This Tiny Orrery Fits In Your Hand And Has A Web Interface

Art & Sculpture Other Boards Technology
This Tiny Orrery Fits In Your Hand And Has A Web Interface

I’m a fan of orreries. These little models of our planetary bodies and orbits are truly fascinating and have captured my mind ever since I saw the big mechanical one featured in the movie The Dark Crystal. Give me any orrery and I’m happy. Big mechanical ones, tiny electronic ones, I don’t care.

YouTube player

The Illusionmanager reached out to us to show us his version of the concept, with this palm sized orrery. Combining laser cut wood, toothpicks, and a tiny stepper motor, The Illusionmanager has created a wondrous little desk toy.

With an ESP32 as it’s brains, you can program this to have all kinds of different display modes. It also has a nifty web interface allowing you to toss in any date and it will move the planets to their respective positions.

There is a full build tutorial available on instructables so you can create your own!

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged

I get ridiculously excited seeing people make things. I just want to revel in the creativity I see in makers. My favorite thing in the world is sharing a maker's story. find me at CalebKraft.com

View more articles by Caleb Kraft

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK