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The 4x4x4 LED cube (Arduino)

by forte1994 on September 2, 2010

Table of Contents

The 4x4x4 LED cube (Arduino) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro: The 4x4x4 LED cube (Arduino) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 1: Get the materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 2: Assemble the board(the LED cube base) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Step 3: Defuse the LED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Step 4: Construct the cube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Step 5: PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

File Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Step 6: ADD on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube-Arduino/
Intro: The 4x4x4 LED cube (Arduino)
In this instructable I will show you how to make a 4x4x4 LED cube that will be controlled by an Arduino Demulionove. now yes you might say" that Arduino has only 14
I/O pins well also the 6 analog pins can be used as pins 15,16,17,18,19,20. that way giving us enough pins (16 columns + 4layers = 20 I/O pins)

This instructable is made for those who know how to solder (well) and how to program the Arduino. Also I will be providing detours to skip sum steps so if you see
(Detour available skip to __ Step) you can follow if you are to lazy to do that.

Step 1: Get the materials

To start of you will need these materials:

Mandatory
-- 64 LED (color optional) **
-- Arduino Demulionove
-- Wire

Optional
--32 male pin strip
--PCB prototype board
--Fine Grit (400 +) sand paper

Your choice
-- 64 resistors or 16
you can get 64 resistors which will help by keeping all the lights at the same light out put regardless of how many are on but it will be considerably more work.

Tools:
--Computer
--Soldering Iron
--Solder
--thin nose pliers

**Color is optional but use this website to find the right resistor for your leds http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz (I got Green so I used 100 ohm resistors)

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube-Arduino/
 Image Notes Image Notes
1. 64 LED your choice in this case its green 1. supper Bright
2. PCB but I didn't end up using this one because it was too small so I used a 2. clear
bigger one
3. broken off peace off the 32 male pin header
4. Arduino
5. 64-100 ohm resistors
6. 400 G sand paper
7. My keyboard

Image Notes
1. now Defused LED

Step 2: Assemble the board(the LED cube base)

(Detour available skip to next step)

In this step you will need the board and the wiring. First you will want to map out were all the wires will go and then feed the wires through the board. Don't mind the LED
and resistor note on the picture for now.

NOTE: I recommend you use Different color wire just because you won't get confused which wire is which.

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube-Arduino/
 Image Notes
1. 100 ohm resistor
2. coloms(+) 1 - 8
3. coloms(+) 9 - 14
4. coloms(+) 15 ,16
5. levels(-) 1 - 4
6. defused LED using sand paper

Step 3: Defuse the LED

DETOUR if you don't want to do this then go to next step

So to defuse the LED I took normal 400 grit sand paper and sanded all the LEDs which made them look pretty good.

Image Notes Image Notes

1. 400 GRIT sand paper 1. now Defused LED
2. clear LED

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube-Arduino/
 Image Notes Image Notes
1. normal 1. with flash you can still see the defused one but not the normal
2. after sanding

Image Notes
1. this = lighting up the LED above it
2. this = dispersing light

Step 4: Construct the cube

Now there is the Easy way to do this and that is to connect all the (--) in one layer and then the columns (+) to the resistor and then board. (Look at picture diagram
below) what happens is when you turn it on (all of them) the lights are dimmer then when one is on.

My solution to this was to solder a 100 ohm resistor to each LED. (Follow picture instruction on how to do it.) Everything is done in the same way only now you solder all
the resistors to the column which is a piece of Ethernet wire. (See picture)

Image Notes
1. the resistor
2. LED
3. resistor plased in between the (-) bent down and the (+) bent up.
http://www.instructables.com/id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube-Arduino/
 4. start wraping the resistor around the (+) leed.
5. when done solder and snip off the end of the LED that is after the solder.

Image Notes
1. LAYER(--)
2. COLOMN (+)
3. LED
4. 100 ohm resistor
5. connections to arduino pins (+)
6. conections to arduino (--)

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube-Arduino/
http://www.instructables.com/id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube-Arduino/
 Image Notes
1. resistor rining from the (+) on the LED to the (+) colom
2. (+) colom runing to the arduino
3. the (--) layer conected to the (--) of the LED

Step 5: PROGRAM
Good job on making it too this step now all you need to do is upload this code and you are done.

the code did not fit the line so here it is

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube-Arduino/
 Image Notes
1. All finished YAY took me about 4 days 2-5 hours a day to finish and program.

File Downloads

LED_cube_4x4x4.zip (2 KB)
[NOTE: When saving, if you see .tmp as the file ext, rename it to 'LED_cube_4x4x4.zip']
Step 6: ADD on
so to program the cube all you need to do is change the

B1111, B1111, B1111, B1111, B1111, B1111, B1111, B1111, B1111, B1111, B1111, B1111, B1111, B1111, B1111, B1111, 80,

code
each B1111 corresponds to a line of LEDs in your cube 0 being off and 1 being on. The last number is the time it will display that part in milliseconds.

so get programing and enjoy.

Related Instructables

4x4x4 LED cube Led Cube 4x4x4 LED Cube 4x4x4 Make a 24X6
by Electronics (video) by bajgik by chr LED matrix by
Man LED Cube and How to build an Syst3mX
Arduino Lib by 8x8x8 LED cube
gzip and control it
with an Arduino
by R-
http://www.instructables.com/id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube-Arduino/
Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 51 comments

TheWaddleWaaddle says: Mar 14, 2011. 8:27 PM REPLY

*Duemilanove

4and20chars says: Feb 21, 2011. 8:25 PM REPLY

I love this instructable but I have a few questions. The first is, why did you not use transistors on the cathodes. The second question is how did you calculate
the resistor needed for each LED? Lastly, without resistors on the ground pins, is the arduino still protected or are they only needed with transistors. Sorry for
the long list, theses were the only things I was unsure of after scouring the internet. Thanks.

forte1994 says: Feb 24, 2011. 8:31 PM REPLY

1) because the High setting on arduino is basicly + and the Low is - so i desided not to use transistors scince i can just turn on -.

2) its a website i found on google also i just generaly use 100 ohm even when the calculator says 73 or somthin just to be safe.

http://www.engplanet.com/content/resistorinfo.html

3) if i put resistors on the ground pins then the led wont light up because of the double resistance (2 x 100 ohm)

4and20chars says: Feb 25, 2011. 1:46 PM REPLY

So just to be clear, there is no (reasonable) chance of damaging the arduino or leds using your code and cube construction.

Electronics Man says: Feb 12, 2011. 6:02 AM REPLY

Which wires coming from the cube hook into the arduino pins? I have the cube built but I dont know where to connect the wires.

forte1994 says: Feb 21, 2011. 2:33 PM REPLY

the coloms to pins 0 - 13 analog in 0 - 1
the layers to anlog in 5 - 2

supernova12 says: Feb 4, 2011. 12:54 PM REPLY

This cube is awesome, I just built it as my first project with my new arduino and it works great :). Thanks so much for the code, I honestly couldn't be
bothered writing all the patterns myself.

forte1994 says: Feb 5, 2011. 5:03 PM REPLY

Good job, and I did make a java app to write the code for you and you just check and ubchek boxes, its still a work in progress but does genorate the
code. I'll try to finish it asap and post it here.

the seaker says: Dec 29, 2010. 9:18 AM REPLY

so basically what you're saying is this
B1111(column1), B1111(column2), B1111(column3), B1111(column4), B1111(column5), B1111(column6), B1111(column7), B1111(column8),
B1111(column9), B1111(column10), B1111(column11), B1111(column12), B1111(column13), B1111(column14), B1111(column15), B1111(column16),
80(time)

is how the code is set up?

this is a great instructable. simple and educational.

ajmontag says: Jan 5, 2011. 11:29 PM REPLY

In my cube I use decoders and a bit of bitwise black magic:

/**
* Displays the anode column with the given number value; [0, 24].
*/
void displayNum(int num){
//constrain the argument to be between 0 and 24 inclusive.
num = constrain(num, 0, 24);

/*
* AND: selects the bit, the bit at weight will be 1 if the pin is to be high
* >>: shifts the selected bit to the end of the word, making the value a 0 or 1
* first result is lsb
* digitalWrite: write the approptiate result (HIGH or LOW)
* to the appropriate decoder pin
*/
for(int weight=1, pin=0; pin < DECODER_BITS; weight*=2, pin++)
digitalWrite(decoderPins[pin] ,(num & weight) >> pin);

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube-Arduino/
 //delay, this is the absoloute minimum time the light will be displayed.
//ensures adequate delay for decoders as well.
delayMicroseconds(MICRO);
}

check it out at: http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-Cube-with-Arduino-and-custom-PCB/

forte1994 says: Dec 31, 2010. 10:08 AM REPLY

um.. thats how its supposed to be, but don't count on it being exact it might be a row or a colom for me it was row it all depends on how you set it up.

thanks

the seaker says: Dec 31, 2010. 11:14 PM REPLY

thanks

emihackr97 says: Dec 8, 2010. 3:46 PM REPLY

i dont understand, doesn't Arduino only have 3 GROUND PINS??
how cmoe you connect 4 different wires to it, please answer.

Mike32526 says: Dec 8, 2010. 5:30 PM REPLY

the 4 diff coms are so you can turn on an individual level with out turning on that whole colum of leds just the one on that level u wish to come on

Mike

emihackr97 says: Dec 8, 2010. 7:21 PM REPLY

yeah, i know that, but, arent the Level pins supposed to be ground???
as far as i know, those pins can supply V out but not gnd, in confused.
Do you understand me??? can you explain me how these work??

Mike32526 says: Dec 8, 2010. 8:34 PM REPLY

All your pin on ur arduino can be manipulated to do any thing for example +5v (HIGH) or 0 volts (LOW) (gnd) by useing somryging like:
digital.Write(2,LOW); Or something of that nature to tell the pin hey go gnd or go positive, Dont do this as a power Source!! As this will blow i/o
pins and/or the micro processor( the brain of it) Leds pull very little so they are semi safe to use. The resistor is to protect the arduino from the led
pulling to much as it limits the power it can draw from the pin.

The i/o pins are very universal in use i begin to love my arduino more and more every day!!

Mike

emihackr97 says: Dec 9, 2010. 8:02 PM REPLY

thanks for the explanation, I thught that telling the pin to go LOW just disconnected it, but now I understand.
also, I think that the resistor is not to protect the arduino, but the LEDs, since they are normally 3v and the Arduino is 5.

Mike32526 says: Dec 10, 2010. 5:49 AM REPLY

the led will pull alot of milli amps as well possible to over load the i/o pins capable out put so the resistor limits how much it can pull. yes
also protects led but the i/o pin isnt capable of suppling enough ma to blow the led any faster...

forte1994 says: Dec 11, 2010. 9:15 AM REPLY

srry i could not reply resently.
good explanations and also yu do not need to put resistors on each led just the coloms.

ill be making an 8x8x8 soon (hopefully)

and the resistor is like a 2 way protection:
led --> arduino protects arduino
arduino --> led protects the led from burning out

hope this mekes it easier :-)

thanks

Mike32526 says: Dec 11, 2010. 10:51 AM REPLY

Post some videos id love to see it i to hope to make one that big i mave accomplished the 4x4x4 and is great

forte1994 says: Dec 31, 2010. 10:09 AM REPLY

im working on the video just didnt have the time yet.

hopefully will have it soon

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube-Arduino/
 mackjr says: Dec 31, 2010. 9:29 AM REPLY
matrix specifically identity matrix like 1 0 0
010
001

the seaker says: Dec 28, 2010. 1:18 PM REPLY

did you use some sort of jig to create the layers? if so do you know how far the leds were apart?

emihackr97 says: Dec 11, 2010. 8:12 AM REPLY

I'm making one today. Yay!

forte1994 says: Dec 11, 2010. 9:10 AM REPLY

good luck ;-)
post some pictures of it later :-)

emihackr97 says: Dec 11, 2010. 10:45 PM REPLY

yes, I couldn't finish it today but I have allready made all the layers, just need to attach it together.
any tips to do this??

forte1994 says: Dec 17, 2010. 11:14 AM REPLY

-put the second from botom layer in the jig and then match it with the next.

-then if you need to, bend the legs that are stiking up so that they easely
connect to the next leyer

-put something to space them apart and solder the corners

-then remove the suports and solder evrything else

-rinse and repeat

-(ths way you do layer 1-2 then 1,2-3 then 1,2,3-4 4 being top)

good luck

emihackr97 says: Dec 19, 2010. 11:44 PM REPLY

I made it a bit different and didn't add a resistor to each LED but to each column.

emihackr97 says: Dec 19, 2010. 11:43 PM REPLY

I've allready finished, but i'm finishing my code so, when I finish it I will post some pics.

emihackr97 says: Dec 11, 2010. 10:48 PM REPLY

can you tell me in what pins does every column adr layer goes, please??

emihackr97 says: Dec 12, 2010. 10:56 AM REPLY

I've catually figured it out from the code, thanks!

emihackr97 says: Dec 8, 2010. 3:52 PM REPLY

or wouldn't you need transistors???

chr says: Dec 1, 2010. 6:23 AM REPLY

Hi forte1994,

Nice LED Cube! :)

I've built a few led cubes, and want to share some insights and design considerations.

1) There should be no need to have a resistor for each LED. If you use multiplexing, and it is working correctly, no more than one LED per column will be on
at any given time.

2) I would recommend using an interrupt routine to do the multiplexing.

Create an buffer array of 4x4 bytes. (that way X and Y is the byte, and Z is the bits within the byte. It will save you 48 bytes of ram)

Set up a timer that runs every 10 milliseconds or something, and set up an interrupt routine that is called on every timer reset.

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube-Arduino/
 Every time the interrupt routine is called, it turns all layers off, loads the next layer from the buffer array onto the IO pins, and turns the next layer on. Rinse
and repeat.

The cube now draws the buffer contents onto the LED cube in the background, and your main() loop can be preserved for code that generates animations.

I haven't tried using timers or interrupts on an Arduino before, but it shouldn't be very different from using them on a plain AVR.

You will also free up a lot of programming space by not having to store the patterns in program memory. I have ledcubes that run several minutes of
animations on a 16KB avr.

You can also populate the cube buffer array via the serial line and control it from a computer.

Check out some code examples in my LED Cube instructable:

http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-Cube-4x4x4/

Hope you found this useful!

-chr

forte1994 says: Dec 4, 2010. 5:36 PM REPLY

I found that for some reson some of the lights do not do multiplexing because I set up a camera that fillmed it and then played it back at VERY slow
motion.
(by very slow I mean it was a 30 second video and I solowed it down to 30 min.)

thanks for the advise next I want to do a 8x8x8 and then 16x16x16 untill I can get to 64x64x64 :)

ReadyWater says: Nov 26, 2010. 6:48 AM REPLY

Any chance the ingredients were purchased at Creatron in Toronto? The resistor bags and led info sheets look awfully familiar.

forte1994 says: Dec 4, 2010. 3:25 PM REPLY

hehe YEP

forte1994 says: Sep 13, 2010. 10:30 PM REPLY

Does anyone now how to rate something (instructible ) before it was stars, what is it now?

Thanks in advance.

zascecs says: Nov 25, 2010. 9:13 AM REPLY

You go to the stars above someone's name, and then click on how many starts you think the person deserves ( From worthless, 0.5 starts, to best ever,
5 stars).

If you're asking how many stars yours has, its 4.33 out of 5.

thomasofacton says: Nov 20, 2010. 3:02 PM REPLY

I love it. I want to make one of these. But could you upload your code. When i do the copy and paste well arduino Ver 21 doesn't like it. Thanks again good
job

forte1994 says: Nov 20, 2010. 6:56 PM REPLY

ok i changed the code and tested it and it works (the step wasnt alowing more text and cut it off)

thank you for noticing

mertaxoy says: Nov 8, 2010. 9:43 AM REPLY

there are many missing commands in program like this for (ledrow=0; ledrow
can i give us the code as a file please ?
thank you..

zack247 says: Sep 12, 2010. 12:13 AM REPLY

cool! i have always wanted to make a led cube, but i never found enough leds, maybe a 3x3x3 will be good enough for me.

PS: its spelled diffused, not defused, sorry if this came across as negative

forte1994 says: Sep 13, 2010. 10:21 PM REPLY

Na I always make mistakes ( I'm only human) lol thanks

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube-Arduino/
 herpelcano says: Sep 9, 2010. 11:25 PM REPLY
Since only one layer is on at a time you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble by only putting your resistors on the wires leading to the sixteen columns.

forte1994 says: Sep 10, 2010. 3:25 PM REPLY

ya at first i tried it with a 3x3x3 led cube and the colons would get considerably darker as more then one led on that colon turned on so thats why i did the
extra work.

the seaker says: Sep 9, 2010. 9:03 AM REPLY

my last post was done when i was half asleep and i apoligize, i deleted it and ill start over. okay so if you do it your way using 20 pins, wouldnt lighting all the
leds up draw more current than the arduino can put out?

herpelcano says: Sep 9, 2010. 11:23 PM REPLY

The authors cube is multiplexed which means only one layer it sixteen LEDs is on at any one time and they layers switch back and forth every couple
milliseconds to make it appear as if they are all on.

forte1994 says: Sep 9, 2010. 3:10 PM REPLY

well since each led is using its own 100 ohm resistor then i don't see why it would pull to much ( i don't know much about that stuff yet only grade 11) but
the Arduino works perfectly fine and all the leds have the same light out put.

the seaker says: Sep 10, 2010. 8:27 AM REPLY

i am only grade 11 as well. and i see what you're saying, thanks for putting it that way because i some how managed to over look this simple fact.
with both the arduino turning the leds on and off every couple milliseconds and the resistors, there wouldn't really be any way to go over the current
limit of the arduino.

forte1994 says: Sep 13, 2010. 10:27 PM REPLY

There is actualy a way to see the led cube having one led on (at a time) while our eye sees the whole cube lit. Get a cammera and (don't know
much about cameras) and there is a setting that will make the cube look like it's flashing.
That way it is way easier to understand it.

view all 51 comments

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube-Arduino/