The tree works with any 40-pin Raspberry Pi, including the Zero and Zero W.
You may remember the kit from last Christmas, when The Pi Hut teasingly hinted at its existence. We’ve been itching to get our hands on one for months now, and last week we finally received our own to build and play with.
So I took the time to record my entire build process for you…only to discover that I had managed to do most of the soldering out of frame. I blame Ben Nuttall for this, as we all rightly should, and offer instead this short GIF of me proudly showing off my finished piece.
The Pi Hut’s website has complete soldering instructions for the tree, as well as example code to get you started. Thus, even the most novice of Raspberry Pi enthusiasts and digital makers should be able to put this kit together and get it twinkling for Christmas.
If you don’t own helping hands for soldering, you’re missing out on, well, a helping hand when soldering.
If you need any help with soldering, check out our video resource. And once you’ve mastered this skill, how about upgrading your tree to twinkle in time with your favourite Christmas song? Or getting two or three, and having them flash in a beautiful synchronised multi-tree display?
Get your own 3D Xmas Tree
As mentioned above, you can pre-order the kit until Sunday 15 October. Once this deadline passes, that’s it — the boat will have sailed and you’ll be left stranded at the dock, waving goodbye to the missed opportunity.
Don’t be this kid.
With 2730 trees already ordered, you know this kit is going to be in the Christmas stocking of many a maker on 25 December.
And another thing
Shhh…while you’re there, The Pi Hut still has a few Google AIY Projects voice kits available for pre-order…but you didn’t hear that from me. Quick!
Website: LINK
