How to make your own infinity mirror
Inspired by a Reddit post about an infinity mirror designed by Christopher Belleau and available on display in Providence, RI, I decided it would be a fun thing to make my own.
This is how the final product looks like
Another variant, with green LEDs instead
Things you will need
- LEDs: mine were 5mm 6000mcd ones that were $8 for 50 from c-leds.com. You can choose any color you'd like but intermixing different colors is generally discouraged because of differences in current draw.
- Resistors: choose the right ones for the job. This online calculator has served me well. 510 ohms is just the right resistance if you're using a 12V power source and resistors rated for a max forward current of 30mA, and so 12V / 510 = 0.023 or 23mA. Remember V=IR. 100 for $4.
- A wooden box: wood is easiest to manipulate, but if you have a good sized metal or plastic one, feel free to use it instead. The size must be snug fit with the mirrors, and my mirrors were 3-inch square, so 3-inch square boxes are needed.
- 3" square one-way mirrors: you'll find some on eBay. I got two for $7 with shipping included.
- 3" standard mirrors: I got 5 for $2 from a crafts store.
- A 12V power adaptor: you might have some hanging around, I bought mine for $1.00 on eBay
- (optional) Spray paint or stain: since the LEDs emit a lot of light, having a black finish works well particularly inside the box. The blue one was made using spray paint, the green one with stain.
Tools you'll need
- A dremel tool or something to drill holes into wood with
- Soldering iron and solder
- (optional) Glue gun
- (optional) Sandpaper
Pull apart the lid and the main part of the box. Usually they're fastened with relatively flimsy rods.
If the edges are beveled as such it's nicer to pry the bottom of the box off and glue it on the other side with the beveled edge. It's up to you, but it also means the holes aren't visible.
If you do switch the bottom over you'll end up with something like this.
Spray paint or stain your box. You can also skip this step to after drilling the holes (next step) if you want to be super precise and use rulers/pen to mark your wood, which you can't see if you painted first.
Drill holes on all four sides. They can be smaller than the 3mm required to pass through the LEDs, because the LEDs will sit on the inside wall, instead of pass through. On my 3" box it worked out nicely to 3/4 inch between holes
I used a self-styled template instead.
Pass through the LEDs and bend the long side towards the bottom of the box. The long side is what you'll solder to a resistor. The short side you can bend towards the other LEDs so that you can connect them all in parallel.
Continue setting up the LEDs and going around the box. At some point remember to put the standard mirror on the inside before your LEDs prevent it from fitting. I've chosen to leave the mirror free (without gluing or affixing it) because it adds to the unpredictability of the direction the arc forms at the end.
Once you're done, flip the box over. Connect the resistors in a lattice as shown above. Connect all the remaining LEDs so that they meet at the middle.
The end setup is a bit messy, but this should be what it looks like. The red wire connects at the very middle and is connected to the positive end of the power supply. The black wire connects to the part of the LEDs that were connected to each other, as shown below.
