4*4*4 LED Cube Using Arduino Embedded Prototyping Platform

And a one, and a two! Christmas, Christmas time is here! And so is the time give our homes a colourful festive makeover! This year, we’re going to up our home-decorating skills and add a touch of DIYing to it by making something totally unique! Presenting to you the DIY Flashing LED Cube - the coolest way to add some colour and light to your life and your home, that too with just some easy-peasy Japan-esy DIYing and some coding.

Ready for some electrifying decor?

Beginning in 3, 2, 1… Now!

Step 1: Things You'll Need

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LEDs
Thick Cardboard
Male to Male Jumper Cable
Soldering Iron

Step 2: The Platform

We will be making a platform or base upon which we will be making our cube. Also, this platform is used as a reference to make the levels or rows of the cube similar.

We will be taking a cardboard upon which we make holes of the size of the LED.
As we are going to make 4 x 4 x 4 LED Cube, we will need 16 LEDs in each row.
Thus, the number of holes on cardboard will be 16.
Also, the distance between each hole is equal to the length of the leg of the LED.
Once you made the holes, draw the directions arrows as shown in the image.

NOTE: You can also make PVC Plate or Wooden Plank as the base.

Step 3: The Assembly of the LED

NOTE: It is a good practice once you check the LEDs before using them.

As mentioned above, the base will also be used a reference.

We will be inserting the LEDs in this hole.
But before that, make sure you bend the anode or the positive terminal of the LED slightly.
After you have inserted the LEDs bent the cathode of the LEDs completely horizontal along the direction given.
Once you have bent all the legs of the LED, it’s time to solder them.
Solder cathode of one LED to the cathode of the LED next to it.

Step 4: Making the Cube

Once you have soldered the LEDs, remove them from the base.

As we are going to make 4 x 4 x 4 Cube, we have one level ready with us. We need to make three more levels similarly. Once you have all the four levels with you. It’s time to connect them.

Place one level above the other and then solder the anode of the upper level to the corresponding anode of the lower level.
Connect all 16 anodes of Level 1 to Level 0.
Similarly, complete the cube.
On completing the cube, you will notice that the anodes of Level 0 are left unconnected.
Take 20 Male-to-Male Jumper Cables, connect 16 to the 16 remaining anodes of Level 0.
Take other 4 Jumper Cables and connect each of them to the cathode channel of each and every level.

Thus, we have successfully built our LED Cube.