LED Mounting in 1590 box

[Phend]

Hello,
I have quite a few winter project builds.
Been doing cad work, layouts, hole locations etc over the summer.
Question about LED mounting.
Drill a hole or use a mounting housing ?
I find that the mounting housing option has the nut on the inside, hence de-soldering is needed if I want to remove the "entire" board, jacks, switch assembly.
Drilling a #11 hole is a press fit over a plain LED.
So maybe a drill for slip fit.
In pictures both ways are shown.
Any comments on either or maybe ever other options.
Thanks

[idy]

By "mounting housing" you mean "bezel?"
You don't need to desolder to remove board+LED. At least not at my house. The LED is on a plastic "spacer" which fits snugly into the bezel, and stays on the LED when you remove the board from the enclosure. No?

The bezels work even if the board is not attached to enclosure by pots etc but "crammed in" with spaghetti wires or packing foam.

Both work, if you are doing things like a real engineer it comes down to appearance and simplicity. Bare hole is easier.

[bluebunny]

I stopped using bezels (screw-in and snap-fit) a long while ago.  Most of the time I can just push a 3mm LED into a 3mm drilled hole and it stays in place by friction.  If I really want it secure, a dab of superglue works great.

[davent]

I like the snap in lens bezels which allow freely removing the led but also would sometimes when designing boards have the led board mounted so the led would peak through a naked 3mm hole in the enclosure.

[stallik]

I'm with bluebunny - 3mm led's in a 3mm hole. Cheap and very neat.
Though, recently I reverted to my old style external reflector bezel to modify a Vox Valvetone which was designed with a deep recess so you could only see the light when you were almost directly above it. Now, it shines like a lighthouse

[Phend]

By "mounting housing" you mean "bezel?"
You don't need to desolder to remove board+LED. At least not at my house. The LED is on a plastic "spacer" which fits snugly into the bezel, and stays on the LED when you remove the board from the enclosure. No?

Yes you are correct idy, I spoke to soon, the ones I just bought work like that.
So I am mistaken now that I have just taken a good look at the them.
After reading the comments, thank yous, it is decision decision. I have 6 of these to make.
So maybe some experimenting, bezel, naked in hole, naked below a hole.
Will be using 2 face plates.
First being florescent acrylic with a clear acrylic protective plate on top.
Would like the florescent to "glow" some in the vicinity of the led.

[GGBB]

I just PCB mount the LED and have it poking out through the enclosure hole. Easy-peasy.

[Mark Hammer]

I am also of the just-make-a-hole-and-poke-it-through school.  HOWEVER...it's always helpful to have an LED be easily visible, without being blinding.  Black plastic bezels can often assist the visual contrast of an LED against the background of the enclosure.  For instance, a yellow LED against a beige background might be hard to see unless it was really bright.  Granted, most of us use power bricks of one sort or another these days, such that we don't concern ourselves with LED current draw and its effect on battery life.  Still, we sometimes choose LED colour to be informative (i.e., if I see blue, then I know X is on, red means Y is on, and yellow means Z is on), and also like to put colour graphics onto the control surface of a pedal.  So, in some instances, things that enhance visual contrast at modest illumination can be useful.  In such instances, you pop a bigger hole and use a plastic bezel.  A black enclosure with a blue LED, however, is dead easy to see, with a big series resistor that keeps the LED tamed.

[GGBB]

I am also of the just-make-a-hole-and-poke-it-through school.  HOWEVER...it's always helpful to have an LED be easily visible, without being blinding.  Black plastic bezels can often assist the visual contrast of an LED against the background of the enclosure.  For instance, a yellow LED against a beige background might be hard to see unless it was really bright.  Granted, most of us use power bricks of one sort or another these days, such that we don't concern ourselves with LED current draw and its effect on battery life.  Still, we sometimes choose LED colour to be informative (i.e., if I see blue, then I know X is on, red means Y is on, and yellow means Z is on), and also like to put colour graphics onto the control surface of a pedal.  So, in some instances, things that enhance visual contrast at modest illumination can be useful.  In such instances, you pop a bigger hole and use a plastic bezel.  A black enclosure with a blue LED, however, is dead easy to see, with a big series resistor that keeps the LED tamed.

Bigger LEDs can also improve contrast. 3mm vs 10mm:

[Mark Hammer]

Yes.  Still, it's always wise to make visual choices that allow such LEDs to be informative.  Size can be part of that, as can be choice of enclosure finishing and LED colour.

In another thread, I mentioned use of the same LED to indicate on/off status AND modulation rate, by reducing the illumination of a rate-blinking LED when in bypass mode.  In such contexts it would probably be better to have the blinking LED change colour, but if one can't, the "dimmer" mode still has to be easily visible, since the purpose is to be able to set modulation rate even when in bypass mode.

It's all part of the equation for "how do I give the user the visual information they need?".

[idy]

I search for a way to make the LED shine over the face of the enclosure, illuminating the knobs, instead of shining in the eyes. Haven't figured that out. Right angle bezel? Periscope reflector shield that attaches to bezel?

I guess the illuminated pots would do the trick.

[Phend]

Mouser 313-1400F-B100K  or  B10K   etc

Plus from GDMC! on Ebay :
Alpha Clear Shaft Potentiometer Daughterboards - LED PCB - DIY Stompbox

and homemade knobs

[amptramp]

Here's a thought for controlling LED brightness:

Drill two holes, one for the LED and another for a photoresistive cell that goes in series with it.

There would be series and parallel resistors to keep the current from being too large or too small.  Set it up to play at outdoor brightness and indoor brightness and you should be good for any brightness in between.  You may have trouble getting CdS photoresistive cells due to RoHS rules in some places and selling items containing cadmium in others.