Cubet, a small single color led cube, build during the Covid-19 Quarantine
I always wanted a LED Cube, a compact one with smd leds. I also wanted to give KiCad a try (I've been Eagle user for a couple of years). That's why I started this mini project.
My goal was:
- Small LED Cube, not bigger than 5cm
- No extra power needed (USB powered)
- Cheap (i.e. Shift Register instead of "expensive" LED Drivers, no SK6812/ws2811 leds)
- Designed with KiCad
I started with the Schematic and Layout in January, and the PCB came together with COVID, so I had plenty of time to solder. I gave my cube the name of Cubet (catalan word for small cube), but CUBID is also a good name :)
The microcontroller is a SAMD21, with native USB, so no FTDI or similar is needed. It' a simple Arduino Zero compatible board, like the Feather M0 from Adafruit It uses 74HC595 Shift Registers and a couple of transistors.
My tools are not the best one, and I realized I may need to buy better and new tools. For example my soldering iron is a cheap one and the soldering was quite a challenge (The head was too big for some components, and it didn't get hot enough). I also may need a Microscope, it's more pleasant than a magnifying glass. The tweezers were of course also too big.
For the LED Matrix/Cube I need to develope a helping tool or something similar. My idea was to use 8 big holes in the PCB to put there 8 LEDS and solder them together to get a column. This didn't work as expected so I neede to solder without help. I used 0.3mm Wire for the columns, and 0.2mm Wire for the rest.
- Install KiCad and make changes to the schematic/layout (if needed)
- Get the PCB from your favourite Producer
- Solder all the components
- Flash the Bootloader (if needed)
- Flash the Software
- A lot of time
- Patience
- More patience
- Soldering skill
- JTAG Programmer (I used an J-LINK EDU Mini)
- More time
- Did I mention patience?
This project is licensed under the Apache License - see the LICENSE.md file for tedtails
LED-Cube Mini KiCad Tutorial KiCad Freerouting Gerber Export PCB from Elecrow SAMD21 SAMD21 GDB SAMD21 Bootloader Protection Programming a SAMD bootloader using JLink & Linux SAMD21_DMA Adafruit_ZeroDMA
- RGB leds
- ESP32 for Blueetoth and WLAN
- SPI, I2C and UART connectors for hardware "upgrades"
- Battery connector and battery charging
- Maybe a 12x12x12 and a 16x16x16 version
- SD card for animations without programming