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Step 7Wiring the Outer Ring
CONSTRUCTING YOUR SEGMENTS
Our LED's will be very close inside the disc, so it's easiest to construct our segments of 8 LED's and then glue them into the disc.
For my first disc, I used some clamping heat syncs that came with my Soldering Iron. For the second disc, I constructed a quick Jig out of a scrap of wood. I've seen this method used in LED Cube Instructables. I actually found the former method easier - mostly because my Jig was a little off - making my segments just a bit too long.
We'll be bending the negative lead of the LED's to form a bar that we'll be connecting with the other LED's. Taking 8 LED's, bend 7 of the leads one direction, and the other in the opposite (See picture 2). It's important to keep the bend as close to the LED as possible - so smaller pliers are helpful.
Once you have bent your leads, start with the single LED that's bent in the opposite direction from the others. Place this at the end of the Jig next to one other LED (See picture 1). Solder these two together. Trim the extra lead.
One at a time - place the next LED into the Jig and solder to the neighboring LED. When you have soldered all leads together, take the segment out of the Jig. Solder a long (about a foot) wire to the newly soldered bar (See the black wire in picture 5).
Now, using your pliers, very slightly, bend the bar between each LED to make a slight curve. This will help the segment fit into the Disc. Check the newly soldered segment against the marks you've made in the Disc. It doesn't have to be perfect, but be careful about going over too much. Make any adjustments to your spacing/jig if necessary.
Do this for the remaining LED's. You should now have 6 segments soldered together (see picture 4).
WIRING YOUR FIRST SEGMENT
Cut 8 lengths of wire the size of 12 markings on your disc. If you have multiple colors of wire - try to alternate. Strip a small portion at each end. Solder each to the end of one anode of your segment. I used wrapping wire, so I found it helpful to first wrap the wire around the lead and then solder. See picture 5. Test your segment as we did with the Inner Ring. Clip the extra lead length - you won't need it past this point.
PLACING YOUR FIRST SEGMENT
As we did with the Inner Ring, we're going to wire the LED's counter-clockwise. The left-most LED will go at 12:00 (your large mark at the top) and
Using your Hot Glue Gun, place a bead of hot glue on the left-most LED. Place this LED in the 12:00 position and hold until cooled. Make sure the LED is glued to the blue area and not the black plastic. This helps anchor the Segment so that your LED's aren't moving around in the hot glue. Glue in the remaining 7 LED's in and hold them in place until they cool. You may find it helpful to glue a few at a time. See picture 6 for the finished result.
PLACING THE REMAINING SEGMENTS
Using the wires you placed on the first segment, daisy chain them to the next segment (1 to 1, 2 to 2, etc). Then, cut an additional 8 lengths of wire and attach them to your second segment - these wires will attach to your third segment.
Repeat the process for the remaining segments.
By now, your disc is probably starting to look like a mass of wires. Carefully placing these wires underneath your LED's where possible will make your disc look a little cleaner. I've often found it helpful to remove the batteries (if you had them in place) to allow tucking wires. Once you're done and have tested everything, it's probably a good idea to come back and add a few dabs of hot glue to keep things in place.
CONNECTING THE INNER RING TO THE OUTER RING
At some point, you need to connect your Inner Ring to your Outer Ring. I found it best do this in the battery compartment area. Remember those leads we left long in the inner ring? Connect an extra run of wire from your segment to the inner ring. Because of the connection from the neighboring Segments, you'll end up with 3 wires attached to each anode (+).
After you have connected the inner and outer rings, you can clip the long leads that we left on the inner ring.
ADDING EXTRA CONNECTIONS FOR THE MAX7221/7219
In the section that we've saved for the LED Display Driver, make sure there are extra connections available in this area. As you did when connecting the Inner and Outer rings, you'll end up with 3 connections to each anode (+).
TEST, TEST, TEST
If you have a multimeter (I don't) - you could use it to make sure every 1 connects to all other 1's, etc. I used a 3v supply and tested to make sure each LED lit up. It's a fairly simple process and will save you time - it's easier to test and fix now than it is down the road. On my first disc - I managed to wire an LED in backwards and didn't notice until I had everything wired up. Don't make that mistake!
Our LED's will be very close inside the disc, so it's easiest to construct our segments of 8 LED's and then glue them into the disc.
For my first disc, I used some clamping heat syncs that came with my Soldering Iron. For the second disc, I constructed a quick Jig out of a scrap of wood. I've seen this method used in LED Cube Instructables. I actually found the former method easier - mostly because my Jig was a little off - making my segments just a bit too long.
We'll be bending the negative lead of the LED's to form a bar that we'll be connecting with the other LED's. Taking 8 LED's, bend 7 of the leads one direction, and the other in the opposite (See picture 2). It's important to keep the bend as close to the LED as possible - so smaller pliers are helpful.
Once you have bent your leads, start with the single LED that's bent in the opposite direction from the others. Place this at the end of the Jig next to one other LED (See picture 1). Solder these two together. Trim the extra lead.
One at a time - place the next LED into the Jig and solder to the neighboring LED. When you have soldered all leads together, take the segment out of the Jig. Solder a long (about a foot) wire to the newly soldered bar (See the black wire in picture 5).
Now, using your pliers, very slightly, bend the bar between each LED to make a slight curve. This will help the segment fit into the Disc. Check the newly soldered segment against the marks you've made in the Disc. It doesn't have to be perfect, but be careful about going over too much. Make any adjustments to your spacing/jig if necessary.
Do this for the remaining LED's. You should now have 6 segments soldered together (see picture 4).
WIRING YOUR FIRST SEGMENT
Cut 8 lengths of wire the size of 12 markings on your disc. If you have multiple colors of wire - try to alternate. Strip a small portion at each end. Solder each to the end of one anode of your segment. I used wrapping wire, so I found it helpful to first wrap the wire around the lead and then solder. See picture 5. Test your segment as we did with the Inner Ring. Clip the extra lead length - you won't need it past this point.
PLACING YOUR FIRST SEGMENT
As we did with the Inner Ring, we're going to wire the LED's counter-clockwise. The left-most LED will go at 12:00 (your large mark at the top) and
Using your Hot Glue Gun, place a bead of hot glue on the left-most LED. Place this LED in the 12:00 position and hold until cooled. Make sure the LED is glued to the blue area and not the black plastic. This helps anchor the Segment so that your LED's aren't moving around in the hot glue. Glue in the remaining 7 LED's in and hold them in place until they cool. You may find it helpful to glue a few at a time. See picture 6 for the finished result.
PLACING THE REMAINING SEGMENTS
Using the wires you placed on the first segment, daisy chain them to the next segment (1 to 1, 2 to 2, etc). Then, cut an additional 8 lengths of wire and attach them to your second segment - these wires will attach to your third segment.
Repeat the process for the remaining segments.
By now, your disc is probably starting to look like a mass of wires. Carefully placing these wires underneath your LED's where possible will make your disc look a little cleaner. I've often found it helpful to remove the batteries (if you had them in place) to allow tucking wires. Once you're done and have tested everything, it's probably a good idea to come back and add a few dabs of hot glue to keep things in place.
CONNECTING THE INNER RING TO THE OUTER RING
At some point, you need to connect your Inner Ring to your Outer Ring. I found it best do this in the battery compartment area. Remember those leads we left long in the inner ring? Connect an extra run of wire from your segment to the inner ring. Because of the connection from the neighboring Segments, you'll end up with 3 wires attached to each anode (+).
After you have connected the inner and outer rings, you can clip the long leads that we left on the inner ring.
ADDING EXTRA CONNECTIONS FOR THE MAX7221/7219
In the section that we've saved for the LED Display Driver, make sure there are extra connections available in this area. As you did when connecting the Inner and Outer rings, you'll end up with 3 connections to each anode (+).
TEST, TEST, TEST
If you have a multimeter (I don't) - you could use it to make sure every 1 connects to all other 1's, etc. I used a 3v supply and tested to make sure each LED lit up. It's a fairly simple process and will save you time - it's easier to test and fix now than it is down the road. On my first disc - I managed to wire an LED in backwards and didn't notice until I had everything wired up. Don't make that mistake!
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