50/KIT. 8x8x8 LED cube OS843
In 2017, I have created a project called the 4x4x4 led cube, which consists of 64 LEDs in a cube, and the Arduino UNO for driving the LEDs.
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| <Whole Cube> |
To start a new challenge of making LED cubes, I have assembled the 8x8x8 led cube from a kit. Instead of 64 LEDs, it uses 512 LEDs, which gives the cube a more detailed way to display 3d shapes, making it more appealing.
This kit features a new chip called the STC12C5A60S2, which is a single-chip microcontroller/based-architecture CPU, produced by STC MCU Limited.
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| <Bottom view> |
Besides the STC chips, there are 2 other chips used for driving all the LEDs. The first chip is named the 74HC573AN (8 are used), which is an octal transparent D-type latch chip used for driving a certain number of loads by a flip-flop.
The second chip is named the ULN2803A (only one is used), which is a package of Darlington transistors in an array, used for switching loads.
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| <Top view> |
The time to assemble the led cube kit usually takes less than 3 days, being that most of the time will be spent on constructing the led cube itself.
The process is mostly bending the pins of the LEDs so that it will be easier to solder with all the other LEDs together, to form a cube. The IC sockets were soldered to the PCB board first so that you can insert the IC chips, and remove them easily if they get damaged. The PCB itself is double-sided, so you will need to solder certain types of components on each side, such as the switch on one side, and resistors on the other side.
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| <Minor testing> |
Once you can finish every step in assembling the LED cube and test continuously, you will be amazed at how the LED cube displays with all 512 LEDs, if the LEDs are not lighting up at certain places, check the connections on the LEDs. You can program it but will take a few more components, such as a USB to TTL converter, and software to make the animations. There, you will be able to drive the LED cube, and make custom animations for the led cube to display!
<TEST>
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