There is many possible ways to build your own Orbital structure. Beside electronics, the most important thing you'll need is a way to have a circle of addressable LEDs.
== Orbital FIXME ==
For our hackerspace version, we've build this circle using flat aluminum extrusions (3 pieces of 1.70m, bolted together) and zip-tying some flexible LED strip to these extrusions. This gives you a sturdier circle but is still quite flexible so you'll have to attach it in multiple points.
<gallery widths=500px heights=300px mode=packed-overlay>
File:Orbital-structure-screw.jpg|Screws holding aluminum extrusions together
File:Orbital-structure-zipties.jpg|Zip ties holding the LED strip to the aluminum structure
File:Orbital-stucture-installed.jpg|The structure is then suspended from the ceiling using ropes
File:Orbital-stucture-installed-on.jpg|And we have light!
</gallery>
== Orbital Portable ==
For Orbital Portable, we thought carrying a 1.60m diameter circle was annoying, so we created a Japanese fan-like wooden structure to form an 8-arms star. We then placed the LED strip inside a nice silicon diffuser to give it some rigidity and hold it in 8 points using aluminum brackets.
The wooden frame can be folded or unfolded by untying the wing screw that hold every pieces together. We also used teethed washed to increase the friction. A rope is attached to each wooden piece to keep an angle of 45° between them. It's not mandatory but still very useful to deploy it.
The diffuser make the game a little more blurry. It's still very playable but true hardcore gamers will prefer the pure square LED pixels.
Another great aspect of the diffuser is the added protection of the LED strip again elements while carrying Orbital Portable. It's waterproof, absorb shocks, increase the bend radius, you can (gently) pull on it, etc.
<gallery widths=500px heights=300px mode=packed-overlay>
File:Orbital-Portable-Diffuser.jpg|The diffuser used in Orbital Portable with the LED strip in it
File:Orbital-Portable-Wooden-Star.jpg|Here is the wooden Japanese fan-like wooden frame
File:Orbital-Portable-folded-frame.jpg|Folded, with a bolt in the middle and a wing screw
File:Orbital-Portable-Frame-Rope.jpg|The rope keeping every element apart with an angle of 45°
File:Orbital-Portable-Marking.jpg|The LED strip can be placed on top of it to mark where the aluminum brackets will be attached
File:Orbital-Portable-Brackets.jpg|Aluminum brackets are screwed in place. The rest of the wood can then be cut to length
File:Orbital-Portable-Paint.jpg|Painting the Orbital Portable frame
File:Orbital-Portable-Rpi-Bracket.jpg|We made a custom bracket for the Raspi Zero
File:Orbital-Portable-Done.jpg|Up and running!
File:Orbital-Portable-tripod.jpg|A third leg has been added to the frame to support it on its own.
</gallery>
== Material ==
* LED Pixel Ring: 45 LEDs https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002289201149.html
* ESP32: running WLED https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32959541446.html
== Tips ==
* We used a 5m LED strip with 60 LED/m to have a nice an big circle. Thus said, it can totally work with any length and LED density.
* Prefer short data cable from the Raspberry Pi to the LED strip. Long unshielded cables can lead to weird behavior.
* The Raspberry Pi Zero W has a very nice form factor but is also very slow. We'd like to test with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and we'll probably recommend it.
= Chronology =
* [https://github.com/Pecamo/orbital Source code on GitHub]
* [https://orbital.run Portal for Orbital-Portable]
* [https://youtu.be/HKIx03cR7d4 Video presentation (in French)]
= Participants =