Light Emitting Border tutorial

[Valoosj]

Since I can't login to the gallery I have to just post everything here. (any way to acces the layouts gallery? Login I mean and add this tutorial)

Ok , on to the tutorial. First of all, I learned how to do this from ~arph. I just altered one thing in the method. Being the first step.

Take the lid (the bottom part) of your enclosure, and sand down the border on the inside. You know, that really small thingie that keeps the top in place when you close the enclosure.


Make sure it's completely flat.


Once you have done that, take your piece of plexi and put your lid on top, fasten it with a piece of duct tape, all the way around.
Then take an iron saw, and cut off the two sides on which there is no tape. Repeat the progress for the two other sides.
Make sure you keep the cut off sides in place, but this should be easy to do. Just be carefull that you don't cut off too much.

Take out your drill, while the tape is still on the lid/plexi and drill the holes for the screws. This way you can be sure that these will fit when assembling the enclosre in the end.
Then take the sanding tool again, and remove the sharp corners, and adjust the size of plexi so that it's exactly the same size as the lid.


Once that's done, the plexi should not stick out on any side. Try closing it, and see if you're satisfied with the result.


Once you have finished painting your enclosure, and the pedal is ready for assembly, try to find a spot as close to the centre as possible, and drill a 5mm hole straight through the plexi. Sand your LED so the light comes out of all the sides, hook it up and stick it through the hole.


Then you're finished!

[Timebutt]

Great work on the article!
Exactly the way I do it too and it's not much work compared to the result

[Pushtone]

Although the filing is easy to do with soft aluminum I thought the idea was to heat up the bottom with an iron and press the plexi in.
The rim on the lid melts the plexi and gets well seated.

At least that what I had in mind.

[demonstar]

That is very good! I've never seen that before but now I must give it a go. Good stuff!

[Valoosj]

Although the filing is easy to do with soft aluminum I thought the idea was to heat up the bottom with an iron and press the plexi in.
The rim on the lid melts the plexi and gets well seated.

At least that what I had in mind.

You don't have to fill up the bottom, there's enough support at the edges. Unless you get a humonguous enclosure off course.
You could iron it, that's the way arph does it, but the plexi might crack then. This way is fast and easy with the right tools.

[jayp5150]

I've never done this, but rather than messing around with duct tape and stuff, couldn't you just drill your screw holes first, and bolt that sucker together, then trim the sides?

Seems like it would alleviate a step, and make cutting more stable.

Then again, I've never attempted it at all, so I don't know. Just a thought.

It is an amazing effect, though.

[Valoosj]

I've never done this, but rather than messing around with duct tape and stuff, couldn't you just drill your screw holes first, and bolt that sucker together, then trim the sides?

Seems like it would alleviate a step, and make cutting more stable.

Then again, I've never attempted it at all, so I don't know. Just a thought.

It is an amazing effect, though.

You could do this, but be careful. If you don't watch out you might tear a scratch in the side of the enclosure, and if it goes too deep, you'll notice it, even if you paint over it. And I ethed the pedal, so you would definetly have noticed it if I had done it your way.

[iaresee]

That is damn cool. You guys make me want to build stuff. I dream in hammond enclosures these days.

[jayp5150]

I've never done this, but rather than messing around with duct tape and stuff, couldn't you just drill your screw holes first, and bolt that sucker together, then trim the sides?

Seems like it would alleviate a step, and make cutting more stable.

Then again, I've never attempted it at all, so I don't know. Just a thought.

It is an amazing effect, though.

You could do this, but be careful. If you don't watch out you might tear a scratch in the side of the enclosure, and if it goes too deep, you'll notice it, even if you paint over it. And I ethed the pedal, so you would definetly have noticed it if I had done it your way.

Good call. I might have to try this soon.

[MikeH]

Sweet!  Thanks for the tutorial.  I already took a stab at this and it came out pretty good, but these tips will certainly help me make it perfect!

[soggybag]

Thanks for posting this. I may have to give it a try.

[Dragonfly]

nice job ... VERY  cool tutorial !

[DougH]

Looks pretty cool! Like one of those cars with the neon lights. Now all you need to do is figure out how to install a 15" subwoofer and you'll be good to go.

[ambulancevoice]

to get a gallery post
go login
type in this

user: diyuser
password: j201

there is some links on the side, they should be clear enough

and Andy, heres an idea, you should couple this with swirl paint jobs, but use two multi colored LED spread apart from each other, so the lights blend and make new colours and change all the time, making an ultra trippy pedal
that would be DAMN cool

[R.G.]

One trick I always liked was using plexiglass on the top of the enclosure, lettering on the back side.

Why not glue thin aluminum (0.032"/1mm maybe) to the top of some plexy, and that to the top of your enclosure? Then poke an LED through the top side for a bypass LED and use another that does not go fully through the top aluminum to illuminate the edges. You'd get a bypass indicator that also illuminated the edges of the TOP side. Drill straight through for controls, etc.

Or leave a hole in just the top aluminum and no LED going all the way through. You'd get light out the hole in the aluminum as well as the sides, so you could have the bypass indicator be a patch of light on top instead of being an LED poked through.

As a final thought, there is a version of plexiglass that is specially fabricated for edge lighting. Shine LEDs into the edge, and the whole surface glows. Intended for backlighting signs, etc. So you could have a whole top surface that glows when the effect is active. Or a logo badge, or...

AGH.... gotta stop.... must focus... article deadlines coming...

[greigoroth]

Time for a question. The sort that indicates that I haven't yet built anything but am obsessed with this idea!

Where do you put the LED? Do you include it in series with the indicator LED (that sticks out the top) in the switching circuit, and then adjust the current limiting resistor to reflect that you have 2 LEDs in series (is that even necessary)?

Also, I had a bit of trouble seeing in the phtos, when drilling the hole for the LED in the plexi do you drill the whole way through and have the LED so that the top sits flush with the bottom of the plexi? (Like in this beautiful drawing below - hope it displays correctly in your respective browsers...)

________   _   ________
                | | |  |
________|  U   |________

Or should it go into the plexi but not all the way through (like this)
                   _
_______    | |    _____
              |_ U__|
___________________

[Valoosj]

My LED goes straight through the plexi, like on the first drawing.
If you want it to indicate bypass, add it to the circuit, if you want it on all the time, then just hook it up to your power supply of the pedal.

[greigoroth]

Thanks man!

If you are hooking it up so that it indicates bypass would it be in series with the bypass LED?
Series LED = you add their voltages (yes??) so would this work:

Blue LED: typical voltage 2.8, current 20ma, R=140
2 blue LEDs in series: v=5.6, current =20ma -> R=280???

(sorry for banging on about this!)

[dxm1]

Blue LED: typical voltage 2.8, current 20ma, R=140

I think it'd be more like this:

Blue LED: V = 9 - 2.8 = 6.2v, I = 20ma, R = 310 Ohms

2 blue LEDs in series: v=5.6, current =20ma -> R=280???

V = 9 - 5.6v = 3.4v, I = 20ma, R = 170 Ohms

(sorry for banging on about this!)

Life is for learning...

[greigoroth]