Back in 2009, LED cubes were all the rage—and as someone who enjoys tinkering with electronics, I decided to build one of my own.
Armed with an Arduino Mega, I experimented with several Java-based programs designed to control simple LED arrays. Eventually, I came across a promising solution by Carlos Asmat that provided exactly the control structure I needed.
Carlos’s program allowed LED animations to be expressed as binary values within an array—an elegant and scalable approach. Building on that foundation, I adapted the code to control a larger 3D matrix:
- Anode matrix: 64 LEDs (8×8)
- Cathode control: 8 binary channels
You can view Carlos Asmat’s original code here.
The original 6×6×6 LED cube I built in August 2009 has, unfortunately, not stood the test of time—several LEDs have failed, and repairing them feels more trouble than it’s worth.
Next up: I plan to build a new version using shift registers for more flexible and scalable control. Stay tuned!