Pokeball - weighted, opening, light up button by Ibuildrobots

Last crawled date: 2 years, 11 months ago

There are several pokeball models out there, but none has all the features that I wanted so I made my own. Features on this one include:
-A clamshell opening with a hidden hinge. I used a barrel hinge to keep the ball as spherical as possible.
-Magnets that would keep the halves closed. I had 6mm magnets on hand, so I used those.
-A light up metallic “elevator” button.
-A spot for weights to add some heft to the finished product- I wanted this to be satisfying to hold. I included cut out on the top and bottom for 1 1/8” hexnuts that I bought from the home center. With one in, the ball weights 155g/5.5oz and with two it weighs 205g/7.25oz.
-As hidden a seam as possible – I added a lip on the bottom half of the ball for the seam to tuck behind
Other components used:
-8mm Barrel hinge
-6mm x 2mm circular magnets
-Button: 16mm rugged LED pushbutton with on/off (or “latching”), I used the red LED version
Up to 1 1/8” Hex nuts – nothing special about this size, it was just the best weight/cost ratio at my local hardware store.