There seems to be a fairly standard LED “puck” that is sold for edge lit acrylic. The problem is that every version is slightly different. The biggest issue is that the slots are all slightly different widths and lengths. Also, some have a smooth fade function and some don’t. I purchased a lot of 3/16" Acrylic because that’s what fit the first ones I bought. Then they went out of stock, and every other one I’ve tried has been off somehow.
I can’t easily shop for these things on AliExpress because the photos all look the same and don’t show acrylic thickness, packaging, and don’t detail the operating modes. Help?
I want to order 100+ bases with the following features:
Fits a known acrylic size, ideally 3/16"
AA batteries + USB
Smooth Fade
Plain box with foam
(optionally) Remote Control
Volume Discount
Could folks post URLs below with reliable source of bases, and what thickness of acrylic works with them? Ideally, could you share a URL for them please?
Thanks so much!
BTW, if someone wants to do a group-buy of these, PM me or say so in the thread below.
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I’ve found that even the 3/16 ones irk no Robles with 1/8 acrylic. I just get the sides to be very snug (fillet the corner to make insertion possible). The friction on the sides holds it perfectly in place. There is a tiny amount of light leakage on the front and back (1/32 on both sides) but not an issue
I like Xstron.com, and they even have wood pucks now–much nicer look than the white or black. Some items they do provide the details for the slot, and no MOQ to get a good price (though the more you buy, the price per item drops at intervals) and shipping was super fast.
Man, about every 6 months I forget and go add a cartload of stuff from the Xston site only to get to shipping and remember that it’s about 35 to get it sent to me. 
Hmmm, I thought what I paid was quite reasonable for the order I placed–wasn’t a very big box. Or I figured the cost for shipping per piece still made it worth it since they had stuff I didn’t see elsewhere for as good of a (total) price…
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I wanted to use thick acrylic in ones I had ordered with a narrower slot, so I engraved both sides of the tab down until it was a friction fit. That also eliminates any light leak from the edges.
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I’ve done this, a lot. The problem is that the engrave scatters a bunch of light that would otherwise have glowed from the acrylic itself. Also, adds a long time and laser use to engrave them. Hoping to avoid that if possible.
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I do the same as @PrintToLaser. I like using thicker acrylic. I can vary the depth of the reflecting engrave from bottom to top better because I have more depth of material to work with. That lets more light get to the top of the engraving. It makes for a better fit as well.
If there’s too much diffraction from the slot fitting engrave I can smooth it with some Weld-on or acetone. But with a tight fit and overhang of the thicker acrylic plus the closed base seems to redirect the light into the acrylic & I don’t get light leakage around the narrower fitting edges of thinner acrylic.
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Yeah, they have cool stuff for sure and at a good price. I’ll probably break down and do an order one day, but it just kills me that my order was $80 with $49 shipping. Did you see the cool looking four color led base? 
It looked amazing, too bad you have to order 30 of them though. I think if I could have gotten three or four of those I would have pulled the trigger lol.
I am wondering about them without a base and what It would take to make bases with a 3D printer I broke down and bought a MD3 with a Quad print head that is supposed to make any color gradient to any other (though I have no idea how to do that yet) and is big enough to build that 10" to 4" step for the Glowforge. To make them with both sources where each has the advantage seems like a good idea.
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Maybe the MOQ varies on product, but I placed an order for 5 of each of a couple items (could order only 1 if I wanted, but shipping per item, getting multiples made more sense)… they initially show the lowest price, which is higher qnty, but it’s not as huge a difference for lower quantities–but yeah, pending what items/box size/weight, shipping could make it not as good a deal as other sites…