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Electronic dice

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gizzemoto

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Hi all,
As part of my final digital electronic project i have to build an electronic dice using the 555 timer ic and the 4017 ic. Most of the projects i have seen consist of 6 leds mounted flat on a board, numbered 1 to 6. Iwant want to try and design a dice consisting of a cube Material dice , with 21 leds, 6 leds for 6, 5leds for 5 and so on. What i am trying to figure out is, what swith is available to activate the dice when its thrown and secondly how do i get the correct top of the dice to light when it lands and lights up the top leds on the role ?????
 
Surely if you have 21 LEDs then each face of the dice will only be able to show one number. If that is the case then why would you need to use a 555 and a 4017 ?
A better way would be to have 6 LEDs on each face.
As for the kind of switch needed, you could use lever type micro switches, one on each face. Bend the end of the lever through 90 degrees and have it poking through the face. That way only the bottom-most switch would be pressed on landing.
 
i want it to look like a dice and do be able to role it like a dice. If i throw it, the leds could light on any side of the cube. but i need it to light on the face thats is read, like a normal dice. then if i throw it again i get a diffrent number, say 3, i also need it to detect and light 3 not 2 or 6 or any other variation.

Why 21 leds 6 leds for 6
5 leds for 5
4 leds for 4
3 for 3
2 for 2
1 for 1

total 21
 
hi,
I made a die some time ago, two sets of 7 leads on one face only.

LED's arranged as standard dice faces.

Made up a small metal funnel, closed off at the large end of the funnel, inserted a 4mm dia ball bearing into the funnel, in the small of the funnel inserted a metal pin, isolated from the main funnel body,,, it makes power ON switch.

Additional advantage as you shook the die it sounds like real dice in a cup.

After shaking you placed the dice , face up, and as the ball bearing settled it enabled the logic to generate random numbers then lit the displays.

To leave the dice idle, just place face down.

Regards
EricG
 
Use a 3-axis accelerometer (Google) as your attitude sensor. It can tell you which of the 6 faces is up.
You could do it mechanically, but the only idea I came up with involves another cube within the outer cube, with the corners of the inner cube at the centers of the faces of the outer cube, and a metal ball that settles into the bottom corner, turning on the LEDs on the top face. I don't think a moving metal ball is a good idea in a die, because of balance issues (which you must face anyway), and reliability, which you may not care much about.
 
Thanks for yer reply, atleast you know what im trying to acheive, i know i need a mercury switch to trigger the timing, but there must be a simple way of perhaps letting the circuit auto correct. The leds dont need spilt second read out, just needs to display on the right face up. maybe more tilt switches to tell the 4017 which needs to be on and which needs to be off. N,S,E,W - pole FOR four mercury switches?????? i dont know, its a brainstorm for me.
 
3-axis accelerometer, what volt would you need to drive a unit like this. i have only 9volt to work off. Ericgibbs, i can see the principles of your die and i am sure i could use 7 dice to get the same read out, ie 6,5,4,3,2,1. do you have drwings for this circuit ??? and how you layed it out. Im only using a 555 timer and a 4017 ic, capacitor, resistors and switches
 
hi,
It was 25 years ago when I designed the dice, explained in my PP.

I have no documentation from that time for the dice. I will have another search thru my doc's asap.

I recall using all CMOS i/c's, 40106 i/c as the pulse gen, 3 * AA batteries located in the base of the dice.
You can buy ready made battery carriers.

It used 7 red and 7 green, minature led's, one color for each dice face,
[remember lots of games require two dice, (die)],

The shaker 'ball bearing' we had gold flashed to improve the contact with the shaker funnel.

The overall dimensions about 6cm cube, with rounded corners, made from
a hard wearing nylon based black plastic. [black gave the best led contrast]

We designed the dice as a promotional item, for our customers, we made around 100 units.
Also produced 10 units in real silver cases!! for our prestige customers.

Please post your concept circuit, like to help.

EricG
 
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This is the basic circuit plan, hope you can make sense of it. I know there has to be alot more added.

**broken link removed**
 
hi giz,

Seen your circuit, not really a dice, as I understand it.

From memory, re-invented my 'old wheel', attached drawing.

Please check the logic, excuse the awful drawing, its just to get the idea across.

The OR gate i/c is just one option, you can make diode OR gates, just add a series resistor to limit LED currents.

Let me know if its what you had in mind.

The dwg colours are just for clarity.

EricG
 
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If you place a tilt switch in each of the 8 corners of the cube, either all facing out or all facing in. Position them so that each end of the switch faces an opposite corner of the cube, then no matter which face is uppermost you will have four switches open and four closed. Then with some logic gates you can easily identify which face is which.
 
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