The Daft Punk LED Helmets: Build Your Own!

Halloween is fast approaching, and so it’s no wonder this amazing DIY LED helmet caught my eye. Turns out it’s a replica of one of the helmets worn onstage by the members of Daft Punk, the French house duo largely responsible for defining that genre of electronic music. Since 2001, Daft Punk has been dawning highly intricate, sci-fi inspired LED helmets on stage. As much as a four-to-the-floor beat and fist pumping is synonymous with the Daft Punk sound, these helmets have become an undeniable part of their unique and forward thinking visual aesthetic during live shows. Agent RayBans, someone I can only imagine to be a huge fan of both Daft Punk and LED lighting technology, put together the following helpful chart, which chronicles the different helmets worn by the band over the years.

DMX LED

According to Agent RayBans, the now out of business company LED FX and Alterain, Inc. are responsible for making the helmets, with help in the design department from Daft Punk members Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. Considering how new LED technology was in the early 2000s, the fact that the DMX LED helmets were capable of displaying text and synching images and patterns to music is pretty impressive. It also makes sense that making them is said to have cost $65,000. Wow!

Several equally obsessive Daft Punk fans and LEDIYers have figured out how to make similar helmets. There is a variety of instructions out there but here are the best I’ve found.

DMX LED

This one, uses flexible LED strip and replicates Guy’s helmet from the Discovery era, but takes 17 months to build! (I guess if you hurry, you can start now and try to get it ready for Halloween 2014!)

DMX LED

This one, laced with RGB LED lights, takes four months,  and replicates Thomas’ helmets from the Discovery and Transition eras.