Product Guide: Brick-Built Mainframe Computer Kit with Lights

Product Guide: Brick-Built Mainframe Computer Kit with Lights



INTRODUCTION

This guide describes the steps to assemble the Brickstuff brick-built mainframe computer kit, which includes genuine LEGO® parts, a Brickstuff effect controller with pre-programmed computer light effects, six LED lights with flexible bases, and a 3xAAA battery pack with on/off switch (batteries not included).

To begin assembly, remove the LEGO® parts from their bag and also remove the LED lights.  You will notice that there are two types of LED light: one with the light on the left side of the board, and one with the light on the right side of the board.  Photos of both types are shown below:

Flexible LED light with light on the LEFT side.

Flexible LED light with light on the RIGHT side.
You'll want to make sure to use the correct LED in the later steps of this guide (each step shows which type to use).

ASSEMBLY

OK, let's get started!  Below are the visual assembly steps.


Beginning in the next step, you'll need those LED lights.  First you'll use two of the left-facing LED lights, then two of the right-facing lights, and finally another two of the left-facing lights.

The flex LED lights are fragile!  When mounting them as shown in the steps below, be careful to line up the LED light on top of the LEGO® stud.  It may help to press down in the center (between the studs) before attaching a part on top of the light-- this will pre-bend the light so it flexes more easily under the part you attach on top of it.

Mount each LED light by aligning it over two studs as shown in each step below.  To hold the light in place, you can attach one of the black 1x1 LEGO® plates on top of the side of the light without the LED.  You can then press down on that black 1x1 plate and the LED light should be centered over the other stud.  You can then attach one of the transparent brown 1x1 plates on top of the LED light to hold everything in place.

Note that the LED lights and wires are not shown in the graphical assembly steps, but they are shown in the photos with each step.

Begin by using two of the left-facing LED lights.

Next, switch to using the two right-facing LED lights for the second row of lights.

Finally, use the two remaining left-facing LED lights to complete the final (third) level of computer lights.

Before finishing the computer assembly, you can connect the six LED lights to the six small connectors on the effect controller board supplied with your kit.  It does not matter which plug (1-6) you connect each light to-- the lights will move in a random sequence when power is turned on.

The illustration below shows the effect controller board and its connections:


As shown in the illustration, connect the six LED lights to the six outputs.

Connect the plug from the battery pack to the "PWR IN" plug (in the upper left of the illustration above).  Add batteries, and turn power on.  The Power LED light on the controller board should turn on, and the blue status LED light will blink several times, then the six lights in your computer should begin cycling on and off randomly.

Make sure all six lights are operational by letting the controller run for a minute or two-- each of the six lights mounted inside the computer should turn on at some point during that time.

After you have connected the lights and battery pack, you can finish assembling your computer.


As shown in the step above, you can use some of the sticky dots that came with your kit to stick the controller onto the back of the computer panels and hold it in place.  You can also carefully coil up the excess LED light wires so everything fits in the back of the computer-- this will allow you to hide the wires and controller in the next steps when you attach the rear panels.


Congratulations!  Your computer assembly is complete.  The controller included with your kit has several settings that you can adjust to control the speed of the flashing lights, and also to set whether lights turn on in "analog" mode (using a slight dimming transition when turning on or off) or whether they turn on in "digital" mode (either fully on or fully off).  To learn about these modes and how to change them if you'd like, you can consult the function guide for the controller.

THANK YOU

Thank you for purchasing this Brickstuff product!  Your support means a lot to our small, family business, and it allows us to wake up every day and continue doing the work we love: making really cool things to take your models to the next level!

If you have any questions or problems with this product, please send us an e-mail and let us know how we can help.  You can also comment directly about this guide below.

If you make something really cool with this product, please share on social media and tag us (@brickstuff on most platforms) so we can see your awesome work!

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