Nuts and Volts - November 2011

LED Madness Contest Winner Details

Nuts & Volts recently hosted a contest on Facebook in which participants uploaded videos of their best LED projects and the public voted for who they liked the best. Prizes were awarded for the top three winners.

These included the grand prize which was a 3D LED Matrix Cube kit (valued at $59.95); second prize which was a magazine CD-ROM (valued at $24.95); and third prize which was a Nuts & Volts hat (valued at $14.59). You’ll find descriptions of our top winners here. Be sure to check out the Nuts & Volts Facebook page for upcoming contests! You might just find yourself in print too!

1st Place: My Little Cube Creation Michael Uylaki

I came up with this idea because my son had an LED sword and had broken the plastic, and he was very upset about it. So, I decided to cut some Plexiglass into squares, and then I super-glued three of the squares together. I left one side open so I could put the LEDs in. With the last Plexiglass piece, I drilled a small hole out of it so there would be access to press the button to turn it on and off. I took the LED sword apart, and super-glued the battery compartment down on the Plexiglass that was left over. I then took the light string and stuffed it into the three squares that were previously glued together. I attached the last piece on and then I cut out duct tape to make the design on the square. It’s a really easy build and only took about a half hour to build. Unfortunately, my kids broke it within a day of me making it, but you can view the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmfsm746fR8.

2nd Place: LED Cube With Arduino Josue Rojas

I built this for fun and to improve my ability to solder — it involves a lot of soldering.

I also built it because it was very mesmerizing. There’s a guide you can follow at www.instructables.com /id/The-4x4x4-LED-cube- Arduino/?ALLSTEPS. Instead of wood, I used cardboard with the dotted pictured pasted on it, then I just cut out the holes.