Making LED light pipes...

[Impmon]

I wanted to build something akin to mini neon sign like those in Las
Vegas or the Time Square in NYC but on small scall. conventional neon
are too large and too inefficient. CCFL could work but inverter that
comes with CCFL tended to be cheap and can blow out easy from
switching a lot. Plus CCFL are rarely available in any form other
than straight.

LED is low power, cheap, and won't burn out from switching frequently.
But LED bar I've seen seemed to be made of multiple LED in a line and
I don't want the spotlight effect. So that leaves light pipes with
LED at each end.

Can any of you suggest a simple materials that I can use, available at
local places, and easily bends to form shapes? Clear inside, frosted
coating would probably mimic mini-neon tube the best. I've thought
about using hot glue to make light pipes but they may not be clear
enough to allow light to travel the full length.

TIA for any advice or suggestions.

 

[Rich Webb]

I wanted to build something akin to mini neon sign like those in Las
Vegas or the Time Square in NYC but on small scall. conventional neon
are too large and too inefficient. CCFL could work but inverter that
comes with CCFL tended to be cheap and can blow out easy from
switching a lot. Plus CCFL are rarely available in any form other
than straight.

LED is low power, cheap, and won't burn out from switching frequently.
But LED bar I've seen seemed to be made of multiple LED in a line and
I don't want the spotlight effect. So that leaves light pipes with
LED at each end.

Can any of you suggest a simple materials that I can use, available at
local places, and easily bends to form shapes? Clear inside, frosted
coating would probably mimic mini-neon tube the best. I've thought
about using hot glue to make light pipes but they may not be clear
enough to allow light to travel the full length.

TIA for any advice or suggestions.

How about making a mold for the desired shape(s) and then casting the
part with transparent resin? The frosted finish could be applied with a
glass etching set (kind of like a mini sand blaster).

resin http://www.dickblick.com/zz335/20/
etcher http://www.dickblick.com/zz250/06/

Not practical for wall-sized installations but if you're doing dioramas
or HO-scale projects, it might work.

 

[Eeyore]

I wanted to build something akin to mini neon sign like those in Las
Vegas or the Time Square in NYC but on small scall. conventional neon
are too large and too inefficient. CCFL could work but inverter that
comes with CCFL tended to be cheap and can blow out easy from
switching a lot. Plus CCFL are rarely available in any form other
than straight.

LED is low power, cheap, and won't burn out from switching frequently.
But LED bar I've seen seemed to be made of multiple LED in a line and
I don't want the spotlight effect. So that leaves light pipes with
LED at each end.

Can any of you suggest a simple materials that I can use, available at
local places, and easily bends to form shapes? Clear inside, frosted
coating would probably mimic mini-neon tube the best. I've thought
about using hot glue to make light pipes but they may not be clear
enough to allow light to travel the full length.

TIA for any advice or suggestions.

Wish I could remember the name of the Company now. It was about 20 yrs
back. They were based in England in Devon or Cornwall IIRC and did all
sorts of optic fibres including low cost plastic ones.

The reason I was interested was that Siemens as was (Infineon ? now) had
brought out a range of leds with a centre hole to take a light pipe, so
you could pipe the light anywhere without having to locate the led near to
the control surface. It worked fine but for other reasons was not adopted
into a new design.

I can almost see the front cover of the catalogue, but damned if I can
recall their name. A search restricted to that area of Britain might help.
It was cheap fibre too.

Graham

 

[Wim Lewis]

I wanted to build something akin to mini neon sign like those in Las
Vegas or the Time Square in NYC but on small scall. conventional neon
are too large and too inefficient. CCFL could work but inverter that
comes with CCFL tended to be cheap and can blow out easy from
switching a lot. Plus CCFL are rarely available in any form other
than straight.

LED is low power, cheap, and won't burn out from switching frequently.
But LED bar I've seen seemed to be made of multiple LED in a line and
I don't want the spotlight effect. So that leaves light pipes with
LED at each end.

I've tried to get this kind of effect using (very) heavy fishing line or
clear weed-trimmer line but not had much luck. Roughing up the surface
of unjacketed plastic optical fiber might work.

Have you thought of electroluminescent wire (EL wire)? It's flexible,
looks a bit like neon, doesn't mind being switched on and off, not too
expensive. Take a look at sellers like coolneon or coolight (dot com)
to get small lengths of the stuff and the associated inverters.

(It will break if you flex it a lot, or kink it, but it's not super fragile.)

 

[Impmon]

Have you thought of electroluminescent wire (EL wire)? It's flexible,
looks a bit like neon, doesn't mind being switched on and off, not too
expensive. Take a look at sellers like coolneon or coolight (dot com)
to get small lengths of the stuff and the associated inverters.

(It will break if you flex it a lot, or kink it, but it's not super fragile.)

EL ropes could work but I dunno about the inverter. Say I have 6 that
I want to "animate" one at a time. Can I get away using single
inverter and a high voltage transistor on each EL ropes to toggle one
EL on? Depending on how transistor behaves, there's a chance that 2
EL ropes would be on at once for a millisecond, or none (no load) and
if EL inverter is built the same as CCFL inverter, they will throw
tantrum from spikes/surges and release the magic smokes.

I've melted an inverter from trying to light up a 320mmx3 CCFL off one
that originally came with a 6" CCFL. The inverter case was mallable
for a few minutes after the smoke was let out. Having multiple EL on
at once even for a brief time could cause the same problem.

 

[hr(bob) [email protected]]

---
If the maximum number of EL ropes you'll have on at once is two, then
the easiest thing to do would be to get an inverter rated for twice the
current of a single rope.

If you're worried about transients, then a suitable TVS across the
output of the inverter should work to keep the magic smoke from
escaping.

JF  - Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Why not plexiglass rods. They can be heated slightly and then bent to
shape, and the led's can be placed anywhere convenient

 

[[email protected]]

They don't have a very long life.

--http://www.petersparrots.com   http://www.insanevideoclips.com   http://www.petersphotos.com

With the sun beginning to rise, the cabin of the jetliner was suddenly illuminated.
"Who turned on the fucking lights?" a male passenger, who had been surly since boarding, snarled at a stewardess.
The girl had had enough of this particular character. "These are the breakfast lights, sir," she answered with forced sweetness.
"The fucking lights are much dimmer, and you snored right through them."

If you and anybody need led components to help your designs please
contact me
i may be helpful
james wang
[email protected]
www.smartsecu.com