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The project is about a 9x9x9 LED cube.

The objective of the project is to create the electronic circuit and the programming to control the cube through an Arduino.

The main function of the cube is to be able to display three-dimensional animations, including signs, shapes and effects. The construction process is complex due to the number of connection points and the repetition of work, but its process is exciting and watching it work is completely worth the effort. grief.

729 5mm LEDS

galvanized wire

12 shift registers 74HC595

12 bases for shift register 74HC595

81 100 ohm resistors

18 2N2222 transistors

Female Connector Strip (93 spaces required)

Male Connector Strip (90 pins required)

18 resistors of 1 Kilo ohms

1 power terminal block

1 universal pan 20 cm by 10 cm

1 Arduino one

Cautin

Welding

Table with holes spaced every 3cm, to enter the wire columns

The construction of this circuit is based mainly on the knowledge of the 74HC595 register, which is a shift register, which receives a series of data through a pin known as data; These values ​​are displayed for each of the outputs of the integrated with respect to the change of a pin called clock, and ultimately this information is displayed on the output pins of the integrated, if and only if, a known pin is enabled. like latch.

The integrated circuit is very simple but it only has the capacity to manage 8 outputs and we need to manage 81 anodes and 9 cathodes, which is why multiple integrated devices must be connected in series to be able to manage the necessary 90 pins; This figure shows that the data will only be received by the first integrated unit and the output of this integrated unit (pin 9) will be connected to the data input of the next integrated unit.

Based on the operation of the shift register, the controller circuit of the LED cube was designed, it can be noted from this design that there are 12 74HC595 shift registers, which will make an arrangement of 96 available outputs of which 90 pins will be used (81 outputs controlling anodes, 9 outputs controlling cathodes).

The fundamental idea of ​​the circuit is a series arrangement of shift registers that have the capacity to control the 90 pins necessary to drive the LED cube. This circuit has 90 output pins, where 81 of them manage the columns of the cube and the other 9 manage the floors of the cube. On the other hand, this circuit also has the input pins, which are the connection to the Arduino that It will be your controller, and finally the 5 volt power. It is necessary to remember that if we want this project to work with the Arduino, they must share the lands.

Another thing that can be noticed in this circuit is that the last nine outputs are connected to a configuration of transistors, these elements are arranged two per output, that is, two transistors will be activated for each output and these will switch in a way that connects each floor to negative. Two transistors were placed in parallel so that they could divide the level of current they must handle.

We proceed to the construction of the floors, for this we are going to use the table. To do this, we arrange all the LEDs on the table, it is recommended to leave the cathodes in the same direction, to avoid making mistakes when soldering.

Next step is to arrange the LEDs on the table, we proceed to make all the interconnections between the cathodes, for this we take the wires and on some coins we bring the wire close to the cathodes, using tin and soldering iron we solder all the points with a good amount of material , that the connection is as solid as possible.

For the entire floor we must interconnect all the cathodes. After finishing this process, you must validate that all the LEDs turn on. Finally, we can remove this floor of LEDs to wait for the interconnection between floors.

The cathode interconnection process must be repeated depending on the number of floors that the LED cube has, in my case, nine times more.

Finally we connect the tips of the cube with the tips of the circuit. The process consists of welding the tips of the galvanized wire one by one.

Subsequently, programming is carried out to be able to control the cube through matrices, in order to create any figure, letter, number or pattern that is required.

Once you have the programming code, you must carry out tests to verify correct operation.