Patternflow parts list

Patternflow is an open-source LED synthesizer built from through-hole parts on a custom PCB. This piece is the shopping list for the current board revision, v3.9. Building with them is https://ganpan.org/patternflow/build. The authoritative file is hardware/bom/bom_v3.9.csv in the repository, and the build guide's table is derived from it.

Budget US$100 to 200 as of September 2026. Every part except the LED panel is given by manufacturer part number and is meant to be looked up at Mouser, DigiKey or wherever sells the same part. The repository lists no prices on purpose.

On the board

Seven line items, all through-hole. Nothing you solder is surface-mount.

RefQtyPartManufacturer part number
U11ESP32-S3 DevKit, N16R8, 44-pin, 25.4 mm row spacing. Socketed, never solderedESP32-S3-DevKitC-1-N16R8 (Espressif)
U1 sockets2Female pin socket header, 1x22, 2.54 mmPPPC221LFBN-RC (Sullins)
SW1–SW44Rotary encoder with push switch, EC11, 5-pin, 20 mm shaftPEC11R-4220F-S0024 (Bourns)
J11Box header, 2x8, 2.54 mm, vertical. Takes the HUB75 ribbon61201621621 (Würth Elektronik)
J31Screw terminal, 2-pin, 5.0 mm. +5 V out to the LED panelTB002-500-02BE (CUI Devices)
J41Screw terminal, 2-pin, 5.0 mm, on the back. The power inputTB002-500-02BE (CUI Devices)
C111Electrolytic capacitor, 1000 uF 16 V, radial, 5.0 mm lead pitch. Observe polarity16PX1000MEFC10X12.5 (Rubycon)

J3 and J4 are the same part, so order two of that screw terminal.

The encoders are inserted from the back of the board: bodies on the back, leads soldered on the front. The shaft length decides which knob file you print — 20 mm shafts use knobs_20mm.stl, 15 mm shafts use knobs_15mm.stl.

Off the board

QtyPart
1LED matrix panel: HUB75, 128 x 64, P2.5, 320 x 160 mm, full colour. See the section below before buying
6–12M4 screws, about 10 mm. The linked panel has 12 mounting holes; all 12 is the exact fit, 6 across corners and middle holds it firmly
1A sacrificial USB cable — any cable, it gets cut and clamped into J4
1A 5 V supply that can give a couple of amps. A USB power bank is what the case compartment is sized for, and what keeps it portable

Also the PCB itself, ordered from the PCBWay shared project or from any fab using the v3.9 Gerber zip, and filament for the enclosure.

Not on the BOM, still needed

A 3D printer with a bed of at least 256 mm, white and black PLA, a soldering iron, solder, flux, tweezers, wire cutters, a Phillips screwdriver, a small flathead for the screw terminals, and CA glue for bonding the printed halves. Optionally putty, or baking soda and CA glue, for filling a seam.

Do not buy

Substitutions

Choosing the LED panel

The panel is the one part that can silently kill the build. Patternflow scans it directly from the ESP32-S3, with no sending card and no receiving card, so the driver chips on the back of the panel decide whether it lights up at all. "HUB75E" on a listing promises a 16-pin ribbon, a pin order and 5 V, and says nothing about those chips. A panel that matches the specification line for line can sit completely black.

Driver chipsResult
Plain shift-register: 74HC595, FM6124, ICN2037, DP5125D and similarWorks with no init sequence
Needs an init sequence the firmware sends: FM6126/FM6126A, ICN2038S, DP3246, MBI5124 and similarWorks, after building once with the matching profile
S-PWM "smart" or receiving-card chips: ICN2053, FM6353, FM6363, FM6373, DP3264, DP3265, ICND2055, MBI5051–5053 and similarCannot work. No firmware setting rescues them

Three panels are recorded as actually run on Patternflow, all with no init sequence: FM6124 (the reference panel linked from the BOM), ICN2037 and DP5125D.

Before buying an off-script panel, read the buyer reviews, not the specification table. Search them for ESP32, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, HUB75, DMA, WLED or Pixelblaze, and open the review photos — buyers routinely photograph the back of the panel, where the driver chip is readable. The chip is almost never in the title, the spec table, a marketplace summary or the attached PDF manual, and that manual is generic factory boilerplate which, read literally, would reject a known-good panel.

Where you buy changes the odds. Maker retailers are usually fine. General marketplace "HUB75 P2.5 module" listings are mixed. Anything sold for Novastar, Huidu or Colorlight, or as rental-wall hardware, should not be bought — and a listing that leads with a refresh rate figure or names a sending-card brand is the bad kind.

To read the chip off a panel you already own: whichever part number repeats in a regular grid across the whole board, a dozen or more of the same part, is the LED driver. The one or two chips beside the HUB75 connector are buffers, almost always 74HC245 — mistaking that for the compatible 74HC595 is the common trap.

If you buy a panel other than the linked one, print the adjustable mount from bed_256mm/for_other_panels/ instead. It adapts to varying bolt-hole positions, though a very different hole layout may still not fit, so check the mount before committing.

Files