Mounting the cube

Post date: Dec 08, 2014 5:56:6 AM

After testing out my first anode wiring design, which involved all 8 anode wires coming down all four corners, I decided that I didn't like the way it looked and it didn't fit with the look of the cube. It was also going to be tedious to make. So I clipped the extra wires in the corners and came up with another, simpler, design involving one wire from each layer coming out and down on one face, each one staggered so they don't touch. I originally stayed away from this design because it involves only one wire sourcing all the current to the layer, but after some research, I concluded that the single wire could handle it. If it can't, I'll figure something else out. The second image below pictures the 8 longer anode wires sticking through the foam.

I bought a soft styrofoam board to mount the cube to, but I wanted it to be colored black so that it won't stand out in the dark, so I bought some black spray paint. When I tried to paint the board, however, the spray melted away the styrofoam. I attempted to do many many thin coats so that the board surface would stay intact, but it was difficult because any uneven spray would eat away at the board. I gave up on the spraypaint and dug out my childhood fingerpaint. I grabbed the washable black and used that instead. Once it dried, I noticed that it flakes off the foam board when it is touched. I decided to use it anyway and I'll just paint another coat later. The first image below shows the difference between the two sides of the foam board: one with spray paint and one with water based finger paint.

I wasn't entirely sure how to get all the wires in the bottom of the cube to slide through the foam, so I placed the cube on the foam and pushed down. This wasn't very effective. Pushing one pillar down was more effective, but it warped the cube a bit and wasn't working the way I'd liked. So I used my needle-nosed pliers and went to every wire a few times and pushed it in through the foam board. This warped the cube quite a bit, but it worked. It was a challenge getting it mounted. The middle wires liked to bend instead of going through the foam. Luckily, I could just reach them with my needle-nose pliers. The second image shows pictures of the cube mounted to the foam.

Now it is time to work on the control boards!

-Jeremy