Inspirational Idea

:bulb: how cool and easy is this on a Glowforge? It could be layered up to get the depth and channel for the light. Easy electrical work for us LED novices. I even envision multiple shapes that could be changed out for holidays. Stars. Shamrocks. Hearts. Maybe others? :bulb:

32 Likes

That is a really cool idea. The fellow doing the work is a good woodworker. I especially liked the way he screwed the wood to his work bench to do the routing, and using the clip on his tape measure to hold the LEDs for soldering. :grin:
Super idea.

5 Likes

Thanks for posting. Subscribed to his channel. He does some interesting projects.

1 Like

Thatā€™s really cool!

Trick would be knowing your LED light strips length to make sure it will fit. You can only cut it at certain points. There was either some incredible luck that it fit perfectly, alot of trial and error or he remembered his calculus lessonsā€¦lol

Really cool looking though and yeah, I can totally see doing this on the laser with layers.

2 Likes

Yes, would have to work with sizing. Hereā€™s where a cardboard prototype would come in handy to test fit the LEDs. The shapes would have to be sized just right. I also wondered about sharp corners with LEDs. Iā€™m not sure how much they can bend. Something like a star with points could be a problem, but adjusting the inner layers with deeper channels at the points might allow the lights to curve enough while keeping the outer face sharply pointed.

I ordered some lights a while back, maybe itā€™s time to start to play with them to see their capabilities.

2 Likes

The adhesive that comes on them isnt very good about holding in shapes, I end up using glue. If its on a part between the LEDs on the strips, it can bend ok.

5 Likes

I see some inspiration using acrylic edge lighting/engraving in that design.

2 Likes

Easy enough to translate to a laser too. I looked at it when I got my Make email with it highlighted.

Just make it 3 layers of 1/4" ply (or solid stock) with one that has its inner cut sized large enough to make the ā€œrecessā€. Than itā€™s a simple enough matter of gluing the layers together. You could even ā€œdrillā€ the cord hole by cutting a slot in the middle layer. You could resize to match the LED tape youā€™ve got so you can fit it per the cuttable lengths of the tape.

2 Likes

Hmmm, seems like a decent challenge in parametric design. The interior perimeter length needs to be equal to a specific length of LED strip. Further, the sharp ā€œbendsā€ need to align to sections of the tape which can be bent. So segments of your design need to account for the width of the LED as well as the gap between LEDs.

2 Likes

Oh, parametric design freaks me out! :anguished: I can see that Iā€™ll be doing quite a bit of cardboard prototyping.

3 Likes

Did an actual :bulb: appear over your head when you got the idea to add engraving? :slight_smile:

I can also see one of the layers being full coverage, maybe with a filament engraved in it.

5 Likes

I think if you tweak the design so that the LEDs ā€˜disappearā€™ into the hollow base of the bulb (rather than needing to meet perfectly in front of the not-hollow base), you could have a lot more wiggle room.

7 Likes

What about inverting one of these and putting a side led lit Glowforge blue acrylic logo imbedded in a clear acrylic sheet?

3 Likes

As for this sort of project and Glowforgeā€¦ I plan on using it to make templates and then using a router and guide bit quite a lot when working with thicker wood like this and not necessarily laminating multiple sheets of thinner wood togehter.

3 Likes

This is great thinking. Every time Iā€™ve been to a ShopBot camp, their chief of education emphasizes that if you canā€™t make what you want on a ShopBot, you can always make jigs and templets to do so.

Oohā€¦ let us not stop at edge-lit.

Embed some magnets in the center channel (The narrow one with the LEDs attached), and instead of glue to hold on the face, just a few metal plates (or more magnets with polarity properly aligned).

Now you have a face you can remove, and are able to swap out the acrylic panel to get various different edge-lit pieces in there.

6 Likes

Good idea! Configurable for different occasions.

1 Like