This project is to crete a moving 3D ‘sculpture’ from LED transparent spheres of about 80mm diameter; the plan is 25 spheres in a lattice pattern. Each sphere comprises a transparent shell, 12 WS2812D-F5 LED bulbs, a DC motor with WS2811 controller board spinning a mirrored ball in the center of the sphere, and everything wired together with silvered wires. The spheres are suspended on filament controlled by stepper motors that allow them to be individually moved up and down under program control. Separately, the (5V,GND,DataIn,DataOut) wire that connects each sphere to the main control board is managed with a passive reeling mechanism. The spheres will likely be controlled by WLED.
The 4-wire stepper motors are driven by quad driver boards connected by RS485 to the WiFi-enabled main control board, and I’m planning to use ModBus for the control interface.
Prototype boards for the sphere onboard controller and mount have arrived, and I’m just waiting for some remaining parts. Same for the stepper motor drivers. I only have concepts for the spooling mechanics and for the overall coordination.
Photos and diagrams to follow.
