instructables
DIY 3D LED Cube With a Raspberry Pi
by tmckay1.jackson
This project goes over how we made a DIY 3D LED Cube from ws2812b LEDs. The cube is 8x8x8 of LEDs, so 512 total,
and the layers are made of acrylic sheets we got from home depot. The animations are powered by a raspberry pi
and a 5V power source. The cube is a great piece to show o to friends and can act as a lamp. Ours is a little too big
for a lamp (2ft x 2ft x 2ft), but you can scale this down to t your needs.
Supplies:
1. ws2812b LED Bulbs - https://amzn.to/370NCK7
2. 5V Power Supply - https://amzn.to/36VDylP
3. Raspberry pi 3b I used (can use any) - https://amzn.to/36VDylP
4. SN74HCT125 Integrated Circuit - jumps voltage from raspberry pi signal to have proper voltage for
led strip (I usually get my circuit parts from Digikey)
5. 4ft x 8ft acrylic sheet - Home Depot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNqzkDugvSw
Step 1: Break Down the Acrylic Sheet
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We are making an 8x8x8 cube with a string of We started by breaking down the 4ft x 8ft piece into 2
ws2812b leds. The leds are separated by 3 inches, so pieces of equal widths (~2ft x 8ft) with a table saw.
the lights will be about 21inches by 21 inches long. We After that, we used one piece as a template to draw a
chose to make the acrylic sheets a little less than 2ft x line using a dry erase marker to make equal squares
2ft to handle this. That means we can make 8 layers from the pieces. Then we used a straight edge and a
from a single sheet of 4ft x 8ft acrylic. circular saw to make the 8 square layers.
Step 2: Measure Out the Holes for the LEDs
After each of the 8 layers were cut to size, we drew out the measurements for where the LEDs should be. We used a
dry erase marker and a straight edge to center the led square. Since we had an 8x8x8 led cube, there will be 64
LEDs on each layer aligned in a grid pattern with about 3 inches between adjacent LEDs.
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Step 3: Drill Out Holes for the LEDs
Once the holes are marked out, drill out 1/2 inch holes out of plywood that will be the bottom of the cube.
with a step drill bit. This will make sure the acrylic After the holes were drilled out, we fed the LED bulbs
does not crack. We had issues using a regular drill bit through each hole. We used a serpentine pattern to
on this material and had to get a step drill bit to nish orient the leds in each row.
the cuts. Since the pieces were clamped together, we
only had to drill out 64 holes. We also made a layer
Step 4: Combine the Layers
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After the layers were made with the leds in each, go ahead and combine the layers using 3 inch pieces of acrylic as
spacers. We hot glued all 8 layers together with 5 spacers per layer. Then we came back with longer 2 feet pieces of
acrylic and reinforced the sides of the cube. This is the rst step we really saw the cube come together, and it looked
great.
Step 5: Connect the Layers, Solder Up the Circuit, and Download the Code
Now that the layers were all secured, we had to solder Once the circuit is setup go ahead and download the
up the connections between layers. Since we had an code from my github repository. We have a bunch of
even number of leds (8), in each layer we ended the animations and more are coming, feel free to take a
serpentine strip of LEDs on the same side as the start look. I used the BiblioPixel library to draw animations
of the strip. Then we connected each layer to the layer to the screen and BiblioPixelAnimations library to
above, which in turn made vertical serpentine pattern copy some of the animation code. Since BiblioPixel did
connecting layers. After the layers were connected we not correctly handle a snaking vertical cube, I had to
made a simple circuit as seen in the attached photo to modify the code a bit to handle this. Once BiblioPixel
send data from the raspberry pi to the ws2812b leds. is installed you should be able to run the animations
Since the raspberry pi outputs at a 3.3V signal and we without issue.
need a 5V signal to correctly send data to the ws2812b
leds, we use a SN74HCT125 integrated circuit to step
up the voltage.
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Step 6: Light It Up!
Enjoy the animations! There are some really cool ones and I suggest watching the youtube video to see them all in
action. Thanks for reading!
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