4x4x4 LED Cube
(Arduino Uno)
In this tutorial I’ll show you how to make
a 4x4x4 LED cube for around $15.00.
The cube has 64 green LEDs which
make up it’s 4 layers(positives) and 16
columns(negatives). These are all wired
tm = Aenea liam Am AeAinses 1 =.single-board microcontroller, intended
to make the application of interactive
objects or environments more
accessible. The hardware consists of
an open-source hardware board
designed around an 8-bit Atmel AVR
microcontroller, or a 32-bit Atmel ARM. |
programed code(sketches) for the
Arduino Uno to controll the individual
LEDs to display patterns for this
captivating desktop light show.Step 1: What You Will
Need:
Parts/ Materials:
s $2.00
$1.00
or $0.50
$1.00
S075
5.6. Craft Wire $0.25
7. Perf Board $2.00
8. Project Box $6.00
9. 9V Power Supply $1.00
Total Cost: $14.50
Tools/ Adhesives:
Arduino Uno
Drill
1/16" Drill Bit
5/16" Drill Bit
Knife
Straight Edge
Needle Nose Pliers
Soldering Iron
SolderStep 2: Making The LED
Jig
First, Start by printing out my 4x4x4 LED
Cube Template and paste it to a
cardboard box. Make sure that the
printing settings are set to actual size
and landscape orientation. Next, punch
out all 16 LED holes(grey dashed
circles) using a pencil. Insert a LED into
the individual holes to test the fit.step 3: Making [he LED
Cube
Take the 64 LEDs and test them to
ensure that they all work using a button
cell battery. This may sound tedious
but in the end this will safe-guard your
your project! Next, insert 16 LEDs into
the holes and bend the leads to the
direction of the arrows using needle
nose pliers. The red arrows represent
the positives(anodes) likewise the blue
arrows represent the
negatives(cathodes). Solder all of the
positive leads together and trim off the
access of the leads. Now, you might
have noticed that there are two gaps in
the layer of the positive leads. This can
be solved by straightening a length of
craft wire by pulling both ends of thewire with pliers and trimming two 1°
sections that are then soldered in place.
After the hole positive layer is soldered
together, flip the box over and start
pushing the tips of the LEDs out of the
holes in the jig. Make sure to do this
evenly to avoid bending or damaging
the layers structure. Now your first LED
layer is finished! Follow this step three
more times to end up with four layers.
Next, take the four LED layers and
solder the negative leads together by
stacking the individual layers on the top
of each other. Start by soldering the
leads in the center, then work out to the
leads on the edge. The 4x4x4 LED cubeis starting to take shape! Straghten
another length of craft wire and cut and
bend four sections that will later
connect the four layers to the perf
board. Finally, solder them in place.
Step 4: Installing The LED
Cube
Start by marking an outline of a square
with a Sharpie that is slightly smaller
than the interior sides of project box on
the perf board. Use a straight edge and
a knife to score the outline along the
lines, then break off the access material
by placing the perf board in a vise or on
the edae of a table, then apply pressuretill the scored sides snap off. Next, drill
20 holes with a 1/16" drill bit for the
leads on the top of the project box. An
easy way of doing this is by marking the
holes where the leads poke out of the
perf board and then taping the board to
the top of the project box. Next mark
the 20 holes on the top of the box
through the board with a sharpened
pencil. Take the perf board off and drill
where the markings are on the project
box. Then glue the perf board inside of
the box with some hot glue. Make sure
that all 20 holes line up with the holes
on the perf board. Next install the LED
cube by carefully inserting each lead
through the holes on the project box.
Finally, solder the leads in place, then
trim off the access wire.Step 9: Wiring The Circuit
First, snap the pin header in to 3 pieces
that fit the Arduino Unos digital and
analog plug-ins. Strip and start
soldering wires to the 16 digital
leads(columns) on the perf board. For
the 4 analog leads(layers), solder 100
OHNM resisters to the leads then solder
wires to each resisters lead. Next strip
and solder the opposite ends of the
wires to the 3 pin headers. The wiring is
setup to resemble a graph with a 3rd
dimension. For the columns, there are
two axes X and Y. In addition, the layers
serve as the Z axis. If you look straight
down from the top of the LED cube it
looks like the 1st quadrant on a graph
except that the origin is (1,1) on the
cube. Likewise each LED can be named
usina the fundamental arapnhinagtechnique. Lets try an example; look at
the demonstrational picture and find
A(1,4). “A” means that it is on the first
layer and “(1,4)” is X=1,Y=4 on the
graph.
Connection Setup:
Columns
[(x, y)-Pin]* (1,1)-13
= (1,2)-12
* (1,3)-11
= (1,4)-10
= (2,1)-9
= (2,2)-8
«= (2,3)-7
= (2,4)-6
= (3,1)-5
« (3-2)-4
= (3-3)-3
= (3,4)-2
= (41)-1
= (4,2)-0
« (4,3)-A5
= (4,4)-A4[Layer-Pin]
= a-A0
= b-Al
= c-A2
= d-A3