Soldered a few kits? Love RGB LED’s? Like a challenge? If you answered “yes” then this Origami Disco Ball kit might be just the project you are looking for!
This kit includes 20 individual PCBs onto which you need to solder 60 WS2812B-2020 RGB LEDs. You then use component lead sections to connect the 20 PCBs creating stiff supporting connections. You end up with a flat pattern of the 20 PCB panels which you then fold, after testing for functionality, into the final icosahedron form. There are some details of the process on the product page and there is a longer assembly guide on the projects’ hackaday.io page. It looks to us like the soldering is not that complex but that the assembly of the PCBs into the final form might require a little patience and practice.
Once you have your Origami Disco Ball assembled it’s a simple case of hooking up 3 wires to an Arduino and flashing a supplied sketch. It’s fair to say though that any microcontroller can run a chain of WS2812B LEDs so you could get this up and running with your platform of choice.
Finally, if the challenge of assembly is too daunting for you, or if you want a quicker and simpler route to owning a cool Origami Disco Ball, then this product is also available as a fully assembled version!
