The Story

The idea of OctopusWerks came about when I was in high school with Fast and Furious in theaters and street glow neon tubes were all the rage. Why stop with cars? Before LEDs were mainstream, I wired 12v neon tubes under furniture, desks, bars and basements. When I bought my house, I used led strips to light up the living room and hallways. A deck was eventually built off the house and I knew I had to have LED deck posts on automatic timers, so like anyone else, I went to Lowes and Home Depot. I spent $30 per post cap and $60 per step light, but I finally had lights outside. They were only available in white.

During this time of becoming a homeowner and adding lights wherever I could, I had 2 3D printers and was printing articulating toys for my kid and basic containers to hold tools, screws, etc. Anything I could find for free online. I was also into going out on ATVs in the woods, and of course my ATV had bluetooth color changing LEDs and light bars.If you can put lights on it, why not, right?

I was always familiar with running 12v lighting with inverters around my parent's house when I was younger, so why not replace all the outdoor lights with the already waterproof ATV and Auto lighting? The funny thing is, landscape outdoor lighting is actually 12v, so as far as powering color changing LED pods, it's not an issue.

While I lived with my parents, my father had his own machine shop where I learned CNC machine code and how to draw parts in AutoCad. Using my basic knowledge of 3D modeling, I decided to grow that knowledge and design the HexaBox. I took the idea of a Rock Speaker, (an outdoor speaker, hidden in a rock, common in amusement parks) and thought why not create a similar idea but with color changing lights and built in any color possible via 3D printing?

From the dimensions I gained from the design of the HexaBox, and input from friends and family, I moved on to design Pathway lights and the Deck Post Cap lights. I even designed pods to clamp onto golfcarts, and pods to mount on the outside of decks and fences to light up patios, yards and firepits.

Outside of light pods, I've added fully 3D printed Tiki Torch stands, Tiki Torch adapters to mount to our Deck Post Caps, and of course 3D parts to help hide wires as you mount our products.

With my current level of knowledge in 3D design, any of OctopusWerk's many light pods can be altered and customized to fit the design and aesthetic of your house. Don't forget, these products can be produced in almost any color and being manufactured in PLA+, they can easily be painted as well to match your house/shed/deck etc.