The LED Disco Ball
“Disco is dead” is what they said several decades ago. Its unique place in music and cultural history, including the iconic disco ball, however, still endure long after this proclamation. Those reflective orbs were available at any number of establishments, but a modern take on the theme, Warmbit Gifts & Solutions has come up with the PCB Origami DiscoBall.
While the original disco balls featured a series of mirrored surfaces to reflect light, the Origami DiscoBall instead features 60 WS2812B addressable LEDs to produce it’s own luminescence. 3 LEDs each are applied to 20 equilateral triangle PCBs, which are folded up into a roughly spherical icosahedron shape.
The DiscoBall comes in a PCB kit by default, and can also be ordered as a working device. In kit form, the builder needs to deburr each PCB and solder the LEDs. The 20 triangles are then soldered in the proper pattern using connector wires, tested to make sure everything lights up, and finally folded into a 20-sided volume. The resulting shape is then connected to an Arduino or other control board and power supply in order to provide a unique illumination solution.
As neat as this is, it’s certainly not the only unique lighting device available on Tindie. We featured the Ducenti light hemisphere several years ago, and the Fibonacci LED Display more recently, which are both worth checking out!