From Makezine blog... LED ball

[Brass_Machine]

Thought this was very cool. I know not everyone reads the Makezine Blog so i thought I would post it here

[Darren]

I thought that was very entertaining, amazing with just 3 LED's. Thanks Eric 

[Brass_Machine]

I thought so too. Now I gotta figure out how to build one myself 

Eric

[Rob.Wilson]

Hi Eric

 

When you figure  it  out ,,,,make two ,,make me one  ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,good Tiesto remix too 

Cheers Rob

[zeroaxe]

  Now that was entertaining!!! But how does such a thing work? I mean, how does one control the spinning to make those 'shapes'?

[mklotz]

It's basically a three dimensional oscilloscope.

The figures are made by feeding each axis with a slightly different rotation frequency - the same way one would feed two differing frequencies to the two axes of an oscilloscope to make Lissajous figures.

[Dean W]

Pretty neat.  I was surprised I got through the whole video.  It's quite interesting.

I couldn't help being reminded of the "spinning ball of death" plot device seen in older sci-fi shows, where the hero has to get through something like that to reach the ships' nuclear device to stop the space ship from self destructing.

Anyway, quite a project, and fun.

Dean

[Bernd]

I was mesmerized. What a hipnotic effect with that music playing.

Now if you want to build one take a look here: http://laserpointerforums.com/f57/led-orb-2-0-a-50012.html  Scroll down a bit and he's got all sorts of pictures on how he built it. Very neat and easy to do.

Bernd

[zeroaxe]

It's basically a three dimensional oscilloscope.

The figures are made by feeding each axis with a slightly different rotation frequency - the same way one would feed two differing frequencies to the two axes of an oscilloscope to make Lissajous figures.

A Whats-o-scope??? I am not clued-up on electircs/electronics at all 

[Bluechip]

It's basically a three dimensional oscilloscope.

The figures are made by feeding each axis with a slightly different rotation frequency - the same way one would feed two differing frequencies to the two axes of an oscilloscope to make Lissajous figures.

A Whats-o-scope??? I am not clued-up on electircs/electronics at all  

Here you are .... have a play ...

http://www.math.com/students/wonders/lissajous/lissajous.html

Try the x-freq. and y-freq. at the same value, then increment one or t'other

Dave BC

[Divided he ad]

That's a very innovative and well made bit of kit IMHO 


Nice fine Eric 



If you double click the video you can get to his youtube channel and from there see many of the other videos... Well worth a watch 


I went through the whole link from Bernd too.... Great to see how it was put together, I could figure some of it in my head but was stumped in the LED array itself.

Got it all locked up in my head now 

Not too sure about the "easy" part though Bernd.... That frame work is a work or art in itself     (lots of legless LEDs out there  ) 
Try soldering that without screaming once or twice!! Heatsinks galore to stop the heat transfer from releasing other joints!



I liked playing with the ohsosillyscope too. Thanks BC     I haven't done anything like that since college (mostly used on circuits though, wave outputs etc.... Forgotten most of that!)


 


All in all, another thing to store for the "possibility list " that hangs in the grey matter next to my "round tuit" list!!





Very enjoyable post   





Ralph.

[Bernd]

Ralph,

I say easy because you could use other material to make the project. I would probably use brass tubing, round or square. Build a supper structure like that used to hold the large signs over the highways. They are usally triangular in shape.

Let's just say that his project has given me ideas for a  that I'll probably never get to. 

Like you I've sahped the whole thing in my head, just can't get it down on paper. Seems like the arms don't want to work with the brain. 


Bernd