Cube of Rainbow Torment: LED Cube w/ cheap WS2812 / Neopixel panels

prusaprinters

<p>Here's how to build a simple RGB LED cube using cheap 8x8 WS2812 / Neopixel LED panels. The design is a single 3D printable piece, printed four times, that screws to the panels and forms a frame to hold them in place.</p><figure class="media"><oembed url="https://youtu.be/wjaaHKXSu0w"></oembed></figure><p><strong>Parts Needed:</strong></p><ul><li>4 x prints of “ledcube_side.stl”&nbsp;</li><li>6 x WS2812 8x8 RGB LED panels (<a href="https://amzn.to/3QAj5HE">exact ones from Amazon ones I used</a>, 3 for $12!)</li><li>24 x M2.5 black nylon nuts (from <a href="https://amzn.to/3xBqcXq">this assortment</a> or <a href="https://www.adafruit.com/product/3299">from Adafruit</a>)</li><li>24 x M2.5 x 6mm black nylon screws</li><li>stranded hookup wire</li><li>microcontroller (I like <a href="https://www.adafruit.com/product/4900">Adafruit QT Py RP2040</a> &amp; <a href="https://www.sparkfun.com/products/18288">SparkFun Pro Micro RP2040</a>)</li></ul><p><strong>Build Steps:</strong></p><ul><li>Print 4x “ledcube_side.stl” at standard 0.02mm resolution</li><li>Insert nylon nuts into their wells of the part, use a drop of CA glue to hold them in place</li><li>Solder thin wires to the OUT pads on the LED panels (start with middle pad, it solders faster since less copper than V+ &amp; V- pads)</li><li>Route the wires through the printed parts, solder the wires to the IN pads of next panel</li><li>Repeat until all wires are soldered</li><li>Attach panels to printed parts with screws, being careful to pull in wire slack</li><li>Note: the top &amp; bottom holes have some alignment issues, so you may want to attach those panels with a single screw and/or double-sided tape</li></ul><p><strong>Coding:</strong></p><p>By far the easiest way to get started with Neopixels / WS2812 LED is CircuitPython. Below is the code <a href="https://twitter.com/todbot/status/1536870075621289984">I used in the demo above and on Twitter</a>. &nbsp;Both <a href="https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide/python-circuitpython">Adafruit</a> and <a href="https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/addressable-led-strip-hookup-guide">SparkFun</a> have really good guides on WS2812 LEDs.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><pre><code class="language-plaintext"># The Cube of Rainbow Torment - 14 Jun 2022 - @todbot / Tod Kurt import board import neopixel from adafruit_led_animation.animation.rainbowsparkle import RainbowSparkle leds = neopixel.NeoPixel(board.TX,64*6,brightness=0.2,auto_write=False) rainbow_sparkle = RainbowSparkle(leds, speed=0.1, num_sparkles=15) while True: rainbow_sparkle.animate(show=False) leds.show()</code></pre><p>&nbsp;</p>