In the world of DIY electronics and aerial innovation, failure is often just the first draft of a success story. That’s a lesson beautifully illustrated by engineer and YouTuber Erik Spijk, who recently unearthed a shelved project from his archives and shared the mesmerizing results with his channel, Concept Crafted Creations.
The project, a unique drone nicknamed "Zippy," was originally conceived back in 2017. Spijk revealed that the ambitious build took over a year of relentless designing, prototyping, and testing before it ever left the ground. Its purpose? To be a flying Persistence of Vision (POV) display—a drone that can literally paint pictures in thin air.
How Zippy Paints with Light
For the uninitiated, a POV display works on a simple but brilliant principle of human perception. If a light moves quickly enough in a cyclical path, our eyes and brain blend the individual points of light into what appears to be a solid, continuous image.
Spijk’s Zippy drone is a masterclass in this technique. At its heart is a ring equipped with 144 individual LEDs. This ring is spun at a high velocity by a custom gear and motor system attached to the drone's central shaft. By meticulously controlling the timing of each LED—turning them on and off at precise microsecond intervals as the ring spins—Zippy can create the illusion of text, graphics, and animations floating magically around it as it hovers.
The effect is stunning, resembling something out of a sci-fi movie. What makes it truly remarkable is that this isn't a stationary display; it's a fully functional drone carrying its own light show into the sky.
An Engineering Headache and an Elegant Fix
However, creating a spinning display on a device that requires absolute stability to fly presented a colossal engineering challenge. As Spijk quickly discovered, Newton's Third Law of Motion was not on his side. The motor spinning the heavy LED ring in one direction generated an equal and opposite torque, causing the entire body of the drone to spin in the opposite direction. This made controlled flight impossible.
"This was a stability nightmare," Spijk noted in his video. His ingenious solution was both simple and effective. He attached two small propellers to the central shaft, spinning them in the same direction as the LED ring. This created a counter-torque that directly fought against the spin induced by the gear system. It was a delicate tug-of-war, but once balanced, it successfully kept the drone's main shaft stable and ready for flight.
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From Grounded to Gravity-Defying
With the core torque problem solved, Spijk moved on to the final assembly. He redesigned the main body of the drone to accommodate the complex mechanics, ultimately equipping it with eight powerful propellers for lift and maneuverability. A sturdy landing gear was also added to complete the build.
The final result was worth the year of struggle. In his video, Zippy takes to the air with a confident hum, its LED ring becoming a blur. Then, as the code executes, crisp, bright animations and text appear in a perfect circle around the hovering craft, a ghostly image sustained purely by speed and perfect timing.
Erik Spijk's Zippy project is more than just a cool gadget; it's a testament to the perseverance of the maker spirit. It shows that even "failed" projects are packed with valuable lessons and, with enough creativity and determination, can be transformed into something truly extraordinary. The video serves as both an inspiration and a fascinating deep dive into the intersection of robotics, aviation, and digital art.