Installing leds in an enclosure

[JoeGuitar]

I want to install a couple of leds in my next project that just poke through the top - like you see on zvex pedals.

Every other box I've made, I always used a bezel & as you know, this holds the led in place.

So, if I want to do it just poking through the top, how do I attach it?  Do I use hot glue or something like that?

Joe

[Cardboard Tube Samurai]

Yup!

[Pushtone]

I drill a hole that is a little too small then cram and twist the led in (works better with the large ones).
Alone, this holds surprisingly well. Combine that with the hot glue and it will be difficult to push it in.

[Tony Forestiere]

Use a small rubber grommet. Drill a hole (slightly larger than the ID of the core), weasel the grommet in, and shove in any LED you want. It might not be pretty, but it is effective and easily adjustable.

[teletroy]

I drill a hole that is a little too small then cram and twist the led in (works better with the large ones).
Alone, this holds surprisingly well. Combine that with the hot glue and it will be difficult to push it in.

+1

I think it looks better than the bezel   

[David]

I have had excellent results using the hole trick and a tiny drop of tolulene-based glue on the LED.  Tolulene is great for gluing plastic, and LEDs ARE plastic...

[bean]

Use a 3x3 piece of stripboard...load your resistor and wires on the copper side. Load your LED on the other side. After you solder the wires, it will stay in place! You can use a pinch of super glue on the wires right around the stripboard for extra strength.

[John Lyons]

Get a #10 nut.
Drill the threads out to the diameter of an LED, 5mm is what I use.
Drill the hole in the enclosure to the same diameter.
dab on a little epoxy to the LED and insert into the nut.
Dab some epoxy onto the nut where it meets the hole in the box.
Push the LED and nut into the hole. Dab on a little more epoxy around the nut.
Voila!

File/sand/scrape the box and nut to rough it up a bit.
Clean with Acetone etc to degrease the metal surfaces.




John

[davent]

Usually do the stick it throught he hole and goop on some hot melt glue to secure it in place. I'll heat the enclosure a bit with a hot air gun before gluing.

With a Millenium switch I was soldering the the LED to the Millenium board then using double sided tape to hold the board/LED to the enclosure.

For this one I tried to incorporate the LED mounting into the PCB. Here the LED's haven't been soldered in but once i determined how far i wanted them to show through the box they got soldered and the leads were trimmed back.

Take care,
dave

[JoeGuitar]

Thanks for all the input!

I just tried John Lyons method & it looks great.

Thanks again.

Joe

[solderman]

I normally drill a hole that is 0.1 mm larger than the LED and use 1 sec super glue to glue the LED in to place. I use the same method to fit the DC jack in place. I most often use the inner parts of the femail cable DC jack. Most of the time it is no room for a nut.



//Solderman   

[s.r.v.]

beautiful work davent!

[Tony Forestiere]

Ermm... my ugly rubber grommets and I will slowly walk away.

Nice job guys. Especially Davent for thinking it through.

[elshiftos]

I also use the vero method and providing you remove any paint and laquer from the metal, superglue will hold it in place. If you ever need to remove it, you can simply slide a razor blade/knife between the vero and the panel!

[John Lyons]

Oh, ok... I see what you are talking about now guys.
Thanks for that pic elshiftos!
I'd probably end up covering that whole board and LED with Epoxy to make it bulletproof.

john

[MicFarlow77]

Here's how I do mine:



Doing it this way, the LED mounting holes are always in the same place relative to the footswitch.

All I end up doing is placing a piece of tape over the LED hole on the outside of the enclosure, poking the LED through until it sticks and then soldering it in. It's easy to do, easy to replicate and when you need to take it apart, it's easy to deal with.

Most beneficial to me is that this way, like davents above, eliminates any extra work on the LED side of things.

Thanks,

Mick

[arawn]

all very sharp methods I like it, I am just left trying to figure out the led border

[Hamfist]

That vero LED assembly is simple and brilliant.  I will definitely be using that idea.  I like how it keeps the resistor off the board, but not floating.  I'll probably use my old favorite 3M gray indoor/outdoor mounting tape to attach it to the enclosure. 

Thanks for that!!!

[Valoosj]

The way I do it is the following: drill a 2,5mm hole through the enclosure. Then take a drill of 3mm and put it in the hole. Carefully look at the top of your enclosure and start drilling until you see the drill head starting to poke through. That's the moment you have to stop. You now have created a very thin border which will stop the LED from going through. As you look over the top of the enclosure you will see a little bulb of the top of the LED. I use some glue to hold it in place but I am very pleased with the looks of this.

[jakehop]

Oh, ok... I see what you are talking about now guys.
Thanks for that pic elshiftos!
I'd probably end up covering that whole board and LED with Epoxy to make it bulletproof.

john

A warning: If you doop the entire circuit, the tiny bit of heat from the resistor can't escape, and the heat gets transfered to the solder points, which in turn gets heated and might break. And then you need to remove it all, and probably replace it with a new circuit. Sad if you had to waste money like that! Put some under the very instead - that'll hold it great I think!

Jake