LED Cubular - LED Desktop Cube

Description

This project is completely open source, from the schematics to the eventual Arduino code. The LED Cubular is made up of 6 PCB boards which come in 3 different designs. The top, the bottom and the sides. The sides and top are simplified to basic components for running the LEDs.

The bottom board will contain an Arduino Uno ATmega328P as well as; an IMU for tracking orientation and battery charging and boosting circuits. The goal is to have a completely clean "Cube" only made up of SMD LEDs. I'm placing pads on the bottom PCB that can be interfaced to with Pogo Pins. I plan to design and 3d print a desktop "docking station" that the cube will sit in nicely and can be used for charging and reprogramming.

Total size will be 42x42x42mm with 384 + 1 internal LEDs.

Details

I put together a concept animation to show the clean design I'm aiming for;

I am trying to achieve the following design criteria in no particular order;

• 2-layer PCBs; so that all PCBs can be produced together.
• Bottom PCB is a self contained "brains" module; So that all major components are contained in 1 PCB, it also means that the bottom PCB can be a standalone display.
• Low-cost
• Self assemblable (is that a word?); Trying to keep in mind that self assembly is required for prototyping so using larger 0603 or 0805 and no BGA components where possible
• Attempt to achieve modularity so that in the future the LED Cubular may be expanded to different shapes and sizes
• Arduino-compatible
• Battery-powered
• Only LEDs are shown on the external of the cube; no through hole components.

This is a really useful guide that I'm following to handle the LED matrix using the Max7219 (64 leds managed by one chip!) - https://playground.arduino.cc/Main/MAX72XXHardware

Circuit Maker PCB Design - Bottom

Circuit Maker PCB Design - Sides

Files

LED Desktop Cube - Combined.csv: BoM For electronics