Thing-O-Matic INTENSE LIGHTING SYSTEM
Description
Here's a link to the exact light I am using:
dealextreme.com/p/t10-24-led-white-light-car-angel-eye-80mm-diameter-26001
This light is SO BRIGHT it lights the entire chamber, but the EXTREME INTENSENESS of it just made my camera take horrible photos of the lights themselves when on. So I took some off, too.
You can see my power switch is just taped to the corner of my 'bot; if I were more clever with design I'd make a little housing for it. Maybe someone wants to offer some aid.
Instructions
While you're waiting for those to print (doesn't take long!) find a spare switch, and wire some long leads onto the light ring, attaching one of the leads to the power switch in the usual fashion. This isn't rocket surgery. The switch is, of course, optional.
Make sure you keep track of which lead is + and which is -; they're clearly labeled on the ring. As you can see, I used the same colored wires, then I twisted them, making it impossible to know which I'd attached to + and -. I figured it out by laying the leads against a 9v battery, which shouldn't be enough to blow things up the wrong way around. When it lit up, I put a green tag on the - end. :)
This takes 12v, so I wired mine directly into the spare 4-wire connector on the ATX power supply... the one that provides 2 12v+ (+ from the ring goes here) and 2 GND (- goes here) connections (see here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ATX_PS_signals.jpg and pictures for reference).
You could also just put it in the FAN port on your extruder controller, if you never hooked up the fan there (and aren't using it for the ABP motor).
LET EVERYTHING COOL DOWN after you print and before you try to hook this up! I know that sounds dumb, but in my impatience I nearly burned my hand on the hot end.
You will see the ring fits neatly into the small slot (the mounts should fit between the LEDs), and the big slot should slip neatly over the wood of the Z axis. You can get by just fine on 1, 2 is plenty. I only put another 2 on the front of mine so they'd be easier to see in the photos.
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I made a thing for the cupcake using the same LED.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...
Thanks to make me know about that LED ring ;-)
Thank you for the link to the lights! I hadn't considered using LED car headlights for lamps, but it totally makes sense! Specifically, I'm hoping to replace my single 3W LED that's being used for pictures/videos on the Egg-Bot (spheres almost comically reveal point lights).
Austin,
I had this lying around 'cause I'd originally bought a few of them in various diameters to make a ring light for a photographer friend! There a size that fits perfectly around a standard sized camera lens. You probably need to come up with some kind of diffuser to spread the lights out a littl
e, though.
That idea was originally from here:


A year later but, thank you for the tip and the link.