PCB Origami DiscoBall

This disco ball (icosahedron) is unusual. The unique and modular design makes its assembly free of 3D-printed frame or jig. It is self-supported after assembly. Here are the major steps.

• Trim the edges of 20 PCB with a needle file.
• Solder 60 LEDs onto the top side of each PCB.
• Solder three hardwires to connect a pair of PCB from the bottom.
• Fold all connected PCB into the shape of icosahedron after circuit testing.
• Use hardwires to connect all other edges to make the shape sturdy.
• Use the tweezer to adjust the shape.

This PCB origami comes in two different packages. One is fully assembled. The other is the kit to be assembled by you.

What is in the kit?

• PCB finish: ENIG with purple solder-mask
• PCB size: 19.06 x 16.87mm
• 20 equilateral-triangle PCB (FR4 and ENIG finish)
• 30 axial resistors for connections and assembly
• 60 WS2812B-2020 RGB LEDs
• Instructions to make an icosahedron - the disco-ball

The instructions are updated at my Hackaday project. It should give you an idea about how to assemble these triangles into an Origami DiscoBall.

Notes: The soldering is not that difficult. The assembly takes times and patience. You may divide this challenge into several small tasks and complete them one after another.

What is in the assembled package?

• One origami ball works out of the box. Just solder three wires to your Arduino board and upload the sketch.

Why did you make it?

In geometry, a deltahedron is a polyhedron whose faces are all equilateral triangles. For example, a tetrahedron has four triangles. An octahedron has eight triangles and an icosahedron has twenty triangles.

So with twenty triangles, you could make five tetrahedrons, or two octahedrons and one tetrahedron.

Notes:

• The assembled icosahedron in the picture is actually made of black PCB with transparent solder-mask. The kit and assembled disco-ball will be ENIG PCB with purple solder-mask.
• Other PCB of compatible shapes like square and pentagon are coming soon.