In this project we'll build the Guardian Shield + from Zelda Breath of the Wild! This shield measures 700 millimeters wide by 600 millimeters tall. We used a 1 meter long high density mini NeoPixel Strip to illuminate the "blades" of the shield. To make the center and side gems glow, we used a NeoPixel Jewel and a single breadboard friendly NeoPixel.

The main body is printed in clear translucent PLA to allow the lights from the LEDs to shine through. The blades are printed with a blue translucent PLA which is uv fluorescent and glows bright under black lights!

We used gray PLA for the back circular attachment and the handles. Gray PLA is used to mask details on the front of the shield. The masks help to block out light to define the details on the front of the shield. 

Articulating Handle  

 

The shield is held up by the articulating handle attached to the back side of the main assembly. You can adjust the angle to better suit your style of battle.

 

Rechargeable

 

The USB port on the side allows you to quickly reprogram colors and animations. You can even recharge the beefy 6600mAh battery!

 

We recessed the slide switch on the back part of the main body to allow easy access to power on the shield when an enemy appears!

Prerequisite Guides

If your new to electronics and working with NeoPixel LEDs, I suggest you walk through the following guides to get basics of wiring and soldering. The following guides will walk you through setting up Arduino IDE and Adafruit libraries.

Parts, Tools and Supplies

Here's a list of the parts needed to make this project.

1 x M2.5x6mm
M2.5x6mm
1 x M3x12mm
M3x12mm
1 x M5x9mm
M5x9mm
Angled shot of a Adafruit Feather M0 Basic Proto - ATSAMD21 Cortex M0.
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Adafruit NeoPixel Digital RGB LED Strip with all the LEDs in a rainbow
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Four glowing Breadboard-friendly RGB Smart NeoPixels wired up on a breadboard
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NeoPixel Jewel - 7 x 5050 RGB LED wired to Trinket, lit up rainbow
Be the belle of the ball with the NeoPixel Jewel!  We fit seven of our tiny 5050 (5mm x 5mm) smart RGB LEDs onto a beautiful, round PCB with mounting holes and a...
Lithium Ion Battery Pack with three round cells 3.7V 6600mAh with JST PH connector
Need a massive battery for your project? This lithium-ion pack is made of 3 balanced 2200mAh cells for a total of 6600mA capacity! The cells are connected in parallel and spot-welded...
Mini Panel Mount DPDT Toggle Switch
This or that, one or the other, perhaps or perhaps not! So hard to make decisions these days without feeling like you're just going back and forth constantly. Deciding whether or...

This guide was first published on Aug 02, 2017. It was last updated on Jul 30, 2017.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Jul 30, 2017.

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