Lighting up a single LED is as easy as forking the leads over a coin cell battery. Things become more complicated when you attempt to control multiple LEDs, and if you make a rectangle pattern, the number of connections increase by a factor of length x height. Add in a third dimension and, even a 3x3x3 LED cube needs 27 LEDs connected, plus if you want to use RGB LEDs you have to figure out that “small” detail that triples the number of connections.
What if you wanted to build an 8x8x8 cube with programmable LEDs? This sounds extremely challenging, but WingHo Wong of NIXT CLOCK has actually built one of these monstrosities, and sells the AuraCube 8x8x8 3D RGB LED Cube DIY Kit to help you make your own.
As seen in these build instructions, it still looks extremely challenging, but at least the kit will help you get pointed in the right direction! It even comes complete with animation software, a remote control, and a microphone to allow it to react to music. Be sure to check out the beautiful results in the video below:
Of course, this isn’t the only Tindie option if you’d like to build an LED display. The jolliCube looks like a lot of fun as a mono 8x8x8 device, and the Teknoid cube will get you started with a smaller 4x4x4 RGB display.
