Not too long ago, I posted about a project I’d been working on – an ‘orb’ that displays weather predictions as colors. The guts are based on Arduino and the lights are BlinkM‘s. Recently, I built a new home for the orb, made out of HDPE (high-density polyethylene – the stuff milk jugs are made of), using a pattern I discovered in ReadyMade that’s documented on Instructables.com. The idea is that you have a single ‘puzzle’ shape that you can use in different quantities and configurations to make different sized ‘platonic solids’.

I’m really happy with the results. I found a local shop that could cut the HDPE for me with a waterjet. Not exactly economical, but when TechShop opens it’s doors in NC this fall, I’ll be all over their Epilog laser-cutter.

In the pic above, the 12-piece lamp on the left has the Orb guts in it. The 30-piece one on the right holds a 25-watt ‘party light’.