Methods for mounting LEDs

[ecoli]

I've found that attaching an LED (acting as an on/off indicator) to a resistor and then to the power lead on the DC input had produced less than satisfactory results.  The connection seems flimsy and while I was test fitting my latest creation into its box, the connection between the resistor and LED snapped.  So, I cut a small portion of veroboard, soldered the wires, resistor and socketed the LED (then I can change colours later on if I want to!).  Much more solid connection. 

I'm sure others have come up with creative solutions/better mounting methods, so I'm curious what those are?  Just looking for options for future builds.

[GibsonGM]

You can get some LED "bezels", which pop in a hole you drill & hold the LED.  Solder the resistor to the board, run 2 wires, done....that's one way to do it...

[peterg]

Have you tried using heat shrink tubing? One end of the tubing should go to at least half way along the resistor and the other end to the LED bulb.

[amptramp]

You can get holders like this that double as reflectors:



It is hard to see, but the holder on the black panel is conical so it helps direct light out.

[mcknib]

These days I've taken to using 3pdt boards where you can mount the LED and CLR on the board

It neatens up your wiring to the jacks too and I find it's a lot easier to drill a more accurate LED hole in your enclosure using it as a template I drill the 3pdt hole, loosely fit the 3pdt stick the LED in without soldering it line it up and mark the enclosure drill the 3mm / 5mm LED hole prise it in nice and tight and solder it up.

As already said I sometimes use heat shrink to make the LED legs a bit stiffer and it fits in nice and secure.

I like the look of the wee LED peering out of the enclosure so I don't use bezels although you obviously could for a more secure fit

[deadastronaut]

3mm hole...little dab of superglue around the hole...carefully pop it in..(3mm led)

that sucker is never coming out...

[blackieNYC]

+1, glue, heat shrink, and make little hooks out of the resistor and LED leads. If you are sure you've picked the right resistor for brightness, twist them or hook them together for a mechanical connection beyond just solder. Same for the wire going back to the 9v.
I can't see my self bothering with little boards for LEDs or DC power jacks or the stompswitch. I get a solid mechanical connection - there will be wires attached here that will certainly get tugged on a good deal. The small boards for all the auxiliary off-board components sounds like more work. A lot a bright folks seem to do it though. Neat guts. Maybe some day I'll get on board with it.

Edit - I like to file the LEDs flat and glue them in with no bezel sometimes. Minimal look.
"Get on board with it" <-- sorry.

[Jdansti]

+1 for super glue. I scratch the inside of the enclosure where the hole is and use a gel super glue. I spray some accelerant on the glue to make it cure instantly. You can make the hole the same size as the LED, or you can make it smaller and still get a lot of light through it.

I sometimes solder the resistor to one of the LED legs with a lot of overlap. Then I heat shrink the whole thing. If you're concerned about breaking leads, heat shrink a toothpick against the leads and glue the rigid portion flat against the inside of the enclosure. As others have said, it's best if you can put the resistor on the PCB.

[deadastronaut]

blackie, get some flat tops...they are cool too...

[mcknib]

Blackie I thought the same with the 3pdt boards initially what's the point extra work but I purchased a few never used them then one day I thought lets see what these are all about.

The ones I get have got 3 x +9v pads and *edit* 6 not 7 x grounds and pads for standard or bi colour LED's so your jack ground and tip pads line up nice with your jacks and it's a couple of short wires out to them and your LED aint going nowhere being soldered to the 3pdt board and held in by it. I wasn't a big fan of star grounding but old dawg new tricks and all that it took me a while.

Now I find them great especially for combo builds being a bit thick, it's all there first IN jack to in to out to next in and so on and with all the +9v and ground pads it's easy to power and ground how ever many circuits you put in there. I even used one to make a test pedal ala Beavis breakout box solder the wires from the underside and you can hide them a bit better under the hood so to speak and because I'm mega lazy I use speaker connectors so I don't need to unscrew the barrier strip constantly

Mind you it can be counter productive I've got god knows how many populated boards unboxed if I want to use them I connect em to the test box after I've had my morning tea and a wee nap!

[blackieNYC]

7 grounds seems helpful. I usually twist a small bit of wire to the input jack ground and solve all my grounds to that.  Not pretty.

[ecoli]

Thanks for the replies everyone, some great solutions in here.  I've used the bezels before, but unless I'm putting them together wrong, while they do a good job of holding the LED in place, the resistor is still left "dangling" below.  Heat shrink in combination with the bezels is a good cheap option though to hold all those parts together. 

I like those 3pdt boards.  I'm probably using too thick of wire, but find wiring the 3pdt switch gets very cramped.  Soldering to a pcb board would definitely be simpler and cleaner.  Also seems to tidy up all those extra ground wires I seem to always have to deal with!

[davent]

I've often just drilled a 1/8" hole in the enclosure, painted and clearcoated the enclosure which reduces the hole size down. Reisize the hole with a hand-spun 3mm and the 3mm LED fits snug enough with friction being all that's needed. Countersink the hole a bit on the outside as well for visual appeal.

[bloxstompboxes]

If you are using bezels and the led seems loose in there or has the possibility of shorting on the bezel or itself, a little hot glue on the leads and down into the bezel from behind will stop it from moving and insulate the leads from the bezel.

[MrStab]

just a metal bezel for me. the bezels with the rubber leg insulator thing (underpants?) are a bit less hassle to centre the LED than the cheaper ones with just a plastic insulator, but splitting hairs really.

i've tried hot glue in the past - it never holds. if you use PCB-mounted LEDs though, it's probably good practice to glue or epoxy em from the back so as to avoid relying solely on the terminals/solder for support. hot glue should be fine as it's not gonna be doing all the lifting.

one idea i've read about for Envirotex users is leaving a hole covered by the resin and having the light shine through that. haven't tried it myself, but could be pretty cool and seamless-looking. may try it for rate indicators on a phaser i'm working on, i'll take pics if i do. the potential for lifting the Envirotex off the surface is a concern, though.

btw: someone once suggested i use a bezel as a star ground point. i prefer a bolt myself, but if anyone's ever pressed for space, it's an idea. just swap out the spring washer for a tooth washer and get a big crimp.

[Jdansti]

one idea i've read about for Envirotex users is leaving a hole covered by the resin and having the light shine through that. haven't tried it myself, but could be pretty cool and seamless-looking. may try it for rate indicators on a phaser i'm working on, i'll take pics if i do. the potential for lifting the Envirotex off the surface is a concern, though.

I've done it when I have photo paper with an image on it covered by Envirotex. The LED shines through the photo paper and Envirotex. You might have to use a smaller resistor than normal to get the light to shine through the image.

The problem with trying to leave the hole covered with resin as you mentioned is that the Envirotex will fill the hole and harden. If you try to remove some of the epoxy from underneath, it crazes and gets scratched which looks bad. This won't happen if you cover the hole with your artwork.

[MrStab]

^ that sounds pretty cool, so the whole image lights up? i'm curious to see it. my pedals are usually just text, knob markings and logos, as opposed to pictures, but you've got me thinking maybe i could just leave the holes and not mount the LEDs directly under em. just rely on the ambient light, if that's the term. they'll be mounted on the underside of a PCB in any case, so there's some support there already.

[Jdansti]

The LED makes a round circle of light on the image. It doesn't light up the whole image. I'll post a pic later today.

[Jdansti]

Here are a couple of poor quality videos, but they give you an idea.

LED mounted under photo paper.

LED mounted under a small hole. This keeps the LED safe from being hit from above.

[MrStab]

nice - the LEDs flow really well with the images. the one on the Pulsinator is more like what i'm imagining. cheers for the share, John!