LED Cube RGB 8x8x8
Intro
LED Cube RGB 8x8x8 is a development from LED Cube RGB made by Kevin Darrah. You can search for RGB Cube at Kevin Darrah's Youtube channel if you want to see or learn about the original version of this LED Dube RGB 8x8x8.
What I made here is a version with no cables, where all components placed at 3 separated boards which then connected using pin headers.
LED
LED used for this project are 5mm RGB LED Diffused color, Common Anode.
These LEDs need to be bend. I use a Jig to help me bend all the LEDs in the same shape, as shown below.
And the result would be like shown below
We will need to prepare 512pcs of LED bended with the same way.
LED Matrix
After all the LEDs already been bended, then need to be put together with wires. I used silver color copper wire which usually used for handicraft.
Those wires need to be straighten and cut for about 17cm - 18cm, as shown below.
And LEDs were form 8x8 matrix like below.
Then we will need to prepare 8pcs of this Matrix. Then we'll able to proceed to the board.
Circuit Boards
There are 3 circuit boards needed for this LED Cube.
LED Board
Is the top board having all the LEDs soldered onto it.
Here are the pictures of the schematic and the board.
And below is the picture with the markings.
The green boxes are the places for the Cathode wires.
The yellow ellipse are places for the Anodes of each layer.
And the rest are for headers to connect this board with the Column Controller board below it.
After all the LEDs already soldered, it will looks like the picture below.
And below is the close up picture for how to connect the Anode wires to the board
Column Controller Board
Is the middle board, mostly consist of SN74HC595 shift register and ULN2803A Transistor Array.
And below is the part of the Column Controller Board.
The part with yellow box with code RNx are for Resistor Network 1K Ohm, 9 pin. First pin pad is the rectangle one.
And the part with cyan color with code "200" are for 200 Ohm Resistor as much as 8pcs for each Shift Register, place vertically for space.
And part with green box, with code JRx will be the Header, which will be connected to the LED Board above it.
Beside that, there are also 3 header at the right, left and top as marked at picture below, which will connected to Controller Board below it.
The header at the left side will be the shift register control and data pins.
The header at the right side will control the Anode of each layer.
And header at the top will provide connection to VCC and GND to help spread the current.
Below are the pictures of the populated Column Controller Board, and the closed up position for better understanding on how the components placed.
Controller Board
This is the main Controller board, consist of 8 mosfets, with 1 set of shift register with the transistor array and the necessary components to control the power for each layer.
And the main controller of the whole thing, which is the minimum system of ATMega328P-PU, Arduino Compatible.
And here are the schematic and the picture of the main Controller board.
And below is the picture of the populated control board..
As can be seen at the picture, also from the schematic, there are 2 momentary button at the board.
The first one near the power jack, is the reset button.
And the second at the left side, labled "Action" is connected to INT0 pin, which can be programmed for special need.
But for now, at the current code, it still don't have any line for that purpose.
Components List
This is the list of all the components needed for this project
- IC ATMega328P-PU : 1pcs
- IC Socket 28pin : 1pcs
- Crystal 16Mhz : 1pcs
- Capacitor 22pF : 2pcs
- Capacitor 0.1uF : 31pcs
- Capacitor El 100uF : 13pcs
- Resistor 10k : 3pcs
- Resistor 100R : 8pcs
- Resistor 1K : 192pcs
- IRF9540N : 8pcs
- Resistor Network 1K 9pin : 25pcs
- ULN2803A : 25pcs
- SN74HC595 : 25pcs
- Female Header 1x6 Right Angle : 1pcs
- Male Header 1x8 : 19pcs
- Female Header 1x8 : 19pcs
- Female Header 1x9 : 8pcs
- Male Header 1x9 : 8pcs
- Tactile Button 6x6x5 Right Angle : 2pcs
- SS-12D11G5R SPDT : 1pcs
- Socket DC PCB Mount : 1pcs
- LED 5mm Diffused Color : 512pcs
- M3x6 Black Pan Padded Screw : 4pcs
- M3x5 Male-Female Nylon Spacer : 4pcs
- M3x10 Female-Female Nylon Spacer : 4pcs
- M3x10 Male-Female Nylon Spacer : 4pcs
- M3x7x1 Nylon Flat Washer : 8pcs
- Copper Wire : 50Meter
Code
Source code for this LED Cube RGB 8x8x8 also using Kevin Darrah's code, which modified a little to match the schematic I made here. The source code I used can be downloaded from : https://github.com/paulustanuri/PT019_RGB_Cube_888
The Making Process
For the making process of this cube. Although the video is in Bahasa (Indonesian Language), the English CC is available.