MDF LED sign base 2.0 wall mounted

peter_eduard · June 11, 2016, 12:29pm

I made a micro version of that…

chrisgray1313 · June 11, 2016, 12:31pm

Brilliant !

bhspalinger · June 12, 2016, 9:42am

Cool!! Where did you source the LEDs and battery bits?

peter_eduard · June 12, 2016, 10:51am

Oh, those were off my shelf (I run a business designing, making and reselling educational technology).

I think you should go on ebay and see what you can get there. It should be really cheap - no more than 1$ for led+battery+holder, even in if you only order a few.

I think my brutto price would be around 0.75$ pr letter? But I buy LED’s and battery in bulk (300+).

Peter.

marmak3261 · June 12, 2016, 2:47pm

I believe I will have to get out the electronics kit and start working with LEDs again for practice to get ready for signs like this. I never really had an end product to put together so just kept them on breadboards and had fun with blinking. Something to do in the evenings when I can’t get to my shop. Thanks for sharing all the ideas!

valerie_lord · June 14, 2016, 11:34pm

FUN!
What kind of fun can we have with Raspberry Pi and programmable LEDs.

Ryan.M · August 20, 2016, 12:21am

Fantastic! I really love the use of LEDs. Great project and so simple really when you break it down like that. Nice work!

marmak3261 · November 27, 2016, 1:24am

There are a few LED topics. I think this is one of the best so I’m giving it some more love. So not ready for prime time but hey, I don’t have a 3D laser printer. Here is the beginning of a Larson Scanner.

I have this glass focuser magnifyier thingy from a laser printer. It might come in handy.

Will need a fancy mount to make it look nice. It’s got potential. Of course it would help if I had all matching LEDs.

Posted a YouTube of it running. A surprise guest makes an appearance.

cynd11 · November 27, 2016, 1:31am

Haha–I knew it was going to be the cat. Never heard of a Larson scanner so I had to Google it–pretty cool! Now you need an Outer Limits style robot to mount it into.

smcgathyfay · November 27, 2016, 2:03am

Ok I had to google it too. Ill post it to save anyone else the trouble.
"> The Larson scanner is named after Glen A. Larson, the man responsible for producing both the original Battlestar Galactica and Knight Rider television shows."
Huge fan of both of those shows…mostly the former. Never knew thats what it was called…now just make a cylon head and install it…lol

marmak3261 · November 28, 2016, 5:06am

The laser cutting and engraving group on Facebook isn’t all a Glowforge bashing. Actually it is very good for ideas.
Saw this referenced from a Reddit post. This is very clever. I’ve been working most of this rainy day on Raspberrry pi programing to be ready to do edge kit stuff like this. It’s a “Lixie!”

scatterbrains · November 28, 2016, 5:47am

That is a great idea. Love it!

ernesto.a.ramirezr · November 28, 2016, 3:05pm

wow thats a great idea bookmarked

wenning08 · July 30, 2018, 1:05pm

Do you happen to have a link to the led, power adapter etc. that you used for this?

marmak3261 · July 30, 2018, 3:11pm

You are probably asking @smcgathyfay, but on my LED projects I just get the most basic strip of white LEDs and solder a usb cable to the end. 5 v. needs no power adapter. Wall warts are plentiful. If you aren’t driving addressable RGBs this simple setup works well.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015R87GQK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017SK81XM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

wenning08 · July 30, 2018, 4:30pm

Thank you for this, so are you saying I can get those 10 pack of usb, cut them in half, solder the wires to the extra cut off areas I have on the leds and make and many as I want? If this is so can I incorporate a 12v power button/switch inbetween the usb wires and the led wires for a cut on and off button?

smcgathyfay · July 30, 2018, 6:51pm

I will have to look and see what I have but I bought a spool of just plain white LED strip that was like 30 m long or something and I cut them into maybe 10 or 12 inch strips and solder the connection on to it with a USB cable and I use very weak plug adapters that I plug in the USB cable to they won’t power a phone or anything but I think it’s like 1.5 amps Maybe I’ll have to look for sure LEDs take very little power and as long as they’re short it seems to work just fine. I get the plugs in bulk from China from AliExpress I think although any cheap wall plug will work like the ones at the dollar store LOL not good for phones though

smcgathyfay · July 30, 2018, 7:16pm

This is what I used for the hang box. These attach straight to the strip without soldering.

This the the one I soldered.

All from AliExpress

davidgal2 · July 30, 2018, 10:28pm

Very professional looking job. Thanks for sharing.

marmak3261 · July 30, 2018, 10:33pm

Yes. You can incorporate a switch in the mix. These are 5v LEDs so it doesn’t have to be big.

Here is my build when I finally got the pre-release and started making my own. I don’t have details on the soldering, but it shows how I have them set up with all 3D printed bases and 1/3 3D printed and 2/3 laser cut for the base. Just cut the Micro usb end off of the cable and snip the data wires. User the red and the black to the terminals. The LEDs I used could be cut in as small as a 3 LED unit or as long as the whole strand.

Now I am using translucent PLA from MakerGeeks (a Made-in-Missouri product!) and it really is cool to have the different colors shining through the bases.