Ebay 8x8x8 LED cube connect to Arduino

Using Arduino Project Guidance
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Hello,

I put together the (very common) led cube kit from Ebay/ Amazon, and I want to connect it to run on the Arduino. I know about the Github for programming the STC but it's not working for me. I don't understand the code on the STC to program my own animations, but I understand the Arduino code from CHR's instructable.

I've searched everywhere to find out how to connect the Arduino, and found one thing:

But I'm new to all of this, and I'm not sure if I'm reading the schematic correctly. It doesn't seem to match the picture.

1.) Should I just follow the schematic when connecting the wires and use the Arduino? Is there anyone that understands where the wires are going?

2.) Is there any other way I could make this work?

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I've just had a quick look at the link you supplied.

  1. There appears to be a good correspondence between the picture and the schematic.
    The 74138 is turned through 180 degrees and shunted down 1 pin in the picture. In the schematic, the ordering of the pins on the 74138 is not the same as the physical layout. If you do this project, make a sketch showing the adapter plate in place of the STC chip and all the connections in a physical layout form before you start. The 74138 is required because the Arduino does not have enough pins.

  2. He didn't explain very well why you have to swap out the 8 latch chips for sn74hc574 chips, but anyway these aren't expensive.

  3. He talks about using a 'spare' analog pin for sound, but according to the schematic, there is no spare since he is using all 6 analog output pins. Pin 11 appears to be the only unused pin, so I guess he made a later change.

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Thank You,

I wired everything up, I wasn't sure about it so I just winged it . It's actually running, but not correctly. For animations where the LEDs should be lighting individually, the whole row is lighting. But it's working so now I can go back in with more confidence and try again.

My issue is that I can't really tell where the white wires are going in his picture, when they cross, my eyes play tricks on me. Those are the wires I was asking about in my initial question, not the ones going to the Arduino.

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