Floppy Disc Space Invader Wall Deco

Hello Instructables!
In this instructable I am going to show you how to upcycle a bunch of floppy discs into (in my opinion) pretty cool wall deco.

Now I need to note that I intended to make this from materials that would mean no specialist tools were required, there are ways that this could be made sturdier and I made some adjustments on the fly but I will obviously share what I did.

Despite the wordy instructable that is to follow this is a straightforward project and i had a lot of fun making it : )

Insert coin.......

Lets begin

Materials

46 Floppy discs - I made a traditional shaped space invaders going on a 1 floppy disc to one pixel ratio. It is possible to make a smaller version (photo at the end) but If so inclined a bigger version to.

Something to mount them on - I wanted to use 5mm corrugated plastic/correx (like you see on "to Let" signs) but unless I was buying in bulk couldn't get a hold of any big enough, so I opted to to uses 2mm and double it up (in the end I ended up tripling it). You could mount this on thick card or even wood.

Paint - I opted for spray paint buy acrylic would work just as well.

Battery operated lights - a plug in set would also work. I went for green to match what i had in mind for the colour scheme. I also went for a remote controlled set (Just cos)

Glue - in the original picture I had impact glue but ended up changing to Gorilla glue as I wasn't happy with the results

Lollipop sticks

Duct Tape

Wire for hanging

Varnish (optional)

Tools
Craft knife

Cutting mat

No depending on what material you are using a lot of this may not apply to you but I will run you through what i did.

First of I measured out a square of correx that would pit my space invader (11 wide x 8 high). Now it's important to note that floppy discs are not a perfect square and are in fact slightly rectangular so be sure to keep them all on the same axis when measuring out. the also have one corner cut off but that will actually come in hand later.

From here I laid out my disc to get the shape of the space invader. Important note that will help you out, for the "antennae" and the middle legs where they line up diagonally I made sure to sue the small cut off corner at those points so that they could be attached to the main body and not have to be separate parts.

Depending on your backing material you may not need to do the next steps.

After cutting out the first space invader, got another bit or correx and turned it 90 degrees so that the "flutes" of the plastic ran in the opposite direction from the original. I then marked out the space invader shape and then glued lollipop sticks at the antennae/leg diagonals to add additional support. I also put some at the top of the eyes as this is where I plan to run my hanging wire.

I then glued these sheets together followed by a third as I wasn't happy with how sturdy it was

Using different shades of green and a bit of yellow I randomly sprayed the discs as I didn't want a uniformed finish. I also painted some label side up and some "disc" side up to ensure that the diagonals of the antennae/legs would be matching.

The space invader also looks good in gust a flat colour : )

I also gave them a coat of mat varnish here

After the paint has dried I laid them out on the backboard just to check if there were any bits i needed to trim away or tidy up.

I then covered the edges with duct tape (this was purely an aesthetic choice on my part)

Flipping the board over and going round the edges I then taped the lights in place. I started from the middle of the bottom and worked my way around, cutting into to the eyes from the antennae. This was a 33ft set of lights and I ended up with a bit extra so i just kept going around the eyes to make them brighter.

I then attached the battery pack/receiver at the bottom with a bit popping out so that the remote could still reach it. Important note, if using battery operated lights, ensure that when attaching it you can still get access to the batteries

After the lights where in place I looped some of the hanging wire through the eye holes, making sure that it wouldn't hang above the body or get caught on the lights.

Then i flipped the board back over and glued the discs into place.

Annnd we are done!
As you can see from the photos and video what was one a bunch of outdated plastic is now a cool wall decoration. I have also put a pick of the layout of a smaller Space invader.

Well as always, I hope you enjoyed this Instrutable and thoughts, comments, criticisms and picture of your own space invaders are welcome in the comments.

Take care