A 3D shape built out of PCBs instead of paper.

Overview

Polyhedron Mobile PCB collects the different polyhedron lamp designs that grew out of Idea 010 - Polyhedron Papercraft Mobile. Each shape is built from identical PCB panels, one per face, each carrying a grid of small LEDs. The panels are welded together edge to edge with solder, so the finished object is both the structure and the circuit board.

So far there are three shapes in the family.

Rhombic Dodecahedron

Rhombic Dodecahedron PCB, front Rhombic Dodecahedron PCB, back

A rhombic dodecahedron is made of 12 identical rhombus faces. Each face panel is scaled to 70mm, with a 70.53° acute angle.

Tetragonal Trapezohedron

Tetragonal Trapezohedron PCB, front Tetragonal Trapezohedron PCB, back

A tetragonal trapezohedron is made of 8 kite-shaped faces. This one has a much denser LED grid than the earlier Dodecahedron design, a XIAO ESP32-S3 mounted inside using its castellated edge pads, and panels tied together with fishing line where the solder joints didn't hold. Full build notes are in the Tetragonal Trapezohedron Retrospective.

Dodecahedron

Dodecahedron pentagon PCB, front Dodecahedron pentagon PCB, back

The first shape in the family. A regular dodecahedron built from 12 pentagon PCBs, each with 10 LEDs, welded together at the vertices with a hole left in the center for the controller and batteries. Design notes are in Dodecahedron PCB Design, and the lessons learned afterward are in the Dodecahedron PCB Retrospective.