There is also a Blender extension called Paper Model that exists to export 3D shapes as paper models. There are of course other and more full-featured tools for unfolding 3D models: Pepakura is used by many, but is not free and is Windows only. With a little bending and gluing, the 3D model can be re-created out of paper or cardboard. Some time ago, took a shot at creating a tool that unfolds 3D models in STL format and outputs a color-coded 2D pattern that can be cut out using a laser cutter. Take a look at the submissions we’ve received so far, and then show us what you’ve got.Ĭontinue reading “Circuit Board Origami Puts You Face-to-Face With Low-Poly Electronics” → Posted in Microcontrollers, Misc Hacks Tagged atmega32u4, blinkenlights, copper clad, leds, origami, papercraft, PCB milling, pepakura, RGB LED We’d love to see what you can do, whether it’s in brass rod, copper clad, or a combination of the two. Just a reminder - we have a circuit sculpture contest running now until Tuesday, Novemat 12:00 pm PST. The result is a low-poly human face of shiny copper with TQFP-44 chip package a the all-seeing eye in the middle of its forehead like something from Tron come to life.

Soldering the edges together didn’t work as well as you might think, so used Superglue mixed with baking soda to give it body and make it dry faster. To be fair, eighteen months out of the two years this project took was spent hand-sanding a chamfer on every edge of every panel so that they could be glued together. Power runs up the copper tube, which doubles as a handy mounting rod to connect to the 3D-printed base. The ATMega32u4 on the forehead along with the fold-traversing circuitry serve to light up the WS2812B eyes. Only a few of them support circuitry, but it was still quite the time-consuming process. Started with a model (Update: 2012 low poly mask model from back in 2012 was the starting point for this hack) from the papercraft program Pepakura Designer, then milled out dozens of boards.

Pepakura to 3d print