I decided to include a 3.3V to 5V level translator chip on the base board so that many controller boards can be used directly. Most of the boards these days have 3.3V GPIO compatibility. and noticed that most of them would require voltage translators to make the cube work properly. Regarding controller circuits, I looked at many of the most popular controller boards - Arduino, Teensy, Raspberry Pi etc. It will keep an observer’s focus where it belongs - on the LEDs. It is a simple, much-less-busy-looking design. With the fingers removed from the base board it looked like Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. Preproduction prototype: How did the mods turn out? burkethos.Or perhaps two chains of 256 LEDs – who knows? This is a no-cost option and worth considering. Some builders may want one, large chain of 512 LEDs. I may also modify the baseboard such that each LED level can be daisy-chained to other levels. I fabbed some and here is what it looks like next to Mjonir:įor the final product I may round some of the PCB corners for an even sleeker look. This minimalist shape has an added benefit: it is smaller and therefore less expensive. You’d think it should have been obvious, but I didn’t see it. (Thank you, whoever you are!)įor the sake of appearance it made sense to let the builder mount the controller board inside the enclosure along with the power supply. He suggested that the area for the controller board was too tall and would result in a clunky appearing enclosure that was at odds with the streamlined cube. One person stopped by and liked the idea, but the large thru-hole area at the bottom for the controller board was off-putting. I had the first prototype (black PCBs) ready to show at the 2018 World Maker Faire in New York. Or, they could be trying to convince me to switch because that is what they manufacture. Some told me that they were discontinuing the WS2812 version – not a good sign. They are not footprint compatible but I’ve since learned from several Chinese manufacturers that the WS2812 3535 is harder to produce compared to the SK6812 3535. I will detail design trade-offs and explain how various decisions impact cost-of-goods-sold (COGS) and manufacturability.īefore putting it into volume production I have to choose which color PCB to use and possibly change the LED from WS2812 to SK6812. Please follow the project logs to understand the entire design process as I work my way from idea to sketches, to prototypes and settle on a final kit design. Simple soldering skills are all that is required and the CUBEx8 will be easy to build. They can be soldered or not, allowing the cube to be disassembled and reassembled very easily.Ī major goal is requiring some assembly, but not an overwhelming amount. At that point the LED boards simply snap into the base board press-fit style. There are eight LED boards and each board will need to have a header soldered onto it. The kit is comprised of a base board that can be mounted vertically or horizontally as desired. Other boards have 3.3V I/O and the translator will be required. Some controller boards have 5V I/O and won't need the translator. While I don't include a controller in the kit, the base board of the kit does include a 3.3V to 5V level translator that can be used or bypassed. One key aspect of this cube design is that the maker gets to use their favorite controller board. The goal is to squeeze the design down to the bare minimum components yet still have a nice looking and fun to build kit that any maker would be proud to show. CUBEx8 is my attempt to create a lower cost, easier to assemble 3D LED cube kit.
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