Forget LED Cubes: The Air-Wire LED Sphere Has Arrived!

There have been a ton of cube-based LED projects to come out over the years, and while a majority of them are no less impressive, it’s nice to see different-shaped LED matrices once in a while, which is the case with Jiří Praus’ freeform LED sphere.

Praus explains: “Everybody is crazy about LED cubes. I wanted to create one myself, but I wanted to make it an even bigger challenge, and since I am not limited by the use of circuit boards and can make it freeform. I've decided to make an LED ball. I believe this is the first instance of air-wire LED ball in the world.”

Inspired by Greg Davill's GlassUnicorn, Praus designed his sphere using 194 WS2818b RGB LEDs that he affixed together using a 3D-printed mold and a series of brass rings he produced with a wire bending machine. The mold allowed him to place the LEDs at consistent, equally spaced distances while soldering them to the brass wire rings. The process is repeated until half of the sphere is completed, after which, each separate ring is soldered together to provide an interconnection between the LEDs.

Of course, Praus had to complete the painstaking process twice to form the ball, only to find some of the LEDs had shorts and required replacing. Once the problem was sorted, he then wired the TTGO ESP32 MCU and 1000mAh LiPo battery to the LEDs internally and soldered both halves of the ball together. With everything in place, Praus then programmed several different animations for the sphere, which he can control wirelessly through his smartphone. It's a great project that strays from the normal cube design, and those interested in building their own can follow the video tutorial below. More photos can also be found in Praus' Twitter thread.