There’s always these, not such a nice sphere, but dirt cheap and you can build it round the LEDs… I’ve got a couple buy haven’t had time to play with them yet.
@JP_Roy , I could print the elements for the soccer ball for you quite easily 
I’ve got a couple of different transparent filaments in stock. I’m in the UK but shipping would be cheap, I’ve never printed anything for someone else before but I’m sure we could come to a an arrangement.
I mainly print diffusers for my LED rings https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOYNz_GSZTivi-gkTIG13qX_9GXBQf15kRRTsrosROdMpBv_Xt7_f91ok6BGIRGvg?key=ZlZ2WGs1NEI0bmNHRDhSS08xd0ljbG1BeXNsZWd3
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPWAV2nwy1I49TSnEM6LaG35CTH4ZA9bNY1YQbIIbmVszT2O34yuZJ5DN0X-AhJ6g?key=M3FNU3pVV2ZxaURyRUhnTlFiNTEwVVBGaUZaMmxR
Hi @Jeremy_Spencer , nice work with the diffuser ! What material is it ?
The IQ puzzle ball does not really work for me but thanks for the suggestion !
Very intriguing suggestion about printing something for me. Here’s my email… jpro56@hotmail.com I would certainly like to discuss details and terms with you.
Regards, JP
Thanks @JP_Roy , it’s special abs. I’ll drop you an email tomorrow.
Guys here is the inside of my sphere http://www.elec-tron.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/sphere.jpg
Juergen, nicely done! And +++points for very clever use of a lightbulb as LED support. I’ll remember it.
JP Roy, for an “easy” sphere I’d suggest you consider the icosadodecahedron shown by this woodworker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfB8j6KxQX8 , link failing search for “Make A Wood Strip Sphere”.
Using that video, I made a while ago a sphere using paper card stock as a prototype for a LED light fixture (alas, yet another unfinished idea).
With paper, it’s easy to build and the result is pleasing : it really looks like a proper sphere, and the geometry is visually attractive.
The design is convenient as it’s composed of 6 regularly distributed circles (possible nice LED spread) and, more importantly, does not require any fiddly inner mounting system as all is held by the circles themselves (bonus space for wires and MCU!).
For ties, I used strands of phone wire lying around, but I reckon anything would work (round head fasteners, glue, rivets,…). Just make sure the initial pentagon and its 5 triangles are regular, and then the rest should neatly fall into place with no fuss.
Finally, it is self-supporting and feels surprisingly robust – however, it’s no tensegrity so no balancing an elephant on it unless the structures are made of strong stuff.
P.S. weasel disclaimer: it was easy because I used paper. Other materials might obviously be a tad more challenging.
Still, it’s really worth giving it a go with paper because it’s quick, easy, looks good and dirt cheap.
I reckon using heavy grammage might really work very well.
@JP_Roy @Jeremy_Spencer @matt_p @Leon_Yuhanov @allanGEE and all the guys who are considering to spend $$$ on a LED holder.
As mentioned before I was working on a SIMPLE solution for a LED strip fixture and here is the result:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B95I9Cyf8XgnZTJhckRRbFpRMmc/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B95I9Cyf8XgnV1ZQc2ViZUdRbEU/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B95I9Cyf8Xgnd3dxMWVlczJ0Rk0/view?usp=sharing
I used 2mm gas welding rods and bent 4 U-shaped pieces (height 140mm), 2 circles with 32mm diameter and soldered them together.
Press the holder in the 4 slits of the bulb fixture socket. If you want hotglue it in place. - Done - Set me back about $2
@Juergen_Bruegl very creative indeed but…
I am willing to spend a few $$ to achieve my goal of having all the LEDs inside my FADO lamp to be spaced equally (about 1cm ) from the diffuser surface.
What I am after is something a bit closer to what +Leon Yuhanov created (Sphere V2) but though his lamp is just awesome (yours too by the way…) I want to improve on his design by adding some space between LEDs and diffusing surface.
My current design would have 720 WS2812b devices (10 strips of 72 LEDs/meter) inside that Fado lamp but I still have quite a few smaller details to sort out before I start ordering parts !!
I am currently discussing with +Jeremy Spencer about making custom 3D printed parts to achieve this design goal.
Stay posted… we’re just not there yet…
@JP_Roy go for it, your designs are great!
@Jeremy_Spencer What kind of special ABS are you using for your 3d printed diffuser? Now that I see how good that looks I think I’d like to try that on something I’m working on. I would be interested to hear any tips or suggestions you might have for that.
Hi @allanGEE , I want to thank you for giving me this link for a $200 US 3D printer !!
I purchased it a few days ago for $200 US although they had raised the price up to $248 a day or so after you gave me that info as I could not find that price on Aliexpress anymore…
But I guess they forgot to disable that specific link of yours and I was able to use it to squeeze in my order at the special 20% off price. Was not sure they would do it but they still accepted the order I made…
Thanks again, now I just hope the printer is as nice as some of the very positive reviews indicate !!
@JP_Roy I’d appreciate it if you let me know how it works out. I’m still on the verge of buying one.
allangeeD0TmailATgmailD0Tcom.
Hope it turns out even BETTER than expected.