I'm currently working through your fast led videos. They are excellent. It will be some time before I try to tackle this kind of cube ,but it looks really good. Thanks for sharing.
Love the result, great job. I think this definitely moves to my "will build" list, and maybe move it up to full size LED tape for a larger cube. Thanks for sharing, take care!
If you're going to do this, go for a bigger one. It would be much less hassle to put together. On the other hand, I quite enjoyed the challenge of making this work ;) some people just wrap the tape around the inside of the cube, but you don't get the nice sharp corners that you do if you cut it into sections and wire it together. Each to their own though.
@@ScottMarley Thanks for the tips, like you, I always try to make my projects look as neat as possible. I enjoy the challenge of going that extra step to find the shortest wiring paths with my LED projects, for both looks and better power distribution.
Awesome video and awesome result. Really well explained and demonstrated. Would definitely love to see you do a bigger one with ws2812’s, would give that a go for sure! Keep the great content coming, happy new year.
Thanks for another great project and video. Your series on vu meters got me hooked and I’ve done a few sound reactive projects since then. I recently discovered the sound reactive fork of WLED and am playing with that as well. Would love to see a video on it from you.
Such a cool project, I've been trying to think of how to make a modular frame for an infinity cube like this and you've definitely got my brain going. Super well done and excellent explanation! Wouldn't want to deal with pixels that small, ever!! Haha
I was originally thinking of a modular design, but eventually I decided it was too complicated and went for this instead. If you manage to sort one out (maybe PCBs that can snap together?), do let me know!
@@ScottMarley Wow pcb snapping is truly an awesome idea.....i will surely try to create the Gerbers.....if I am successful I would be happy to give them to you as I can't further continue due to lack of equipment
@@anonymoususer900 There are two main options for doing this with PCBs. One is to have a bunch of different designs for the edges that only go together one way. The other is to make each side generic, then have some way to specify the routing of the signal at each junction. Either way, it's not an easy problem to solve (or at least it wasn't for me!). Good luck!
I have been looking for ages for proper acrylic mirrors like this for a regular infinity mirror. I tried a couple of films but they were horrible or didn't work as needed. Great stuff Scott. Love your projects.
@@ScottMarley Sadly not, I’m thinking it would be worth talking through how I made it on video! There’s a picture on my Instagram @thomasmalachihall if you want to check it out
Awesome build, thanks for taking the time to explain the challenges and what you would do differently. I only found your channel today and will be putting the mirrors in my own infinity cube this afternoon.
Edit: I see where to get the data, thanks. Very well done the coding for the smooth transitions is incredibly frosty!!! Will you have this available for others?
I have a cube I want to convert to an infinity cube. I only need 3 sides to "work" or be viewable. Do I still need to do a full build for the same light effects?
Amazing job. I made a lovely 3d star with addressable LEDs using WLED. 225 LEDs. 224 but as you say I always add 1 extra. I will give this a go for a decoration next Christmas 😀
hi mate i am curranty making a 3d led cube like yours, i ran in to some problems, to do with your design my printer could not print, like the insert for the leds, but i did some adjustment to then, when it is up and runing i will send you a link to my youtube
Jesus Christ @Scott Marley.. This is gorgeous. I would like to work on something like this as I was not a fan of the standard infinity mirror Thank you for the inspiration. !May I reach out to you if I have questions?
I may come to regret this....but inspired by just how good this looks, I'm having a stab...but using 4mm wide LED strip with double the density (300LED/m), and only 12 LEDs per side to keep costs down (a 50cm strip has 150 LEDs, so 12 x 12 works from one 50cm section). I've tweaked the cube drawing in Fusion to suit a 40mm LED strip length so it'll be 'interesting' to see how it looks...... LEDs and ESP arrived in the post today, code tweaked for 12 LEDs per segment and all good. Cube now printing...... All credit to Scott for doing a parametric design by the way - only had to adjust a few values to re-size it. Only fiddle was with the 'pips' on the joints, but easily sorted. The LEDs I bought have all 3 connections on the underside...so this should be 'fun' :) If this proves too awkward fro my aging eyes, I may well scale it up and use more sensibly sized LEDs. I'm sure there is an optimum for LEDs/cm vs size of cube to get the best visual impact. Anyhoo, thank you Scott, for sharing this awesome design. I've never used an ESP32 before, only the odd Arduino project. Using Arduino IDE V2, no issues with making a very simple tweak to the code, although when uploading I had to reduce the "upload speed" to 115200 and the "Flash frequency" to 40MHz to get it to program. I do have some modest experience with the 3D printing so that's all fine, although these are some small parts compared to my usual output.
@@ScottMarley Have to say, I love the way those LEDs look with your code. I've just fired up the entire strip for now to see how it looked and how it worked with 12 LEDs per segment. Thanks again for the inspiration and effort to make it easy for folks like me ;)
In FastLED you write everything from scratch meaning it can do anything you want. In WLED you choose from preset patterns and colours. For most normal projects, WLED is much easier, but I wanted to write something that wasn't possible with it.
Dear Scott, I really like your version of an infinity cube. Do you think that it would be possible to order custom pcbs and solder on some SMD LEDs? Im guessing that a higher pixel density could be achieved this way and the pcb could be as slim as the strip bc it only needs 3 lines for the LEDs and one for routing data back. I have ordered one way mirror film and 4mm led strips from ali to get started. The led strips only have 60leds /meter thought but it's not that bad. Let me know what you think. I have never orderd custom pcbs. Btw your fastled noise video allowed me to make a noise pattern on a 64x32 led matrix that has soundreactive Animation. Kind regards from Germany
Hi Moritz, this could absolutely be done using PCBs, and if I was to build these to sell, that's the way I would do it! I wouldn't even solder them myself, the assembly services from JLPCB and PCBWay are now cheap enough to have them do it for you. That being said, the design for something like that would take a bit of thinking about due to routing all the connections at each corner. Definitely achievable though! One thing to consider with higher density LEDs is the corespondingly higher power requirements. This would become difficult in a small cube ike this. I have a plan to make a cube to use as a coffee tabl which will be much bigger, but pandemic issues are preventing me from getting it done at the moment. All the best, Scott.
@@ScottMarley Thank you for this long answer. I was also thinking that the heat of many leds could be a problem. I'll make one with the supplies I ordered and if that works I'll think about making a better Version
OK, finally finished my homage to this ;) As I mentioned, I made mine half-scale, which, with hindsight...was a stupid idea!!! Man, that was a fiddly little beggar to assemble. The LED strips I got had all the contacts on the underside, but they were only accessible every 5 LEDS, which didn't work, so all connections were made on the actual chips..which I will come to shortly. I decided to use 24AWG (0.5mm) enameled copper wire to join it all up, but at this scale, that's like trying to solder a chunk of 1/2" copper pipe to the leg of an IC. I managed to complete the thing, testing at each new connection and got all 12 strips working as they should. I then did a test-fit of a section of 'mirror' and had to 'ease' one of the wire links out of the way....which broke the whole cube. I quickly discovered that due to the size and relative stiffness of the 24AWG wire, when bending it, I had ripped the contact off the top of the chip, thus ruining it. I messed with it trying to repair this, but eventually realised it would never work with this gauge of wire. So, I identified and replaced the chips I had damaged - an experience in itself as I only had a few actual LEDs left over so had to de-solder good ones from the remnant of the strip, then swap out bad ones on the cube strips themselves, then re-built using 30AWG (0.25mm) wire which is flexible enough and small enough to work properly. To handle the reduced current capacity of the 30AWG I made a 'mesh' or ring out of the power connections which has ensured good brightness throughout the cube. I used some 2mm wide double sided tape to stick the 'mirrors' in, which seems to have worked OK. Overall, that was a seriously fiddly and testing exercise, next one will be bigger...... Again, many thanks to Scott for the inspiration, glad I persevered because it looks great....but I suspect a bigger one would look better. And for proof, a short video of my completed cube: th-cam.com/users/shortsFQqt0H7Ip38?feature=share
Incredblible, thanks so much for the write up! It might have been a pain to do, but I bet there was a lot of satisfaction in seeing job completed :) now do a bigger one!
@@ScottMarley OK...bigger one now competed :) A straight copy of yours, the only mod I did was to enlarge the base a bit so it houses the ESP32. I ended up buying the LED strips direct from iPixel. The ones they supplied have a contact pad for all 3 lines at every LED so were really easy to work with. I once again used the 30AWG wire which worked a treat. th-cam.com/video/bwOgisJZkFQ/w-d-xo.html And as you say, it looks so much better in reality than on video. I just used my iPhone to take this and it somehow makes the mirrors look quite cloudy - they aren't at all. Might be flare I suppose. Anyway, once again, thank you for the inspiration. I might do a coffee table next.....
Just started 3D printing my cube an base...ordered the wrong lights (waterproof) waiting for non-waterproof then it's GO TIME ! update: Finished it. Though i changed my design a bit. i kept the W2812B controller in-line to control colors. I created 160mm long hollow triangular tubes to fit into each edge for strips to mount on. I 3D printed them. They're hollow to allow the data line to go backward to next strip in sequence. With 3M mounting tape they hold the lexan glass pretty solid, but i used Aluminum tape for decor and extra strength. I was going to use 1/2'' aluminum angle to frame it, but the tape does it's job and i didn't want to cut all those aluminum pieces haha. here is my video. th-cam.com/video/HUDD9bEJIyI/w-d-xo.html
@@ScottMarley well it would be made more simple with the parallel type of Neopixels. With a pre-built corner that uses a clamp and i.e. ground on the outside and +5v on the inside. Centered in the ground could be the -parallel data connection trace. Given it’s parallel; you would need only 3 of 6 pin connections “working”. There are newer Neopixels in development that have a fixed position meaning: 3 wires; (all in parallel) and I believe these can contain between 100 and 200 pixels. The protocol is pretty similar to the WS2812B you used for this project. Main problem is that we don’t know the exact led type yet. GeekMom (twitter) has been experimenting with these in a string. (Which still works even if one pixel breaks)
@@ScottMarley also instead of 3D printing some of the elements you might consider using EasyEda 2 to design your own thin PcB’s to have a very simple soldering of your strips. Would gladly give you a short training to get you going. PCB’s are fairly cheap nowadays and you can even have difficult SMT packages pre-soldered for a very low price. (Ideal for a more than a one-off)
@@ericoudammerveld424 I've heard of these LEDs, but I don't know why it would be easier with these? And are they small enough to build something like this? I went for these ones due to the width of the strip and relatively high density. Also, are these supported by FastLED? If not, I'm out ;)
@@ericoudammerveld424 my first thought was to design some PCBs that clip together. I'm happy using KiCad and have made a bunch of PCBs with PCBWay and JLPCB over the years. I just couldn't wrap my head around how to connect everything at the corners! Either each edge would have to be unique so the signal routes correctly, or each edge is generic and I think of a way to select which way the data goes at each junction. They would still need soldering together at the corners unless you went for something exotic like flexible PCBs. Then what would the mirrors attach to? In the end, I decided that this was much easier :)
Hey Scott, I rebuild your Project In A bigger Version. It turned out nice but i have some trubbel with the Code. The last Animation pixels dont Work. And I mean if it comes up to play the Animation the strip is Completely Black until the next pettern comes up and I cant explain it to me. Hope for some help! I will uploud My files soon on thingiverse!
You're feeling brave if you're going to attempt this! I chose the size because I could get all 6 sides from a single piece A4 in size and that was easy for me to get.
Can I ask you to send me a screenshot of the Snapchat thing? I don't use Snapchat, so whatever it is has been posted by someone else. I'm a bit confused as to why they are using my video!
That 1000uF aluminium electrolytic capacitor isn't doing anything there, other than causing an inrush current when you plug it in. The switching rate of the LEDs is in the tens of kHz and that capacitor is going to look like a massive brick wall to any return currents at that frequency. I wouldn't bother with adding additional capacitance here at all, or at most I'd put a 10uF MLCC cap as close to the output pins to the LED strips as possible.
@@davemartin7374 Yes, but that doesn't matter. A capacitor that large is massive overkill for ripple voltages, and utterly useless at filtering high frequency return currents. Those return currents will look at that capacitor like a brick wall - you might as well connect a 10M resistor over the supply instead. The ESP32 board already has decoupling over VIN, and again a 1000uF cap is not going to do any good there. If the intention is to decouple the LED strip for EMI reasons, then putting the cap (let alone an aluminium electrolytic!) at the end of a pair of 75mm+ wires is also useless - that path is far too high impedance and the fields will just spread out and couple through the data line or whatever else is nearby.
@@gsuberland how about low frequency changes in load? Having the whole strip flashing on and off a couple of times a second? Would this large capacitor help even out the supply voltage from a distant power supply?
Interesting. I've always assumed that this cap was recommended to smooth power spikes being drawn as the LEDs flash on and off rather than for EMI interference. Saying that, when I've made sound reactive things using a line-in for example, without a big cap like this on the power rails you can hear noise from the LEDs flashing through the aux line. Adding a cap removes that noise, and the larger the cap, the more the noise is reduced. Anyway, having this present is recommended on the FastLED and WLED webpages so I don't see there being any harm to having it.
@@ScottMarley There are a few things at play here, and the noise largely comes from two things: EMI and switching noise. The first thing to understand about physical circuits is where the energy is. There's no energy in the copper. This sounds counter-intuitive, but it's true. The energy in a circuit exists in the electric and magnetic fields between a signal and its reference plane (usually ground). If you have two wires next to each other - one signal, one ground - they form a field in the space in between. In a PCB the fields exist between the trace on top and the ground reference plane below. The current flowing through the trace returns through the ground plane directly beneath that trace. The trace is just acting as a waveguide to steer the field around. If you don't reference a signal to a ground, the fields spread out through the space (air, plastic, fiberglass, whatever) to find a low impedance path to ground. That's radiative EMI. If you take a 4-layer PCB and put a signal on the top layer, a signal on the second layer, and a ground plane on third, then the electric fields from the signal on the top layer will couple through the signal on the second layer, and cause cross-talk. Same goes for signals on wires instead of PCBs. This is why so many cables are shielded - you get a ground reference plane in all directions around the wires, so the fields don't spread out and cross-couple with other signals. While decoupling is often talked about in terms of acting as a local energy reservoir to smooth out voltage spikes, it's also a key factor in EMI and cross-talk. The reason you decouple is to provide a low impedance path for high frequency return currents. If you make those currents flow further along a PCB, the fields generated by those currents will spread out looking for the lowest impedance path to ground. Often that isn't what you intend to be ground - the fields will couple into other signals and flow back into your ICs and jump to ground that way, creating a ton of noise (because you've got high frequency return currents in your signals) and radiative EMI. Remember that in the most basic model of things, capacitors allow high frequency signals to pass but block DC. So when you put a capacitor between a signal or voltage rail and ground, you're allowing high frequency currents to flow through the capacitor straight to ground (like a short!) but not allowing low frequency currents (DC or near DC) to flow. The high frequency return currents use it as a low impedance path to get to ground. The critical part here is that the capacitor *must* have sufficiently low impedance. In practice, the bigger the capacitor you use, the more impedance it has at a given frequency, and some types are better than others. That's why you typically see 100nF ceramic decoupling caps next to ICs, not 100uF electrolytics. The capacitance itself is not there as a "reservoir" - if that were the case you could just make it as big as you like. It's there because if you look at the impedance graph for a 100nF capacitor it'll have the lowest impedance at the expected frequency of the return currents for most modern ICs (which is not a product of clock frequency, but rise and fall time). When you hear noise on an aux line in a scenario like this, it's caused by cross-coupling effects. High frequency return currents are coupling through the supply rails and the aux line to get back to ground. There are two main reasons why it might occur. The first is direct EMI from the LED strips, due to return currents having to flow long distances before finding a return path, leading to the fields spreading out and coupling with other signals in the circuit. The second reason is that the board itself (particularly the switch-mode supply) may be poorly designed, leading to EMI whose frequency and amplitude modulates based on the amount of power demand there is. When the rate of change of power demand is within the audible frequency range (likely with LED strips) then the modulation of the switching signals causes audible cross-talk. When you add your giant capacitor, you aren't really solving either issue directly. The radiative EMI from the LED strips is still there, completely unaffected, but you just haven't noticed it because you're not pushing things to the kinds of limits where signal reflections and crosstalk become problematic. The EMI from the regulator isn't gone, either, but the huge capacitor forms an RC low pass filter using the parasitic resistance of the wiring and traces on the board, which lowers the rate of change of the power demand, which lowers the rate of change of noise being coupled into the rest of the circuit. Because the resistance of these traces is very low, you need a large capacitance to bring the pole of the filter down below the kHz range. Assuming a 100mOhm trace, the 1000uF capacitor forms an LPF with a pole at around 1500Hz. This is why you slowly hear less and less of the noise. If you want a more in-depth understanding of how all of this works, I highly recommend Rick Hartley's talk "The extreme importance of PC Board stack-up" at Altium Live a few years back. It's extremely eye-opening.
Aw sorry, it takes ages to sort all these links out as I don't know what I'm doing! I just have to go for places most of my viewers are from. If it helps, I'd rather live in Canada than the US! (Or the UK tbh)
There are definitely other ways to do this, but a 3D printer really opens up ways of making stuff that's just really hard otherwise. You can get a decent one now for $200, start saving up and ask for birthday donations or something!
Can you upload the code? The one on the link description gives me the message (arduino nano low memory available, stability problems may occur). Every time I try to upload it on my ARDUINO nano
This one doesn't with this code, but it absolutely could. To make it as easy as possible, I would recommend installing the sound reactive fork of WLED from here github.com/atuline/WLED
@@ScottMarley so these are two way mirrors! I didn’t get that from the video.. thx.. keep up the great work btw.. I love all your projects and it has inspired me to make some.. currently waiting for my 16x16 matrices, esp32 and ender 3 to arrive!
I've been informed by viewers that this is somehow being 'advertised' on Snapchat. I've now seen the ad and it is not my cube, and I have nothing to do with their site. Just FYI, if you order one from them, be prepared to lose your money. Reasons for suspicion: They don't appear on google at all, there are no reviews of their products other than their own site, it seems veeery cheap, the domain name was only registered 2 weeks ago and their email provider is yandex.ru, which is well known for its spam. EDIT: I've had confirmation now from several viewers that it's definitely a scam. Don't do it!
hey! I got some screenshots of the advert in question if you'd like them, pm me for my email. Also the seller in question is www.myinfinitycube.com. bang up job btw!
@puppergod I'm suspicious. There is no mention of them on Google, no reviews that are not on their own site, and the domain name was only registered 2 weeks ago. It might be fine, but that seems like a very low price. If you don't mind risking the momney, I'd love to know how it goes!
@@ScottMarley Oh will do for sure! Im the type to waste money on curiosity so this fits right in, i wonder what garbage they send over haha. nobody is making these for 35$ and no way these guys have automated the process for making infinity cubes in less than a month
Haha, I'm afraid not! The cost would be way too high. Parts alone come to nearly £100, then it would take me a day to print, solder and build it, so your looking at around £300 in total. You can buy more professional-looking ones on Etsy for around that.
Oh man, the cost would be way too high. It would have to cost £300 or so to make it worthwhile! There must be a less time consuming way of doing it, but I haven't thought about how that would work!
@@ScottMarley well perfect if you ever find a more efficient way you should most definitely make and sell them because I'm sure that you'd get a lot of buyers including myself.
Hmmm Funny looks like the exactly like the one they sale on Amazon exact same color parts & all even the same size even the Lil. Electrical box makes you wonder who really made it, Just Saying,
I made it. There's literally a video here of me making it along with access to all the files that I created in building it. Not sure what you're getting at here.
Guys watch for yourselfs💙 (وَمَا هَـٰذِهِ ٱلۡحَیَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنۡیَاۤ إِلَّا لَهۡوࣱ وَلَعِبࣱۚ وَإِنَّ ٱلدَّارَ ٱلۡـَٔاخِرَةَ لَهِیَ ٱلۡحَیَوَانُۚ لَوۡ كَانُوا۟ یَعۡلَمُونَ) [سورة العنكبوت 64] It means The life of this world is merely an amusement and a diversion; the true life is in the Hereafter, if only they knew. (وَٱتَّقُوا۟ یَوۡمࣰا تُرۡجَعُونَ فِیهِ إِلَى ٱللَّهِۖ ثُمَّ تُوَفَّىٰ كُلُّ نَفۡسࣲ مَّا كَسَبَتۡ وَهُمۡ لَا یُظۡلَمُونَ) [Surah Al-Baqarah 281] It means Beware of a Day when you will be returned to God: every soul will be paid in full for what it has earned, and no one will be wronged. (فَذَرۡهُمۡ یَخُوضُوا۟ وَیَلۡعَبُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ یُلَـٰقُوا۟ یَوۡمَهُمُ ٱلَّذِی یُوعَدُونَ) [سورة الزخرف ٨٣ ] It means Leave them to wade in deeper and play about, until they face the Day they have been promised. ...
I'm currently working through your fast led videos. They are excellent. It will be some time before I try to tackle this kind of cube ,but it looks really good. Thanks for sharing.
Just stumbled upon your channel. Finally a good series of videos on individually addressable rgb projects. Bravo mate.
Very well done for such a small build! You nailed it!
You have done a fantastic job with this!
Love the result, great job. I think this definitely moves to my "will build" list, and maybe move it up to full size LED tape for a larger cube. Thanks for sharing, take care!
If you're going to do this, go for a bigger one. It would be much less hassle to put together. On the other hand, I quite enjoyed the challenge of making this work ;) some people just wrap the tape around the inside of the cube, but you don't get the nice sharp corners that you do if you cut it into sections and wire it together. Each to their own though.
@@ScottMarley Thanks for the tips, like you, I always try to make my projects look as neat as possible. I enjoy the challenge of going that extra step to find the shortest wiring paths with my LED projects, for both looks and better power distribution.
Awesome video and awesome result. Really well explained and demonstrated. Would definitely love to see you do a bigger one with ws2812’s, would give that a go for sure! Keep the great content coming, happy new year.
Cheers, a bigger one would be much easier!
As a DJ, I approve this video 😀
As a DJ, I can't wait for the sound reactive video. 😀
Puts hand up for that Djing job :-D
Yeah, sorry @DJ-Daz. I already have an on-call DJ for showing off my creations ;) @LeonMOOK
This is simply brilliant !
Thanks for another great project and video. Your series on vu meters got me hooked and I’ve done a few sound reactive projects since then. I recently discovered the sound reactive fork of WLED and am playing with that as well. Would love to see a video on it from you.
That will probably be my next video :)
Wow! Very cool. Think I will have to give this a go.
This is the most badass cube, fricken awesome, and marketable!
Oh yeeea i would be so happy with some Sound visualization ideas😍😍
Such a cool project, I've been trying to think of how to make a modular frame for an infinity cube like this and you've definitely got my brain going. Super well done and excellent explanation! Wouldn't want to deal with pixels that small, ever!! Haha
I was originally thinking of a modular design, but eventually I decided it was too complicated and went for this instead. If you manage to sort one out (maybe PCBs that can snap together?), do let me know!
@@ScottMarley Wow pcb snapping is truly an awesome idea.....i will surely try to create the Gerbers.....if I am successful I would be happy to give them to you as I can't further continue due to lack of equipment
@@anonymoususer900 There are two main options for doing this with PCBs. One is to have a bunch of different designs for the edges that only go together one way. The other is to make each side generic, then have some way to specify the routing of the signal at each junction. Either way, it's not an easy problem to solve (or at least it wasn't for me!). Good luck!
@@ScottMarley well I ll try my best.....thanks by the way!!
I have been looking for ages for proper acrylic mirrors like this for a regular infinity mirror. I tried a couple of films but they were horrible or didn't work as needed. Great stuff Scott. Love your projects.
Thank you, definitely go for this stuff, though be careful if you need to cut it, and score it along the aluminium-ised side before you snap it!
This was a great video! I’ve just finished making a Rhombic dodecahedron infinity mirror, and would thoroughly recommend it!!
Great! Do you have a video?
@@ScottMarley Sadly not, I’m thinking it would be worth talking through how I made it on video! There’s a picture on my Instagram @thomasmalachihall if you want to check it out
Awesome video, I think I'm gonna give it a try!
It looks amazing
Wauw it looks impressive!!
Thank you very much. This is the first project what i build. Love it, great Video
Don't build this for your first project, it's very difficult!
Great end result!
Excelente video y demostración
Awesome build, thanks for taking the time to explain the challenges and what you would do differently. I only found your channel today and will be putting the mirrors in my own infinity cube this afternoon.
Welcome aboard and good luck with your project!
Looks great!
You really snd definitely deserve more subscribers
I wish you to hit 1M subscribers asap
I think there's a long way to go until I get to 1M!
True🥺🥺🥺
it's beautiful.
Awesome. Your videos are fantastic, thanks
Thank you, that's very kind
There are 6 one way mirrors attached to all sides.
Yes
Edit: I see where to get the data, thanks.
Very well done the coding for the smooth transitions is incredibly frosty!!! Will you have this available for others?
Love it!!
Super. excelente idea.
I don't have a 3D printer yet. It's on my list. I will be making this for sure.
Aww man this is amazing. Wish you were selling them. I’d have two!
amazing
Mesmerizing...wow
Thank you! I can't stop looking at it.
id love to see the sound reactive one!
Yes that would be very nice :D
I have a cube I want to convert to an infinity cube. I only need 3 sides to "work" or be viewable. Do I still need to do a full build for the same light effects?
Good Job
scott u legend
good job
Amazing job. I made a lovely 3d star with addressable LEDs using WLED. 225 LEDs. 224 but as you say I always add 1 extra. I will give this a go for a decoration next Christmas 😀
Thank you :) You should make a video about your star!
hi mate i am curranty making a 3d led cube like yours, i ran in to some problems, to do with your design my printer could not print, like the insert for the leds, but i did some adjustment to then, when it is up and runing i will send you a link to my youtube
Jesus Christ @Scott Marley.. This is gorgeous. I would like to work on something like this as I was not a fan of the standard infinity mirror
Thank you for the inspiration. !May I reach out to you if I have questions?
You can try but I'm really really busy, so please don't be offended if I don't get back to you!
Aaaah! The Krell Factory! :-D
I was thinking more the Borg cube ;)
@@ScottMarley You should have used more green and ultraviolet ;-)
Looks awesome, i don't have the expertise to build this, other wise i'd steal your idea
I may come to regret this....but inspired by just how good this looks, I'm having a stab...but using 4mm wide LED strip with double the density (300LED/m), and only 12 LEDs per side to keep costs down (a 50cm strip has 150 LEDs, so 12 x 12 works from one 50cm section). I've tweaked the cube drawing in Fusion to suit a 40mm LED strip length so it'll be 'interesting' to see how it looks......
LEDs and ESP arrived in the post today, code tweaked for 12 LEDs per segment and all good. Cube now printing......
All credit to Scott for doing a parametric design by the way - only had to adjust a few values to re-size it. Only fiddle was with the 'pips' on the joints, but easily sorted.
The LEDs I bought have all 3 connections on the underside...so this should be 'fun' :)
If this proves too awkward fro my aging eyes, I may well scale it up and use more sensibly sized LEDs. I'm sure there is an optimum for LEDs/cm vs size of cube to get the best visual impact.
Anyhoo, thank you Scott, for sharing this awesome design.
I've never used an ESP32 before, only the odd Arduino project. Using Arduino IDE V2, no issues with making a very simple tweak to the code, although when uploading I had to reduce the "upload speed" to 115200 and the "Flash frequency" to 40MHz to get it to program.
I do have some modest experience with the 3D printing so that's all fine, although these are some small parts compared to my usual output.
Best of luck, I hope this works for you!
@@ScottMarley Have to say, I love the way those LEDs look with your code. I've just fired up the entire strip for now to see how it looked and how it worked with 12 LEDs per segment.
Thanks again for the inspiration and effort to make it easy for folks like me ;)
Hi Scott, this is a great project! You mentioned not being able to use WLED and yet you have FastLED isn’t he title. How do the two differ? Thanks
In FastLED you write everything from scratch meaning it can do anything you want. In WLED you choose from preset patterns and colours. For most normal projects, WLED is much easier, but I wanted to write something that wasn't possible with it.
Dear Scott, I really like your version of an infinity cube. Do you think that it would be possible to order custom pcbs and solder on some SMD LEDs? Im guessing that a higher pixel density could be achieved this way and the pcb could be as slim as the strip bc it only needs 3 lines for the LEDs and one for routing data back. I have ordered one way mirror film and 4mm led strips from ali to get started. The led strips only have 60leds /meter thought but it's not that bad. Let me know what you think. I have never orderd custom pcbs. Btw your fastled noise video allowed me to make a noise pattern on a 64x32 led matrix that has soundreactive Animation. Kind regards from Germany
Hi Moritz, this could absolutely be done using PCBs, and if I was to build these to sell, that's the way I would do it! I wouldn't even solder them myself, the assembly services from JLPCB and PCBWay are now cheap enough to have them do it for you. That being said, the design for something like that would take a bit of thinking about due to routing all the connections at each corner. Definitely achievable though! One thing to consider with higher density LEDs is the corespondingly higher power requirements. This would become difficult in a small cube ike this. I have a plan to make a cube to use as a coffee tabl which will be much bigger, but pandemic issues are preventing me from getting it done at the moment. All the best, Scott.
@@ScottMarley Thank you for this long answer. I was also thinking that the heat of many leds could be a problem. I'll make one with the supplies I ordered and if that works I'll think about making a better Version
OK, finally finished my homage to this ;)
As I mentioned, I made mine half-scale, which, with hindsight...was a stupid idea!!! Man, that was a fiddly little beggar to assemble. The LED strips I got had all the contacts on the underside, but they were only accessible every 5 LEDS, which didn't work, so all connections were made on the actual chips..which I will come to shortly.
I decided to use 24AWG (0.5mm) enameled copper wire to join it all up, but at this scale, that's like trying to solder a chunk of 1/2" copper pipe to the leg of an IC. I managed to complete the thing, testing at each new connection and got all 12 strips working as they should. I then did a test-fit of a section of 'mirror' and had to 'ease' one of the wire links out of the way....which broke the whole cube. I quickly discovered that due to the size and relative stiffness of the 24AWG wire, when bending it, I had ripped the contact off the top of the chip, thus ruining it. I messed with it trying to repair this, but eventually realised it would never work with this gauge of wire.
So, I identified and replaced the chips I had damaged - an experience in itself as I only had a few actual LEDs left over so had to de-solder good ones from the remnant of the strip, then swap out bad ones on the cube strips themselves, then re-built using 30AWG (0.25mm) wire which is flexible enough and small enough to work properly. To handle the reduced current capacity of the 30AWG I made a 'mesh' or ring out of the power connections which has ensured good brightness throughout the cube.
I used some 2mm wide double sided tape to stick the 'mirrors' in, which seems to have worked OK.
Overall, that was a seriously fiddly and testing exercise, next one will be bigger......
Again, many thanks to Scott for the inspiration, glad I persevered because it looks great....but I suspect a bigger one would look better.
And for proof, a short video of my completed cube:
th-cam.com/users/shortsFQqt0H7Ip38?feature=share
Incredblible, thanks so much for the write up! It might have been a pain to do, but I bet there was a lot of satisfaction in seeing job completed :) now do a bigger one!
@@ScottMarley OK...bigger one now competed :) A straight copy of yours, the only mod I did was to enlarge the base a bit so it houses the ESP32. I ended up buying the LED strips direct from iPixel. The ones they supplied have a contact pad for all 3 lines at every LED so were really easy to work with. I once again used the 30AWG wire which worked a treat.
th-cam.com/video/bwOgisJZkFQ/w-d-xo.html
And as you say, it looks so much better in reality than on video. I just used my iPhone to take this and it somehow makes the mirrors look quite cloudy - they aren't at all. Might be flare I suppose.
Anyway, once again, thank you for the inspiration. I might do a coffee table next.....
Just started 3D printing my cube an base...ordered the wrong lights (waterproof) waiting for non-waterproof then it's GO TIME !
update: Finished it. Though i changed my design a bit. i kept the W2812B controller in-line to control colors. I created 160mm long hollow triangular tubes to fit into each edge for strips to mount on. I 3D printed them. They're hollow to allow the data line to go backward to next strip in sequence. With 3M mounting tape they hold the lexan glass pretty solid, but i used Aluminum tape for decor and extra strength. I was going to use 1/2'' aluminum angle to frame it, but the tape does it's job and i didn't want to cut all those aluminum pieces haha.
here is my video. th-cam.com/video/HUDD9bEJIyI/w-d-xo.html
Looks really good. Can you share an STL export as well as the fusion360 files please
Sure, give me a few mins and I'll upload them.
OK, STLs are in the Fusion folder on GitHub
Nice!
Impressive project, Scott!
Did you consider making the case of opal (semi transparent white) material and add some extra leds lighting that up?
That would look amazing. But there's no way on earth I would have been able to make that!
@@ScottMarley well it would be made more simple with the parallel type of Neopixels. With a pre-built corner that uses a clamp and i.e. ground on the outside and +5v on the inside. Centered in the ground could be the -parallel data connection trace.
Given it’s parallel; you would need only 3 of 6 pin connections “working”.
There are newer Neopixels in development that have a fixed position meaning: 3 wires; (all in parallel) and I believe these can contain between 100 and 200 pixels.
The protocol is pretty similar to the WS2812B you used for this project.
Main problem is that we don’t know the exact led type yet. GeekMom (twitter) has been experimenting with these in a string. (Which still works even if one pixel breaks)
@@ScottMarley also instead of 3D printing some of the elements you might consider using EasyEda 2 to design your own thin PcB’s to have a very simple soldering of your strips.
Would gladly give you a short training to get you going.
PCB’s are fairly cheap nowadays and you can even have difficult SMT packages pre-soldered for a very low price. (Ideal for a more than a one-off)
@@ericoudammerveld424 I've heard of these LEDs, but I don't know why it would be easier with these? And are they small enough to build something like this? I went for these ones due to the width of the strip and relatively high density. Also, are these supported by FastLED? If not, I'm out ;)
@@ericoudammerveld424 my first thought was to design some PCBs that clip together. I'm happy using KiCad and have made a bunch of PCBs with PCBWay and JLPCB over the years. I just couldn't wrap my head around how to connect everything at the corners! Either each edge would have to be unique so the signal routes correctly, or each edge is generic and I think of a way to select which way the data goes at each junction. They would still need soldering together at the corners unless you went for something exotic like flexible PCBs. Then what would the mirrors attach to? In the end, I decided that this was much easier :)
Will it work on esp8266?
Hey Scott, I rebuild your Project In A bigger Version. It turned out nice but i have some trubbel with the Code. The last Animation pixels dont Work. And I mean if it comes up to play the Animation the strip is Completely Black until the next pettern comes up and I cant explain it to me. Hope for some help! I will uploud My files soon on thingiverse!
Is there a video tutorial on how to make 3D Printed ?
good job Scott! what size two way mirror do I have to order for this project? thanks
You're feeling brave if you're going to attempt this! I chose the size because I could get all 6 sides from a single piece A4 in size and that was easy for me to get.
@@ScottMarley thank you 🙏👍
@@ScottMarley Soctt can you share STL code for 3d printer? if yes you send to ccongus@yahoo.pl
Thank you
@@tom-c1394 Hi Tom, STLs are all at the GitHub link under the Fusion360 folder
@@ScottMarley oh yes thank you 🙏
I like this..
👍👍
i have run to this file but faces some issue in "FastLED.h " file. Like "FastLED.h: No such file or directory
".
POV: you saw this on Snapchat and wanna know if it’s real
Can I ask you to send me a screenshot of the Snapchat thing? I don't use Snapchat, so whatever it is has been posted by someone else. I'm a bit confused as to why they are using my video!
@@ScottMarley for me it was an ad that linked to a website to buy these: www.myinfinitycube.com/product-page/pen
@@ScottMarley I gotchu 😉, where can I send you this... what’s your insta?
@@cameron7612 I don't do insta either, sorry! Email scottmarley85@gmail.com would be great though ;)
@@ScottMarley okay
Do you have the fusion file for this, I would love to try and build this
Can we do this project with ws2812b?
Yes. But the current will be much higher, so you will need a higher wattage power supply.
@@ScottMarley
So we can do it in the same project with the same codes.
That 1000uF aluminium electrolytic capacitor isn't doing anything there, other than causing an inrush current when you plug it in. The switching rate of the LEDs is in the tens of kHz and that capacitor is going to look like a massive brick wall to any return currents at that frequency. I wouldn't bother with adding additional capacitance here at all, or at most I'd put a 10uF MLCC cap as close to the output pins to the LED strips as possible.
It’s across the supply isn’t it?
@@davemartin7374 Yes, but that doesn't matter. A capacitor that large is massive overkill for ripple voltages, and utterly useless at filtering high frequency return currents. Those return currents will look at that capacitor like a brick wall - you might as well connect a 10M resistor over the supply instead. The ESP32 board already has decoupling over VIN, and again a 1000uF cap is not going to do any good there. If the intention is to decouple the LED strip for EMI reasons, then putting the cap (let alone an aluminium electrolytic!) at the end of a pair of 75mm+ wires is also useless - that path is far too high impedance and the fields will just spread out and couple through the data line or whatever else is nearby.
@@gsuberland how about low frequency changes in load? Having the whole strip flashing on and off a couple of times a second? Would this large capacitor help even out the supply voltage from a distant power supply?
Interesting. I've always assumed that this cap was recommended to smooth power spikes being drawn as the LEDs flash on and off rather than for EMI interference. Saying that, when I've made sound reactive things using a line-in for example, without a big cap like this on the power rails you can hear noise from the LEDs flashing through the aux line. Adding a cap removes that noise, and the larger the cap, the more the noise is reduced. Anyway, having this present is recommended on the FastLED and WLED webpages so I don't see there being any harm to having it.
@@ScottMarley There are a few things at play here, and the noise largely comes from two things: EMI and switching noise.
The first thing to understand about physical circuits is where the energy is. There's no energy in the copper. This sounds counter-intuitive, but it's true. The energy in a circuit exists in the electric and magnetic fields between a signal and its reference plane (usually ground). If you have two wires next to each other - one signal, one ground - they form a field in the space in between. In a PCB the fields exist between the trace on top and the ground reference plane below. The current flowing through the trace returns through the ground plane directly beneath that trace. The trace is just acting as a waveguide to steer the field around.
If you don't reference a signal to a ground, the fields spread out through the space (air, plastic, fiberglass, whatever) to find a low impedance path to ground. That's radiative EMI. If you take a 4-layer PCB and put a signal on the top layer, a signal on the second layer, and a ground plane on third, then the electric fields from the signal on the top layer will couple through the signal on the second layer, and cause cross-talk. Same goes for signals on wires instead of PCBs. This is why so many cables are shielded - you get a ground reference plane in all directions around the wires, so the fields don't spread out and cross-couple with other signals.
While decoupling is often talked about in terms of acting as a local energy reservoir to smooth out voltage spikes, it's also a key factor in EMI and cross-talk. The reason you decouple is to provide a low impedance path for high frequency return currents. If you make those currents flow further along a PCB, the fields generated by those currents will spread out looking for the lowest impedance path to ground. Often that isn't what you intend to be ground - the fields will couple into other signals and flow back into your ICs and jump to ground that way, creating a ton of noise (because you've got high frequency return currents in your signals) and radiative EMI.
Remember that in the most basic model of things, capacitors allow high frequency signals to pass but block DC. So when you put a capacitor between a signal or voltage rail and ground, you're allowing high frequency currents to flow through the capacitor straight to ground (like a short!) but not allowing low frequency currents (DC or near DC) to flow. The high frequency return currents use it as a low impedance path to get to ground. The critical part here is that the capacitor *must* have sufficiently low impedance. In practice, the bigger the capacitor you use, the more impedance it has at a given frequency, and some types are better than others. That's why you typically see 100nF ceramic decoupling caps next to ICs, not 100uF electrolytics. The capacitance itself is not there as a "reservoir" - if that were the case you could just make it as big as you like. It's there because if you look at the impedance graph for a 100nF capacitor it'll have the lowest impedance at the expected frequency of the return currents for most modern ICs (which is not a product of clock frequency, but rise and fall time).
When you hear noise on an aux line in a scenario like this, it's caused by cross-coupling effects. High frequency return currents are coupling through the supply rails and the aux line to get back to ground.
There are two main reasons why it might occur. The first is direct EMI from the LED strips, due to return currents having to flow long distances before finding a return path, leading to the fields spreading out and coupling with other signals in the circuit.
The second reason is that the board itself (particularly the switch-mode supply) may be poorly designed, leading to EMI whose frequency and amplitude modulates based on the amount of power demand there is. When the rate of change of power demand is within the audible frequency range (likely with LED strips) then the modulation of the switching signals causes audible cross-talk.
When you add your giant capacitor, you aren't really solving either issue directly. The radiative EMI from the LED strips is still there, completely unaffected, but you just haven't noticed it because you're not pushing things to the kinds of limits where signal reflections and crosstalk become problematic.
The EMI from the regulator isn't gone, either, but the huge capacitor forms an RC low pass filter using the parasitic resistance of the wiring and traces on the board, which lowers the rate of change of the power demand, which lowers the rate of change of noise being coupled into the rest of the circuit. Because the resistance of these traces is very low, you need a large capacitance to bring the pole of the filter down below the kHz range. Assuming a 100mOhm trace, the 1000uF capacitor forms an LPF with a pole at around 1500Hz. This is why you slowly hear less and less of the noise.
If you want a more in-depth understanding of how all of this works, I highly recommend Rick Hartley's talk "The extreme importance of PC Board stack-up" at Altium Live a few years back. It's extremely eye-opening.
Do you have to use that size capacitor or will it work with a smaller one?
Anything is fine, and it will probably work without one at all :)
@@ScottMarley awesome thanks
I want to see what an infinite tetrahedron will look like
No Amazon Canada affiliate link!?!
Aw sorry, it takes ages to sort all these links out as I don't know what I'm doing! I just have to go for places most of my viewers are from. If it helps, I'd rather live in Canada than the US! (Or the UK tbh)
Wow great project really love to build it but I don't have 3d printer
There are definitely other ways to do this, but a 3D printer really opens up ways of making stuff that's just really hard otherwise. You can get a decent one now for $200, start saving up and ask for birthday donations or something!
Ask about, see if you know someone locally with one who can print for you
Didn't you put the glass in backwards? I thought the mirror deflection went on the inside...
I tried both ways and it looks the same either way around.
Can you upload the code? The one on the link description gives me the message (arduino nano low memory available, stability problems may occur). Every time I try to upload it on my ARDUINO nano
You can't run this on a nano I'm afraid. I used an ESP32.
@@ScottMarley ok. I will buy the ESP32 and upload your code then. Thank you. Your pattern is amazing, it is the best I've ever seen it.
nice do you shaire new code
✔✔👍✔✔
Does it have to go to music?
This one doesn't with this code, but it absolutely could. To make it as easy as possible, I would recommend installing the sound reactive fork of WLED from here github.com/atuline/WLED
Works the Code with ws2812b LEDs?
Yes, these are WS2812B, just tiny versions!
@@ScottMarley thank You, I will defenetly rebuild it🔥🇩🇪⚡
Are you sale. I want to buy it
1:55 we learned this in elementary 💀😭
Now are you selling these cause I saw an ad for it on Snapchat?
same thats why I am here and i think the snapchat ad might be a scam
An ad for this actual thing? Or a different one? I'm definitely not selling this, took way too long to make!
@@ScottMarley Yes bro it was this exact one 😂 I was like no way!
@@oliverware6384 You saw it too? 😂
@@TheIskateTV Cheeky bastards!
How many sides are mirrors?
All of them!
@@ScottMarley so these are two way mirrors! I didn’t get that from the video.. thx.. keep up the great work btw.. I love all your projects and it has inspired me to make some.. currently waiting for my 16x16 matrices, esp32 and ender 3 to arrive!
@@davemartin7374 yeah, sorry I didn't mention that! Sounds like you might have the beginnings of an LED obesession there, be careful ;)
You need to sell these
Yeah I just saw the ad on insta and I bought one off it it. I’m pretty sure that it’s fake now that I look at it
Where is the file stl for the cube?
GitHub, fusion 360 folder. Link in the description.
@@ScottMarley thank you very much
Fuckin ace
Are you taking orders?
Unfortunately not, it was a bit of a pain to make! Thanks though :)
@@ScottMarley understood. Thanks for the fast reply. Cheers mate!
😎😎
8:40 contra stage 3
Sounds like it doesn't it!
How much to make me one?
I don't want to make another one like this, it was quite annoying to build!
Now do a tesseract
I've been informed by viewers that this is somehow being 'advertised' on Snapchat. I've now seen the ad and it is not my cube, and I have nothing to do with their site. Just FYI, if you order one from them, be prepared to lose your money. Reasons for suspicion: They don't appear on google at all, there are no reviews of their products other than their own site, it seems veeery cheap, the domain name was only registered 2 weeks ago and their email provider is yandex.ru, which is well known for its spam. EDIT: I've had confirmation now from several viewers that it's definitely a scam. Don't do it!
www.myinfinitycube.com/ they are selling them here
hey! I got some screenshots of the advert in question if you'd like them, pm me for my email. Also the seller in question is www.myinfinitycube.com. bang up job btw!
also just ordered one out of curiosity, we'll see what I end up with haha
@puppergod I'm suspicious. There is no mention of them on Google, no reviews that are not on their own site, and the domain name was only registered 2 weeks ago. It might be fine, but that seems like a very low price. If you don't mind risking the momney, I'd love to know how it goes!
@@ScottMarley Oh will do for sure! Im the type to waste money on curiosity so this fits right in, i wonder what garbage they send over haha. nobody is making these for 35$ and no way these guys have automated the process for making infinity cubes in less than a month
Could I buy this off of you by chance? It would mean a lot :))
Haha, I'm afraid not! The cost would be way too high. Parts alone come to nearly £100, then it would take me a day to print, solder and build it, so your looking at around £300 in total. You can buy more professional-looking ones on Etsy for around that.
@@ScottMarley oh nice I’ll check on Etsy thank u for responding
I got one off of tik tok like 4 days ago and haven’t heard a word from them
It's a scam, you're not going to get one I'm afraid. Sorry.
@@ScottMarley thank you for letting me know
How about you make them and we pay you for them, because theirs no way ill be able to make it😂
Oh man, the cost would be way too high. It would have to cost £300 or so to make it worthwhile! There must be a less time consuming way of doing it, but I haven't thought about how that would work!
@@ScottMarley well perfect if you ever find a more efficient way you should most definitely make and sell them because I'm sure that you'd get a lot of buyers including myself.
Hmmm Funny looks like the exactly like the one they sale on Amazon exact same color parts & all even the same size even the Lil. Electrical box makes you wonder who really made it, Just Saying,
I made it. There's literally a video here of me making it along with access to all the files that I created in building it. Not sure what you're getting at here.
Guys watch for yourselfs💙
(وَمَا هَـٰذِهِ ٱلۡحَیَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنۡیَاۤ إِلَّا لَهۡوࣱ وَلَعِبࣱۚ وَإِنَّ ٱلدَّارَ ٱلۡـَٔاخِرَةَ لَهِیَ ٱلۡحَیَوَانُۚ لَوۡ كَانُوا۟ یَعۡلَمُونَ)
[سورة العنكبوت 64]
It means
The life of this world is merely an amusement and a diversion; the true life is in the Hereafter, if only they knew.
(وَٱتَّقُوا۟ یَوۡمࣰا تُرۡجَعُونَ فِیهِ إِلَى ٱللَّهِۖ ثُمَّ تُوَفَّىٰ كُلُّ نَفۡسࣲ مَّا كَسَبَتۡ وَهُمۡ لَا یُظۡلَمُونَ)
[Surah Al-Baqarah 281]
It means
Beware of a Day when you will be returned to God: every soul will be paid in full for what it has earned, and no one will be wronged.
(فَذَرۡهُمۡ یَخُوضُوا۟ وَیَلۡعَبُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ یُلَـٰقُوا۟ یَوۡمَهُمُ ٱلَّذِی یُوعَدُونَ)
[سورة الزخرف ٨٣ ]
It means
Leave them to wade in deeper and play about, until they face the Day they have been promised.
...
Ich denke billig er
The LEDs are quite expensive, but it's cheaper than buying a pre-made cube!
мария ефимова ис самары я тебя люблю ТЫ богиня хелла