5. Planning the Build of the LED Matrix

Having gone through the translated instructions I drew up the following plan of action (pictures taken from the instructions):

1.  Bend over the LEDs' cathodes (the short legs) and solder them in rows on the wooden jig leaving the last leg in each row sticking out (these are the legs which will go into the PCB).

2.  Insert a 5mm thick ruler (or other similar object) and bend the anodes over (so that they aren't touching any cathode wires) and solder them together to form a plane of 64 LEDs.  Leave the last one in each row standing vertical (these will actually be horizontal in the cube).

 

3.  Repeat so that you have all 8 planes.

4.  Test each plane.  The instructions suggest you do this by powering up the PCB.

5.  Insert each plane into the PCB.

6.  Solder together the legs which you left standing vertical in Step 2.

7.  Using insulated wire, make a connection between the common anode for each horizontal plane and the appropriate anode on the PCB.

8.  Add some further supporting common anode wires to make the cube structure more rigid.  Without these, the vertical plans would only be held apart on one side.

So, that was the plan...see our next instalment to see how we got on...