top of page

Maker Projects

For my Maker project I attempted to build an LED cube that I could use to create 3D representations of electron orbitals. My first step was to choose a size that would make this possible, but still remain small enough to be built in within a semester.I decided to go with a 5x5x5 cube due because that would give me the best symmetry for the shapes I wanted. This Instructables tutorial helped me a lot along the way.

​

While I waited for all of the necessary parts to come in I made a base for my cube. I made the design using the Google app called Gravit Designer and then I laser cut it out of acrylic at Ann Richards with the help of my mentor Oren Connell.

I wasn't sure what the spacing would be for the LEDs so instead of adding the holes in my box design I drilled them in after the pieces had been cut out. I had used drills before, but this was my first time using one on acrylic. The drill bit I used was very small, but the holes were still too big for the wire I was using to give my cube structure. I decided to add some hot glue to hold them in place while I soldered on some the lights. This is where things started to get a bit more challenging. 

​

My first challenge was finding a way to test all of my LEDs prior to soldering them. The most experience I had with circuit building was a physics 2 lab and the LEDs used by the Instructable were unfamiliar to me. Using an Arduino UNO kit and the internet I was able to find out for to put together a circuit that let me test the lights. There were some casualties along the way when I accidentally put in an LED in the reverse direction, but in the end I learned a lot of new things about how these LEDs worked.

Due to restrictions on the files allowed on this Wix I had to convert the design from SVG to PDF. For the original file please contact me at mirnagonzalez@utexas.edu

Now, that I had 125 functional LEDs it was time to begin building! This is where I had to make some modifications to the way I was attaching LEDs to the wires. Thanks to my amateur soldering skills I was spending a lot of time holding the soldering iron to the LED and the wire. The most obvious effect this had at first was melting that it melted the hot glue I was using to hold my wires in place. This quickly became a mess and nearly impossible to hold the wires at the correct height. Another issue I ran into was that holding too so much heat to my LEDs caused them to not work anymore. At this point I was pretty frustrated and beginning to get overwhelmed, but instead of quitting I reached out to Oren and asked for help. After some practice, and some different solder, my skills actually improved! 

​

At this point my cube is still a work in progress. As a novice solderer it will definitely take me a while to incorporate all 125 LEDs and once that is complete I will have to tackle adding all of the wiring that will help power my cube. This project was certainly harder that I originally anticipated, but it taught me a lot of new skills and I plan on continuing my work once I have time again during winter break. 

​

My biggest take away from this experience was realizing that failure isn't bad as long as you learn something from it. This has always been  something difficult for me because I tend to get overwhelmed quickly but having the opportunity to "fail" while doing something I was interested in really made it easier. As a teacher I hope to give my students a safe environment where "failure" isn't really failure and is only a learning experience.  

Check out some of the other projects I have been working on throughout the semester!

bottom of page