Infinity Octahedron Adds More Faces to Infinity Mirrors
Acrylic, LED strips, and a microcontroller give a unique twist to the infinity mirror.
Infinity mirrors add a futuristic-looking accent to any wall. Typically these mirrors are boxy rectangles. Debra Ansell, known around the Internet as Geek Mom Projects, took a multi-face approach and created Infinity Octahedron using only acrylic sheets and LED strips.
Sometimes called the Droste effect, an infinity mirror's optical illusion appears to have infinite depth. Adding LEDs around the edge can create an endless tunnel effect. Generally, these mirrors are (boring) rectangles.
Ansell built the Infinity Octahedron using a polyhedron. Despite being a very three-dimensional object, this build does not use a 3D printer! Instead, each piece of the entire octahedron's structure comes from laser-cut acrylic. The basic materials for this build include:
- 3mm two-way mirrored acrylic
- 1/8" clear acrylic
- M2 screws and bolts
- Glue dots
- LED strips
- Gloves (for a fingerprint-free finish!)
There are two versions of the Infinity Octahedron, with each using different types of LED strips. The first version employed strips of 3535 case-size LEDs with a density of 144 LEDs per meter. Since they were WS2812b-style, also known as NeoPixels, the total comes out to 168 individually addressable RGB LEDs.
On version two, Ansell found a thinner LED strip with a density of 96 LEDs per meter. Featuring a new panel design, version two also required fewer panels and could utilize a continuous LED strip. Additionally, the corner pieces use M2 screws and bolts to hold the Infinity Octahedron together.
With the popularity of WS2812s, you have many options for controlling the LEDs. One example that you can find on Geek Mom Project's Twitter feed uses a PixelBlaze to react to sound. The combination creates a dazzling display.
Building an Infinity Octahedron does require a laser cutter. Ansell provides all of the SVG design files and detailed instructions on the Infinity Octahedron GitHub repo. Be sure to check out Ansell's Geek Mom Projects blog for more equally fun-to-build kid-friendly projects as well as our recent interview with her on Hackster Café!