Project: Light - Page 3

gruntLOL · 20th April 2011, 1:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darkness Born

should be, but they are dear for a twin pack... jaycar will have cheap LEDs, will have to wire them all up but should be cheaper in the long run, and you will have far fewer power connections to deal with...

Electronics are to me, what Cryptonite is to Superman.

Guess I have to learn some day

Will sit on that idea till after Easter, get my game face on and convince myself it can be done!

Creekin · 20th April 2011, 1:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sven76

Damn it all my dad gave me was a big nose and early pattern male bladness

same

wait wot? brother??

Quote:

Originally Posted by gruntLOL

I'm hoping someone like Creekin (as he appears to be the resident lighting expert) will pop in and give some advice on the best way to side light these panels.

ya PM button broken?

or yours DB? i coulda sworn i posted in this thread already

maybe i just pm'd about it with DB?? meh...

arrgghh too much to catch up on....
umm

def go thick plexi...min 7mm imho, so u can easy drill a 3mm led hole
light inside the plexi always looks better...
but as long as the edge is polished..which should be no prob for you i'm guessing...you should get a good shot from outside with a strip of leds or a ccfl.
i really think the spectral bar would be perfect for this application...
but have yet to see one in the flesh..might just have to get one myself

if you are planing it from scratch then drilled and mounted leds is the GO

work out the spacing with some experimenting..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darkness Born

i'd reckon (likely echoed by creekin) you should get 5mm+ acrylic, and drill holes for some 3mm LEDs along the sides, maybe at 30-50mm intervals.

ECHO echo echo echo echo

thats a large piece so the more the merrier...
i suck at solder too..but leds are an easy place to learn.
or phone a friend. got a mate to do the pcb for my usb/dmx.

for what you want..jaycar and DIY would be best..
but premade leds would be fine also..
after much experimenting and help from GAM, my preference is for the bitspower ones..as they are wired for 12v..some of the others are 5v..and dont "like" 12v

so then its easy to just buy as many as u need..plus some...then chop the plugs off and twist em all together and add a new molex plug..

love the idea of red behind the clear

i think white leds will be best..
i gave up on red leds as they are all too dim compared to whites..next to my ccfls and rgb arrays

for DBs window which is all clear i think all green leds with 1 white on the nuke..
for this i would go all white..and USE the red plex for ur colour..
should get some great shadows and stuff

subD!

gruntLOL · 20th April 2011, 11:40 PM

Fixed the horrendous OP I still think it could do with some more info but definitely a much easier to read segment, will update the OP with links to each major post I make once this get's under way!

gruntLOL · 27th April 2011, 9:48 PM

Ok so easter went for ages this year! Got some sample pieces of acrylic going off to the engravers this week so I can see the finished product as well as get some perspective of solid fill v outlines as well as so I can test it with the LED's in the panel. LED's will be ordered tomorrow as well, both should arrive mid to late next week given that it's so short this week. As a result pics of my tests will be up soon to give everyone something to look at. Will also hopefully get a mock test of everything cut and stuck together out of scrap we have here just to make sure it all fits, will look ugly as sin but atleast it will let me know that everything will work before I cut into a side panel I can't replace

gruntLOL · 29th April 2011, 2:54 PM

Finally some pics!

Received my test pieces today, only sent them off YESTERDAY

just waiting on the LED's to test how they light up the material and what sort of effect I get out of them. I had to resize the images online so I hope the quality is OK!

Here is the first photo of them just unwrapped, one has been etched with a solid fill (similar to getting it router cut I guess) the other is a 0.35mm outline. I've had them cut to 1mm deep roughly, he may be able to do deeper if I wish.

Click to view full size!

Side shot to try and give you an idea of the sort of depth I have achieved here (this is on the outlined L)

Click to view full size!

Test them with the red acrylic backing MMMMMM!!! (Yeah I just stood them infront of some acrylic they won't suffer from those dodgy shadows etc)

Click to view full size!

Close up to show the sort of finish I get on the deep solid fill, a little "furry" but I kind of like it from normal viewing distance it looks quite nice.

Click to view full size!

Can't decide which one I like, I guess it will depend on how the light picks up the engraving, I think the outline will cast cooler shadows and will be less obtrusive given the lights I have as they might not be powerful enough to fully light up the solid fill.

Keep posted for LED tests next week!!!!!!

Creekin · 29th April 2011, 2:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gruntLOL

Can't decide which one I like, I guess it will depend on how the light picks up the engraving, I think the outline will cast cooler shadows and will be less obtrusive given the lights I have as they might not be powerful enough to fully light up the solid fill.

Keep posted for LED tests next week!!!!!!

+1
the outline will look

white leds?

gruntLOL · 29th April 2011, 3:02 PM

White LED's indeed, Gam Mods was out of BP's which they've been struggling to get so went to order the EK Ultra White 5mm Dual LED's and accidentally ordered 3mm. Will test them anyway and see how we go I got 5 pairs so I can effectively mount 4 LED's down either side and 1 top and bottom, atleast that is the plan so far

If they aren't bright enough I'll order the 5mm ones and chalk it up to rookie modding mistake.

Creekin · 29th April 2011, 3:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gruntLOL

White LED's indeed, Gam Mods was out of BP's which they've been struggling to get so went to order the EK Ultra White 5mm Dual LED's and accidentally ordered 3mm. Will test them anyway and see how we go I got 5 pairs so I can effectively mount 4 LED's down either side and 1 top and bottom, atleast that is the plan so far

If they aren't bright enough I'll order the 5mm ones and chalk it up to rookie modding mistake.

what are the dimensions of the piece?
only a few inches right?
3mms should be ok i reckon..

pair of EK 3mms Vs coupla hundred reds

Click to view full size!

gruntLOL · 9th May 2011, 5:48 PM

Sorry for the slowness in my replies here, Easter was hectic as I assume it was for most then I got knocked on my backside with a double whammy of tonsillitis and a cold all at the same time! So didn't really feel like doing much.

Anyway while I was away dad didn't cut my test fit pieces, I thought the joy of having your own business was squeezing out foreignies before the paying customers got their work, alas my dad doesn't seem to see it this way. I'll be getting this tomorrow or Wednesday now I'm back because I can hound him, will just ensure all fits well before I get the final panels cut.

While I was sick the LED's arrived. Got to have a play with them today on my test pieces! God damn they are bright! Ordered 5 sets, will probably use 2......for the test I just drilled 3mm holes into the side of the panels and plugged the molex in, the finished product will obviously have the LED's hidden but you get the idea!

Click to view full size!
LED's arrive! New Toys YAY!

Click to view full size!
3mm, so tiny!

Click to view full size!
Perfect fit! You might not be able to tell but the LED's sit snugly in the acrylic holes, no extra work required 3mm drill cut a bit oversize which was to be expected and they are a slide fit.

Click to view full size!
Solid fill letter from a distance

Click to view full size!
Outline!

Click to view full size!
The real piece I'll be more careful with so it won't have scratches like the others as the light picks them up like crazy. Thankfully the red really hides them anyway. This was a cool experiment for me because I expected the light to enhance the red, it in fact does the opposite and defuses the colour. I do like it but no what I expected. Also very hard to tell what it's going to be like in a larger panel as there is only one letter lit up it sort of creates one blob on a shadow in the background I have a feeling this wont be the case with the final product. At least here is hoping.....

Click to view full size!
Hard to see so I used this angle but it does project the text back onto the backing panel as well, so I should get some cool shadows and maybe even give it a bit more of a 3D appearance. The outline is definitely the way to go I think it looks good. The pictures look amazing on my iPhone and the colour is very vibrant sitting here in real life, my crappy photos do it no justice.

So what does everyone think?!

co.VAL(esce) · 9th May 2011, 9:54 PM

Death Note was a great anime. Sorry for the threadcrap.

Creekin · 9th May 2011, 9:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gruntLOL

So what does everyone think?!

WINRAR!

love it mate
looks perfect

Spyfox · 9th May 2011, 11:28 PM

that came out hella awesome.

*goes off to plan case mods*

gruntLOL · 10th May 2011, 11:54 AM

Thanks Creekin, finding myself compulsively checking the modding forums every 5 minutes to see if someone else has posted something inspirational for me to emulate at some point down the track. Pretty annoying because I realise people still work 9-5 jobs like I do and probably aren't sitting at home modding cases as we speak.

Really want to do my test fit so I can get this damn thing sent out for engraving.

xEnt · 10th May 2011, 3:37 PM

you give me inspiration. i always wanted to do the same thing, but with the bleach character Ulquiorra, white and green LED's inside. oh how sexy

gruntLOL · 12th May 2011, 11:10 AM

Test fit tonight!

Finally got all the pieces cut out of scrap we had laying around just to make sure it would all fit. I'm not normally one to do this whole "measure twice cut once" nonsense but it's probably worth it especially when it costs me nothing to get done. All the holes line up and the "Stainless Panel" which is the top mild steel panel covers up everything it should which is nice. All I have to test tonight is that the acrylic doesn't foul on anything like HDD bays or something silly and that the cut out I've designed for the case panel actually removes everything I want it to remove (the grills, the depression in the panel etc).

Click to view full size!
Sorry no idea why this picture is side ways....iPhone is whacktacular.

Click to view full size!
Fking blur. These are the domed cap nuts I will be using to aesthetically finish the piece off, should look killer against the stainless steel panel.

Things left to do:
-Test fit tonight
-Buy longer screws...who buys 15mm long screws for a project that is 15mm thick........DERP
-Final assembly (easy peasy)
-Borrow a decent camera to take the finish product pics are iPhones are lame
-PROFIT?

9th May 2011, 9:54 PM	#40
co.VAL(esce) Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Sydney Posts: 479	Death Note was a great anime. Sorry for the threadcrap. __________________ i5-2500K (4.2GHz/1.22v) \| Noctua NH-L9i \| 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600 \| ASUS P8Z77-I DELUXE \| SG Barracuda 3TB + WD Green 1TB \| EVGA GTX 580 (825/2150) \| Corsair HX-650 \| CM Elite 120 Advanced \| Win7 Ultimate x64 OCAU Trade History

9th May 2011, 11:28 PM	#42
Spyfox Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: SWSydney 2173 Posts: 1,264	that came out hella awesome. goes off to plan case mods __________________ WWW.JDMWHEELS.COM.AU WWW.DUSTYCARTRIDGE.COM

10th May 2011, 3:37 PM	#44
xEnt Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 148	you give me inspiration. i always wanted to do the same thing, but with the bleach character Ulquiorra, white and green LED's inside. oh how sexy __________________ Trade Sheet\| Main: i5 2500k @ 4.5ghz \| 2x HD6970 \| 120GB Intel 530 SSD & 1TB Samsung F3 \| Seasonic Gold 650w \| 12GB DDR3 \| Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow \| 27" Yamakasi Catleap Q270 File Server: HP N36L Microserver, 8gb non-ECC, 250gb OS, 2TB WD Green, WHS 2011, esxi 5

20th April 2011, 11:40 PM	#33
gruntLOL Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Adelaide Posts: 2,766	Fixed the horrendous OP I still think it could do with some more info but definitely a much easier to read segment, will update the OP with links to each major post I make once this get's under way!

27th April 2011, 9:48 PM	#34
gruntLOL Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Adelaide Posts: 2,766	Ok so easter went for ages this year! Got some sample pieces of acrylic going off to the engravers this week so I can see the finished product as well as get some perspective of solid fill v outlines as well as so I can test it with the LED's in the panel. LED's will be ordered tomorrow as well, both should arrive mid to late next week given that it's so short this week. As a result pics of my tests will be up soon to give everyone something to look at. Will also hopefully get a mock test of everything cut and stuck together out of scrap we have here just to make sure it all fits, will look ugly as sin but atleast it will let me know that everything will work before I cut into a side panel I can't replace

29th April 2011, 2:54 PM	#35
gruntLOL Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Adelaide Posts: 2,766	Finally some pics! Received my test pieces today, only sent them off YESTERDAY just waiting on the LED's to test how they light up the material and what sort of effect I get out of them. I had to resize the images online so I hope the quality is OK! Here is the first photo of them just unwrapped, one has been etched with a solid fill (similar to getting it router cut I guess) the other is a 0.35mm outline. I've had them cut to 1mm deep roughly, he may be able to do deeper if I wish. Click to view full size! Side shot to try and give you an idea of the sort of depth I have achieved here (this is on the outlined L) Click to view full size! Test them with the red acrylic backing MMMMMM!!! (Yeah I just stood them infront of some acrylic they won't suffer from those dodgy shadows etc) Click to view full size! Close up to show the sort of finish I get on the deep solid fill, a little "furry" but I kind of like it from normal viewing distance it looks quite nice. Click to view full size! Can't decide which one I like, I guess it will depend on how the light picks up the engraving, I think the outline will cast cooler shadows and will be less obtrusive given the lights I have as they might not be powerful enough to fully light up the solid fill. Keep posted for LED tests next week!!!!!!

29th April 2011, 3:02 PM	#37
gruntLOL Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Adelaide Posts: 2,766	White LED's indeed, Gam Mods was out of BP's which they've been struggling to get so went to order the EK Ultra White 5mm Dual LED's and accidentally ordered 3mm. Will test them anyway and see how we go I got 5 pairs so I can effectively mount 4 LED's down either side and 1 top and bottom, atleast that is the plan so far If they aren't bright enough I'll order the 5mm ones and chalk it up to rookie modding mistake.

9th May 2011, 5:48 PM	#39
gruntLOL Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Adelaide Posts: 2,766	Sorry for the slowness in my replies here, Easter was hectic as I assume it was for most then I got knocked on my backside with a double whammy of tonsillitis and a cold all at the same time! So didn't really feel like doing much. Anyway while I was away dad didn't cut my test fit pieces, I thought the joy of having your own business was squeezing out foreignies before the paying customers got their work, alas my dad doesn't seem to see it this way. I'll be getting this tomorrow or Wednesday now I'm back because I can hound him, will just ensure all fits well before I get the final panels cut. While I was sick the LED's arrived. Got to have a play with them today on my test pieces! God damn they are bright! Ordered 5 sets, will probably use 2......for the test I just drilled 3mm holes into the side of the panels and plugged the molex in, the finished product will obviously have the LED's hidden but you get the idea! Click to view full size! LED's arrive! New Toys YAY! Click to view full size! 3mm, so tiny! Click to view full size! Perfect fit! You might not be able to tell but the LED's sit snugly in the acrylic holes, no extra work required 3mm drill cut a bit oversize which was to be expected and they are a slide fit. Click to view full size! Solid fill letter from a distance Click to view full size! Outline! Click to view full size! The real piece I'll be more careful with so it won't have scratches like the others as the light picks them up like crazy. Thankfully the red really hides them anyway. This was a cool experiment for me because I expected the light to enhance the red, it in fact does the opposite and defuses the colour. I do like it but no what I expected. Also very hard to tell what it's going to be like in a larger panel as there is only one letter lit up it sort of creates one blob on a shadow in the background I have a feeling this wont be the case with the final product. At least here is hoping..... Click to view full size! Hard to see so I used this angle but it does project the text back onto the backing panel as well, so I should get some cool shadows and maybe even give it a bit more of a 3D appearance. The outline is definitely the way to go I think it looks good. The pictures look amazing on my iPhone and the colour is very vibrant sitting here in real life, my crappy photos do it no justice. So what does everyone think?!

10th May 2011, 11:54 AM	#43
gruntLOL Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Adelaide Posts: 2,766	Thanks Creekin, finding myself compulsively checking the modding forums every 5 minutes to see if someone else has posted something inspirational for me to emulate at some point down the track. Pretty annoying because I realise people still work 9-5 jobs like I do and probably aren't sitting at home modding cases as we speak. Really want to do my test fit so I can get this damn thing sent out for engraving.

12th May 2011, 11:10 AM	#45
gruntLOL Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Adelaide Posts: 2,766	Test fit tonight! Finally got all the pieces cut out of scrap we had laying around just to make sure it would all fit. I'm not normally one to do this whole "measure twice cut once" nonsense but it's probably worth it especially when it costs me nothing to get done. All the holes line up and the "Stainless Panel" which is the top mild steel panel covers up everything it should which is nice. All I have to test tonight is that the acrylic doesn't foul on anything like HDD bays or something silly and that the cut out I've designed for the case panel actually removes everything I want it to remove (the grills, the depression in the panel etc). Click to view full size! Sorry no idea why this picture is side ways....iPhone is whacktacular. Click to view full size! Fking blur. These are the domed cap nuts I will be using to aesthetically finish the piece off, should look killer against the stainless steel panel. Things left to do: -Test fit tonight -Buy longer screws...who buys 15mm long screws for a project that is 15mm thick........DERP -Final assembly (easy peasy) -Borrow a decent camera to take the finish product pics are iPhones are lame -PROFIT?