Whether you love, hate, or don’t quite understand fidget spinners, they are extremely popular right now. Perhaps you think they’re neat, but have been waiting on something to really push them over the edge in your mind. Well here’s an interesting idea, a Programmable POV (persistence of vision) fidget spinner.
You may have seen different POV displays on bicycle spokes or the like that light up LEDs in sequence in order to trick your eyes into thinking there is a consistent shape in the circular area. This fidget spinner works in exactly the same way, and can display words or even stats like spin time or how fast it’s going in RPM. It comes as a kit, so it’d be possible to swap out LEDs for another color if you like.
Of course, this isn’t the only POV spinner in town. You can see Sean Hodgins assembling and explaining his own 3-lobed spinner in the second video below, with more details on Hackaday.io. He even notes that he may have these available on his store eventually, which would be a welcome addition to this site. Cleverly, he uses two magnets inside the bearing cap to detect how fast the device is spinning, and in which direction.
Of course, these aren’t the only spinners on Tindie, check out this list of normal spinners, or even the flying SpinnerDrone for more interesting options!
