USA Flag made with diffused LED using Arduino

USA flag constructed using a total of 2,301 diffused red, white and blue LEDs completed with Arduino sketch animations, I hope this instructions helps anyone who wants to try this out. This flag can be displayed during the 4th of July, memorial day or during Christmas. If you find this project interesting and you do something similar by making either the hardware or the Arduino software codes better, please share with others.

Below is the You Tube video of the finished flag.

http://youtu.be/ghKm-H0ZrB4

USA Flag made with diffused LED using Arduino

Step 1: Materials and Tools

Here is a list of materials and tools I used for this
project.

Material:

  • Polystyrene plastic sheet (0.125″ thickness; Quantity: 1)

($21 + $12.35 shipping US):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271352111127

  • 5mm Red Diffused LED (Quantity: 1000)

($16.52 for 1000 free shipping from China):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221419131258

  • 5mm White Diffused LED (Quantity: 1000)

($22.40 for 1000 free shipping from China):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111125366867

  • 5mm Blue Diffused LED (Quantity: 500)

($11.91 for 500 free shipping from China):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400686984848

  • Arduino Mega 2560

($14.96 free shipping US)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/131207329852

  • N-Cannel MOSFET (Quantity: 15)

($12.13+ $3.09 shipping US)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331154081014

  • 12V 5A Power Supply (Quantity: 1)

($15.99 free shipping US):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181284109670

  • Prototype board (Quantity: 1)

Obtained at a local Radioshark at $3.49

  • 100 ohms Resistors (Quantity: 975)

Obtained at a local component store $0.03/resistor

  • 220 ohms Resistors (Quantity: 50)

Obtained at a local component store $0.03/resistor

Tools:

  • Soldering iron
  • Solder lead
  • Drill Press (This will make it a lot easier and accurate drilling than hand drill)
  • Needle-nose pliers
  • Cutter
  • Tape measure
  • Pencil to mark the grid lines
  • Ruler (As long as possible, I used long wooden ruler from Home Depot)
  • Multi meter

USA Flag made with diffused LED using Arduino circuit

Step 2: Measurement and grid lines

The standard ratio of USA flag is 10:19 (Length: Breadth), the aim is to make flag that is 30inches breadth meaning that the length will be 15.8inches (rounded to 16). Cut out 16″ x 30″ from the polystyrene sheet, make sure you have minimum of 1/2 inch on all edges (this is useful for attaching the wooden frame at the very end.
Mark out 1/4″ space from left side of the board to the right and 1.18″ from top to the bottom forming a grid. I have attached excel sheet that show the LED layout for visual aid. Ensure that all the grid intersections are numbered left to right and top to bottom (Rows and columns). There should be 39 rows and 60 columns making a total of 2,340 LEDs; spreadsheet also included LED counts.

Step 3: LED hole drilling

Using drill press (preferable one with Laser guide) and 3/16″ drill bit, drill LED holes at the intersection of the grid drawn out above. Use a 3/16″ drill bit will ensure the LED fits snugly into the hole, but it require a bit of effort to place LED in.

Special Note:

The drill press that I used was only able to reach about 4 1/2″ around the rectangular polystyrene sheet meaning that it was not possible to get to the inner part of the sheet, fortunately, the polystyrene sheet was flexible enough to be bent around so I was able to use the press to completely drill all the 2,340 holes. Also, I made a mistake while I was measuring out my grid, instead of having 60 columns as I had planned it out on the spreadsheet, I had 59! So in total I only had 2,301 holes to drill; this did not make much of difference in the final product though

 

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About The Author

Ibrar Ayyub

I am an experienced technical writer with a Master's degree in computer science from BZU Multan University. I have written for various industries, mainly home automation and engineering. My writing style is clear and simple, and I am skilled in using infographics and diagrams. I am a great researcher and am able to present information in a well-organized and logical manner.

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