Acrylic edge lighting idea, materials?

[rickster]

I’m working on a design for a birthday gift (deadline 4/20), and wondering if I can take it up a notch with edge lighting. But I haven’t done anything like that before, so I’m not sure if my design would work and have no idea where to start on the electrical parts. Does anybody with a clue mind telling me if I’m crazy?

Here’s the basic design:

(Not shown: engraved design filling much of the blue rectangle.)

Should I still be able to get a good glow out of LEDs that are only up against the back 1/16” of the acrylic? What’s the best bet for wiring that up, and where do I look for supplies? (Without soldering or microcontrollers, since sourcing/learning that stuff isprobably beyond the time budget I have for this project.)

[cynd11]

I don’t know the answer, but why don’t you place the two materials together in approximately that configuration and shine an LED flashlight all around it and see where it lights up the best? If you haven’t cut them yet, you could always do that test on some small scraps first.

[marmak3261]

@rickster

best bet for wiring that up, and where do I look for supplies

I’d tell you to go to a dollar store and get a few LED tchotchkes and repurpose them, but not sure you can venture out for an unessential trip like that.

Many of the LED strips that you can buy on Amazon come with pre-made pig tails that you can use to clamp on to the strips. Look for 5 volt ones and that means you can power them with any old USB wall wart. Re-purpose a USB cable and cut it up and wire the red and the black wires to the pig tale by twisting and covering with electrical tape. Test because you have to have the polarity correct for driving LEDs.

That’s what I would do without a soldering iron. You could just look through Amazon and see if there is some type of LED puck or base that you could re-purpose.

[wesleyjames]

While not as cheap as the $ store, most supermarkets will have something similar enough and that’s okay to go to.