I printed another trial for the LED ring.  The outer ring prints flat in two strips.  These strips are then folded int a rough right and the sections connect using dovetail clips.  

Also, there is a topper ring to hold the whole thing in a roughly cylindrical shape.  I need to adjust the size of the ring so that the strips fit perfectly.  

I ordered some 60 LED/meter strips (5 meters long).  For 60 LEDs/meter, the LED repetition pitch is 16.54 mm. That will give 300 LEDs to make into an array.  I'm currently thinking about an 8x32 array to make a satisfying 8-bit amount (256 LEDs).  

Also, I will add 2-3 columns that are blacked out to hide the wires that interconnect the rows of LED strips.  That will make effectively 35 colums.  I am considering running the LED strips the long way (32 LEDs per strip) so that I will only have to wire up 8 ends.  That will give a ring approximately 222mm in diameter (about 9 inches).  More mechanical design is required to verify.

Things to figure out:

1.  When rolling up the strip into a ring, need to keep the final size of 16.54mm pitch on the inside of the ring.

2.  How to keep the LED strips in place? 

  - Hot glue (bleh!)

  - Springy clips:  How to keep them in place without coming off

  - Clips that are then welded on with the soldering iron.  I like this idea, but repairability will be low.  Maybe that's a positive feature.