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CREATE AN ARDUINO 3X3 LED CUBE IN 30 MINUTES
June 2014
 FEBRUARY 2, 2014  ARDUINO PROJECTS / CODE / GUIDES / HACKS  TIMOTHY  LEAVE A COMMENT
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Code LED cubes never fail to fascinate me. They are like 3-D representation of the galaxy, with each LED as a star.
General Well, you can’t blame me for my imagination. It knows no boundaries. If you have ever seen LED cubes in
Guides action, you will understand what i am saying and maybe even try to make your own LED cubes to add on
hacks
to the decor of your home. Before creating a huge LED cube, such as a 16X16 cube start by acquainting
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yourself with a simple arduino 3X3 LED cube.
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Tutorials
I decided to create a tutorial on an arduino 3X3 LED cube to demonstrate how it is made. I also wanted to
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familiarize myself with the whole LED cube concept. It took me several hours to make the cube, since it
was my first time. So, i decided to come up with a few simple steps that will enable you to do it in as little
META
as 30 minutes.
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WHAT YOU NEED
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WordPress.org 27 LEDs

Soldering wire and rod

Jumper wires

Three 2N3904 npn transistor

9 220Ω resistors

3 22K resistors

arduino board

perforated circuit board

STEP 1

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29/6/2014 Create an Arduino 3X3 LED Cube in 30 Minutes - Arduino Hacks | Arduino Hacks
Make an LED mold. You can do this by making holes on a cardboard like the one used to make cartons.
Poke 9 holes in it in the shape of a square.

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STEP 2

Bend the negative terminal (cathode) of all the LEDs that you are going to use and arrange them on the
mold as shown below. The bent cathode of one LED should touch the bent cathode of the other LED.

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29/6/2014 Create an Arduino 3X3 LED Cube in 30 Minutes - Arduino Hacks | Arduino Hacks

STEP 3

Solder the bent cathodes together so that they form one layer of 9 LEDs as shown below. Each layer
represents the cathode terminal. This will leave the LED anodes pointing upwards. (Open the images to
see the writings)

Once the three layers are done, solder them together. This is accomplished by soldering the anodes of
one layer to the corresponding anodes of the other layer as shown below. To effectively solder the
positive terminals together, use a crocodile clip to hold the LED layers in place. Alternatively, use a
cardboard piece, which has a width that is equal to the height that separates the LED layers, to hold the
upper layer as you solder. This is demonstrate in the pictures.

Cardboard piece

using cardboard piece to hold top layer in place

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29/6/2014 Create an Arduino 3X3 LED Cube in 30 Minutes - Arduino Hacks | Arduino Hacks

second layer already soldered

complete 3×3 cube

STEP 4

Arrange the other components on the perforated circuit board and solder them as shown in the photos
below.

components

PCB

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29/6/2014 Create an Arduino 3X3 LED Cube in 30 Minutes - Arduino Hacks | Arduino Hacks

attached 9 220 ohm resistors and 3 2N3904

transistors onto the PCB

bend the resistor and transistor pins to keep them in

place

all components attached on the PCB

attach the LED cube onto the PCB

Solder all the components

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29/6/2014 Create an Arduino 3X3 LED Cube in 30 Minutes - Arduino Hacks | Arduino Hacks

STEP 5

Wire the setup.

a. Solder jumper wires, from each of the LED cube anodes that are soldered on the PCB, to the 220 ohm
resistors. Each pin should be connected to one resistor.

Connect anodes to the resistors

b. Solder jumper wires from the resistors. These jumper wires will be connected to the arduino board.

Jumper wires to arduino

c. Solder a jumper wire onto each layer. Do this, by soldering 1 wire onto each layer.

layers

d. Wire the transistors. The emitter pins should be connected to the ground of the arduino, the base of
the transistors should be connected to digital pins 11,12 and 13 of the arduino and the collector pins
should be connected to the layers of the LED cube.

To do this solder the 3 wires that come from the layers to the collector terminals of the 2N3904
transistors. Each wire should go to one transistor as shown in numbers 1,2 and 3

Connect the emitter terminals of the three transistors, by soldering a wire from the emitter pin of one

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29/6/2014 Create an Arduino 3X3 LED Cube in 30 Minutes - Arduino Hacks | Arduino Hacks
transistor to the emitter pin of the other. Then solder a jumper wire from the last emitter pin that will be
connected to the ground pin of the arduino. The connections are labelled 1,2 and 3.

Solder or attach three 22k ohm resistors on three jumper wires. Solder the jumper wires on the base
terminals of the transistors as shown in 1,2 and 3. These jumper wires will be connected on to the arduino
digital pins 11,12 and 13.

STEP 6

Connect the set up to the arduino board

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29/6/2014 Create an Arduino 3X3 LED Cube in 30 Minutes - Arduino Hacks | Arduino Hacks

The numbers represent the arduino digital pins that the

LED columns and transistor wires are connected to

Once the arduino 3X3 LED cube setup is complete, upload the following short code to check if it works.

1 void setup()
2 {
3 pinMode(2,OUTPUT);
4 pinMode(3,OUTPUT);
5 pinMode(4,OUTPUT);
6 pinMode(5,OUTPUT);
7 pinMode(6,OUTPUT);
8 pinMode(7,OUTPUT);
9 pinMode(8,OUTPUT);
10 pinMode(9,OUTPUT);
11 pinMode(10,OUTPUT);
12 pinMode(11,OUTPUT);
13 pinMode(12,OUTPUT);
14 pinMode(13,OUTPUT);
15 }
16
17 void loop()
18 { //set pin 11-13 high so as to light all the layers
19 digitalWrite(11,HIGH);
20 digitalWrite(12,HIGH);
21 digitalWrite(13,HIGH);
22
23 digitalWrite(6,HIGH);//set the middle column ON throughout
24
25 //light the other columns on and off in a sequence
26 for(int i=2; i<11;i++)
27 {
28 if (i==6)
29 {
30 }
31 else
32 {
33 digitalWrite(i,HIGH);
34 delay(100);
35 digitalWrite(i,LOW);
36 }
37 }
38 }

Here is a short clip of how the Arduino 3X3 LED cube should light when the code is uploaded.

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29/6/2014 Create an Arduino 3X3 LED Cube in 30 Minutes - Arduino Hacks | Arduino Hacks

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