8x8x8 LED cube
Pinkamena, Sun Sept 29 2013, 01:17AMHi folks!
Long time no see. During this summer, I read up on LED cubes and decided to design and build one myself. It was an exercise in circuit design and programming, as I had never tried taking on a project as big as this, and I had never worked with microcontrollers or arduinos. I also made a small 4x4x4 prototype to see if it was something I could manage.
It was also an exercise in patience! Soldering one layer took about 1.5 hours, and soldering a layer to the cube took about an hour too. I think it was worth it in the end, though. Looks pretty neat in person. the video doesn't do it justice.
I'd love to post the schematics, but I don't have any. It was all in my head, never bothered writing it down! I do have the code however, see the description of the video. It's written in Arduino.
It was fun to make, though. Weeks of "entertainment" ;) It also has the option of plugging a controller to it so I can change the parameters of each effect. Unfortunately I can only have about 7 effects total, since the ET-EASY 168 uses a microcontroller with only 16kB memory.
Re: 8x8x8 LED cube
HV Enthusiast, Sun Sept 29 2013, 09:39PM
LED Cubes are really cool. Unfortunately the labor involved in building one can be downright staggering!!! Wish there was a way to mass produce these with something that could be easily pick-n-placed etc....
Anyways, very nice work. I love these things.
I did design one myself awhile back that used a DSP processor to make a very cool 3-D audio spectrum analyzer. That could be another idea you could use.
HV Enthusiast, Sun Sept 29 2013, 09:39PM
LED Cubes are really cool. Unfortunately the labor involved in building one can be downright staggering!!! Wish there was a way to mass produce these with something that could be easily pick-n-placed etc....
Anyways, very nice work. I love these things.
I did design one myself awhile back that used a DSP processor to make a very cool 3-D audio spectrum analyzer. That could be another idea you could use.
Re: 8x8x8 LED cube
Thomas W, Sun Sept 29 2013, 10:14PM
Ive got a few ideas on how they could be mass-produced... very interestingly designed machines :)
Thomas W, Sun Sept 29 2013, 10:14PM
EasternVoltageResearch wrote ...
LED Cubes are really cool. Unfortunately the labor involved in building one can be downright staggering!!! Wish there was a way to mass produce these with something that could be easily pick-n-placed etc....
Anyways, very nice work. I love these things.
I did design one myself awhile back that used a DSP processor to make a very cool 3-D audio spectrum analyzer. That could be another idea you could use.
LED Cubes are really cool. Unfortunately the labor involved in building one can be downright staggering!!! Wish there was a way to mass produce these with something that could be easily pick-n-placed etc....
Anyways, very nice work. I love these things.
I did design one myself awhile back that used a DSP processor to make a very cool 3-D audio spectrum analyzer. That could be another idea you could use.
Ive got a few ideas on how they could be mass-produced... very interestingly designed machines :)
Re: 8x8x8 LED cube
Houdini0118, Sun Sept 29 2013, 11:18PM
If the leads could be spot welded together in a jig that would also make it alot easier to mass produce.
Houdini0118, Sun Sept 29 2013, 11:18PM
If the leads could be spot welded together in a jig that would also make it alot easier to mass produce.
Re: 8x8x8 LED cube
Gregory, Mon Sept 30 2013, 04:28PM
Ypu can try bit angle modulation to control the led brighness
Gregory, Mon Sept 30 2013, 04:28PM
Ypu can try bit angle modulation to control the led brighness
Re: 8x8x8 LED cube
Pinkamena, Mon Sept 30 2013, 04:51PM
I've been playing with that idea myself. Plugging it to the computer, and letting it do all the computation necessary.
Pinkamena, Mon Sept 30 2013, 04:51PM
EasternVoltageResearch wrote ...
I did design one myself awhile back that used a DSP processor to make a very cool 3-D audio spectrum analyzer. That could be another idea you could use.
I did design one myself awhile back that used a DSP processor to make a very cool 3-D audio spectrum analyzer. That could be another idea you could use.
I've been playing with that idea myself. Plugging it to the computer, and letting it do all the computation necessary.
Re: 8x8x8 LED cube
HV Enthusiast, Thu Oct 03 2013, 01:34PM
We need a transparent PCB substrate, that way everything can be pick-n-place and just assembled in a modular fashion!
HV Enthusiast, Thu Oct 03 2013, 01:34PM
We need a transparent PCB substrate, that way everything can be pick-n-place and just assembled in a modular fashion!
Re: 8x8x8 LED cube
Patrick, Sun Oct 06 2013, 04:16PM
)
some fiberglass is also nearly transparent, though with multi layers im not sure theyed be useful.
Patrick, Sun Oct 06 2013, 04:16PM
EasternVoltageResearch wrote ...
We need a transparent PCB substrate, that way everything can be pick-n-place and just assembled in a modular fashion!
there are polyester resins for encapsulation that anrt as exothermic (as much as epoxy) that are totally transparent. this is totally cool and doable with some effort... what are the dimensions of your 8^3 one? (in inches, not communist metric We need a transparent PCB substrate, that way everything can be pick-n-place and just assembled in a modular fashion!
) some fiberglass is also nearly transparent, though with multi layers im not sure theyed be useful.
Re: 8x8x8 LED cube
Pinkamena, Sun Oct 06 2013, 04:22PM
Each side of the cube is about 4.1 inches.
Pinkamena, Sun Oct 06 2013, 04:22PM
Patrick wrote ...
)
some fiberglass is also nearly transparent, though with multi layers im not sure theyed be useful.
EasternVoltageResearch wrote ...
We need a transparent PCB substrate, that way everything can be pick-n-place and just assembled in a modular fashion!
there are polyester resins for encapsulation that anrt as exothermic (as much as epoxy) that are totally transparent. this is totally cool and doable with some effort... what are the dimensions of your 8^3 one? (in inches, not communist metric We need a transparent PCB substrate, that way everything can be pick-n-place and just assembled in a modular fashion!
) some fiberglass is also nearly transparent, though with multi layers im not sure theyed be useful.
Each side of the cube is about 4.1 inches.
Re: 8x8x8 LED cube
Patrick, Mon Oct 07 2013, 03:37AM
well at 4.1^3 it would be heavy, but totally doable.
Patrick, Mon Oct 07 2013, 03:37AM
well at 4.1^3 it would be heavy, but totally doable.
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