5x5x5 LED cube help

Correct - no external supply needed. Use superbright LEDs tho.

so does that mean i can use the pwm ports on the arduino? i do believe, if i remember correctly, the arduino uno has 5 pwm pins.
*edit: i looked it up and it has 6 pwn pins

Yes.
An Uno has 6 - 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11

awesome! thank you so much for all of your help! i really do appreciate it! ill try to post pictures of the finished cube when i finish it. i do believe i have all the information i need to feel comfortable ordering parts and not worrying about buying the wrong things.

I really want to build one of these, sadly I have a lot of things going on, so not sure when i will be able to get around to it. The difficulty, as I see it is the isolation of each row. I will be curious how you work that one out.

Thanks again crossroads, I may build one of these, but mostly I really like the idea. Nice work that.

After typing this post, I had a crazy idea. RGB LEDS. It would need a total of 25 control lines. I suppose you could do bi-color LEDs using a total of 20 control lines.

Yes, having 5 isolated groups per row would make it a little trickier mechanically vs having the whole layer connected.

RGB, yes add 10 more control lines.

Could use '1284 for that, 32 IO total. Could achieve same update rate, send out 2 bytes of anode info vs just 1.

you would be doing 300ma, instead of 100, You might not even have to use different transistors for the sourcing, so it sounds like you could do this without having to change anything else.

It seems to me that you could also do the anodes differently, like with shift registers or LED drivers. I wonder, if you serialized all the data, could you run this off an attiny?

That 32kb data limit may be an issue too, it seems that isnt much space for 4x4x4 RGB cube, and a 5x5x5 is twice the data.

I was thinking about the mechanical aspect, and Im thinking if we turn it on its side, so that the 25 freestanding iines of LEDs mounted to the bottom plane, (similar to the charliecube), it might work. I will have to ponder this a bit more.

I might add from experience building a 5x5x5 led cube to be sure to use diffused leds as the brighter leds are too directional in their light to give good observation from wider angles of view. Narrow spread leds will have a negative effect on a lot of the visual pattern effects, where diffused leds give better consistent views.

Lefty

I've read of people lightly sanding them to diffuse them, dipping white paint, putting a white ping pong ball over them ...

CrossRoads:
I've read of people lightly sanding them to diffuse them, dipping white paint, putting a white ping pong ball over them ...

Yea but doing that for 125 leds can get very boring after awhile and it's just makes more sense to buy diffused leds in the first place. They don't carry a cost penalty.

Lefty

i bought 10,000mcd LEDs because i figure i can always make them dimmer with code or resistors, but if i get like 1,500mcd LEDs i cannot make them brighter. CrossRoads also recommended high brightness LEDs. unfortunately they did not come diffused, so i plan on putting them in a drill and using that to sand them down. i know it will be a lot of work, but oh well. i wanted the higher brightness LEDs to be safe and not risk having a super dim cube.

edit: this is the link to the LEDs i bought. i bought 2 lots.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-x-3mm-round-Blue-LED-superbright-bulb-lamp-light-/230634491097?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b2e30cd9

suicidalacorn:
i bought 10,000mcd LEDs because i figure i can always make them dimmer with code or resistors, but if i get like 1,500mcd LEDs i cannot make them brighter. CrossRoads also recommended high brightness LEDs. unfortunately they did not come diffused, so i plan on putting them in a drill and using that to sand them down. i know it will be a lot of work, but oh well. i wanted the higher brightness LEDs to be safe and not risk having a super dim cube.

But then again diffusing the leds will take the same light output of the led and spread it over a wider beam, so I don't think you gained anything by starting out with 'high brightness' in the first place just to then sand them down Vs getting diffused leds in the first place. However the proof is in the tasting of the pudding so maybe when you are done get a single diffused led of the same size and see if you did indeed gain any overall brightness.

Lefty

Sanding them to diffuse the output I am sure will be a lot less work than the actual assembly and all the lead bending/alignment prior to soldering that is needed for cube stability and overall squareness.

retrolefty:
But then again diffusing the leds will take the same light output of the led and spread it over a wider beam, so I don't think you gained anything by starting out with 'high brightness' in the first place just to then sand them down Vs getting diffused leds in the first place. However the proof is in the tasting of the pudding so maybe when you are done get a single diffused led of the same size and see if you did indeed gain any overall brightness.

Lefty

yeah, that makes sense. but i guess we'll find out when i get the LEDs. they are supposed to come next tuesday. i'll update you guys with my progress throughout the build. but i am expecting to have issues with coding. i know java so c++ shouldn't be hard to learn. ill probably watch a bunch of arduino tutorials on coding, but i may still need help with coding for the shift registers.

Sanding works well... the results are usually better than the real thing. Try a couple and see.

nb Use fine sandpaper.

I bought a bunch of LEDs for several projects, and I got clear ones because I figured that I could make them diffused if I wanted, but I couldnt make diffused clear if thats what i needed.

I have a set of 64 LEDs Im using for a wearable project, and I decided i would try diffusing them with sandpaper. I started with 400 grit, and twisting the LED in it. It took about 5 minutes to get it lightly diffused, I didnt want to spend 5 hours sanding my 64 LEDs, so I tried using the dremel with a sanding drum (about 60 grit or so), and they only took about a minute to do each, they look very opaque, but they are a bit misshaped, and rough. I havent used them yet, and as such, i cant say what way has the best results.

I may try the drill technique, that may just work.

i got 75 spare LEDs so i can experiment with different diffusing techniques. hopefully i figure out something that is both fast and yields good results.

There maybe a quick easy way to use chemically diffuse them (dip in acetone, something) I also considered flat based transparent lacquer, but I just dont think it will diffuse much. I should probably experiment more.

Hippynerd:
It took about 5 minutes to get it lightly diffused

Maybe you're using the wrong sandpaper. I can do then in about 30 seconds each.

Another way is to add a thin coat of hot glue, although it's harder to get them evenly diffused that way. It's good for weird shapes like "candle flames" though.

I haven't tried it myself but people also paint them with nail polish.

Hippynerd:
There maybe a quick easy way to use chemically diffuse them (dip in acetone, something) I also considered flat based transparent lacquer, but I just dont think it will diffuse much. I should probably experiment more.

Hairspray?