LED on GLASS DISPLAY Part 2

horz and vert displays

Step 1: Set Up Graph Spaceing

here I have a reader board display but you can make anything

you like photo shows my 5x5 but you can have 8x8

a lot more work

Step 2: Hold Down the Leds

just dabbing glue on leds and trying to place them is hard. The epoxy gets

smeared and the leds move around.

I tape shipping tape upside down to my graph on all 4 sides the

entire length. If the shipping tape bows or moves in any direction

the epoxy will smear. I use a light soap and water (like placing a decal)

and coat the shipping tape. Before the water dries I place the leds .

This may take several repeated steps.

When dry I use a solid 3/8 glass and press the leds into the tape

so they are secure. Then place a small dab of epoxy on each led.

You MUST use a SLOW cure epoxy for this and the smaller the

drop the better. Too big and the display shows a big blob around the led

My latest trick is to embed the whole glass (led side) in thin epoxy.

This allows all the leds to have the same brightness and no blobs.

I even had a display that the epoxy was very wavy (not covering the leds)

and I added 1/16 " more epoxy and the display looks like flat glass..

Step 3: Fitting the Display Glass

CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN the glass. I make a edge stop

using weights (did not show) so the glass display goes down straight

and stays put while the epoxy sets overnight. Any movement

will smear the epoxy and degrade the display.

You are trying to make the leds seam to float in mid air.

This is the hardest step because just one slip

you must start over and you cant use

any of the leds again.

Step 4:

The layout can be horz or vert .

When you look closely at the fine wires attached to the leds

you can see I make small jumps at the crossover.

The last photo shows a protective glass cover so the

jumps don't get pushed into the connection. also keeps dirt out.

Both horz,vert look the same.

The key is where do you want the 74hc595 drivers.

In the vert display you must use coated wire (magnet wire)

to the edges to connect the columns.

The horz display I use all copper strands from lamp cord wire.

check out my arduino reader board to scan a message

Step 5:

Here is my cube. I just glue the 595 to the edge and wire the leds

I made a grid template to hold the leds and make 8 glass plates.

putting the 595 ON the plate saves running too many wires.

Then I just tie latch,data,clock,+ on the back of the cube.

I use scan not x,y,z and you can make displays without all

that math and bit shifting.