A build-it-yourself desk instrument

The Orb

Turn the knob. Watch the sky. Live aircraft, weather, and time on a little round screen. No apps, no feed, just the world around you.

Show me how to build oneWatch it fly
The Orb, a round-screened desk instrument in hammered bronze on a walnut base with the Imperial Signal badge, sitting on a desk beside a keyboard in morning light
What started it all

I stumbled onto an open-source flight radar someone had built for a tiny screen, and I could not put it down. Watching real planes cross a little glowing map, right there on my desk, scratched an itch I did not know I had.

So I built my own version of it. I gave it a round screen and a single knob, added weather and a clock and a few other things, and wrapped it in parts you can print at home. Then I opened the whole thing up, because the best part of a project like this is watching other people make it their own.

The Orb is that project. It is meant to be built, not just bought.

What it does

One knob, four little instruments.

Rock the knob back and forth to bring up the menu, turn to move between them, then press to open one. Most of it runs right on the device.

Flight radar

Live aircraft passing overhead, straight off ADS-B.

Clock

Three swappable instrument faces.

News

Headlines from the feeds you pick, a few at a time.

Settings

One knob tunes the whole thing.

The Orb sitting on a real workshop bench with hand tools nearby, in warm afternoon light
Ready to build?

It comes together in an afternoon.

Print or order the parts, grab one board and a few small pieces, flash the firmware from your browser, and put it together. No soldering anywhere.

Flashing happens over USB from Chrome, Edge or Opera on a computer. Phones and other browsers cannot talk to the board.

Show me how to build oneWatch the tutorials
What you'll need

Everything it takes to build one.

You buy the electronics through the links below, I handle the printed plastic. The kit is plastic-only and you put it together yourself. Nothing here needs a soldering iron.

The Orb: hammered bronze sphere and gooseneck arm, walnut base with the Imperial Signal badge, a watch face displayed on the round screen

Get the board

One Waveshare board runs everything, screen and all. It is the only piece you truly cannot skip.

Order the board

Get the small parts

A knob, a ribbon cable, a USB-C cable, and a microSD card. All off-the-shelf, all linked for you.

See the parts list

Get the printed parts

I have them printed and shipped to you, or download the files and print them on your own machine.

Order printed parts

Rather print it yourself?

Grab the files free on MakerWorld and print away.

Download from MakerWorld
Build tutorials

I'll walk you through all of it.

Short, friendly videos for every step. Watch first, then build along at your own pace.

More tutorials land as the build videos go up.

Free and open

Yours to flash, fork, and make better.

The firmware and the print files are free and open under the MIT license. The Orb grew out of Quique Tortosa's open-source Capsule Radar, and it stays open for the next person who wants to add something to it.

View it on GitHub

Take it with you

  • The firmware image

    This is the build your Orb runs. Orb Studio writes it and the three boot images for you over USB, which is the way to do it, because a blank board flashed with this file alone has no bootloader and looks broken. Take it if you flash your own boards.

  • The Aviator theme

    Open it in Orb Studio, where you can change anything about it first, then download it as one file or send it straight down the cable.

Want to support the project?

Every build helps me keep the files free and the tutorials coming. If the Orb made you smile, you can toss a little filament my way.

🧵 Buy me some filament

Get the build guide

Drop your email and I'll send the full build guide plus a note when new tutorials and parts go live.

Send it to me
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