Ever wanted to capture the blue glow and pulsating hum of the Enterprise D warp core in your own living room? Using computer aided design and 3D printing, Star Trek fan ThePlanetMike has made it so by designing his own table lamp based on HD screen captures of Star Trek The Next Generation episodes and lighting it up with simple blue LED lights available on Amazon.





The pulsating warp core lamp in all its assembled glory

Building it from scratch

Using some 21st century technology, thingiverse user ThePlanetMike can teach you how to bring a little of the 24th century into your home.

I carefully modeled the Warp Core Table Lamp from HD screen captures of the Warp Core on Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was designed to print in modular pieces without support. Print your Warp Core Table Lamp to be as tall as you’d like! This lamp adds a hypnotic sci-fi touch to any room. Geordi would love it.

ThePlanetMike has created all of the necessary files to print one of these babies on your own 3D printer, plus instructions on how to wire it up using off-the-shelf LEDs. Each part is modular meaning you can build the thing as tall as physically possible (a challenge?). Some builders have gone as far as adding the red side energy conduits.

Lamps of all sizes

One 3D printer, Alex Roberts, decided on a smaller version of ThePlanetMike’s lamp and scaled it down to 25% (pictured in the cover photo, above). Inside his mini warp core lamp are some Neopixel LED strips powered by a 5V Adafruit Trinket mini-controller. If you’re a maker, definitely check out Alex’s blog where he gives a detailed description of the wiring and the code he used to power his warp core.



The mini warp core wired up and glowing



