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I made a small LED panel

(www.stavros.io)
154 points Brajeshwar | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0.835s | source
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stavros ◴[] No.45651814[source]
I was about to comment that I also made a small LED panel, but then realized it was me.

Here's the latest LED thing I'm working on (the design isn't mine): https://immich.home.stavros.io/share/oXerU8gnLn-dNHunPOg8lM8...

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Lerc ◴[] No.45652790[source]
Do you know if the panels can be bodged to be non square? There shouldn't be a lot of fancy wiring to screw up if it's all WS2812. Can you (delicately) chop a few LEDs out and bridge the connections?

(hoping I have seeded this idea, so I'm not the first one to attempt this)

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ramses0 ◴[] No.45655426[source]
I mean... as a lay-person, you've got point-lights and his isolation/diffusion layers in between. If you're 3d-printing your diffusion-thingy, then you've got tons of room to play games with the shape of the final glow. Even moving light via '265μm with 64 Fiber, Optical Grade Plastic Light Guide' if you're not hitting the corners well enough.
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Lerc ◴[] No.45660510[source]
That... is a really good idea. I was thinking of cutting a flat piece of diffusing material to shape.

My intuition is that there would be pain in 3d printing a diffusion structure because slicers etc. would not be optimised for producing a homogenous solid. I would guess that 100% infill is actually something like 99.98% with tiny voids that stick out like a sore thumb when you shine a light through. I might be wrong about that, I'm not a 3d printing expert.

The principle of reshaping I think is awesome though. It might just be an issue of modulating brightness to counter any uneven distribution. It's got me thinking about a Faceted approach. 3d Print a faceted basin and then print a thin edge divider to sit in it. Fill it with something that sets solidly enough and makes a good diffuser (this too sounds like a war with bubbles). Take it out of the basin when set and you potentially have a nice faceted surface with each facet individually colourable.

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1. ramses0 ◴[] No.45670871[source]
you're right at re-inventing "prismatic acrylic flat sheet replacement light cover" stuff.

https://www.fluorolite.com/buy-now/f12-100-2347flatsheet/

for a cheap test, put wax paper between two grids/grilles and see how it looks (ie: double-diffusion). ie: [ LED | <grid> | <wax paper> | <grid> | <wax paper> ]

...the first grid isolates the color, the first wax paper diffuses the LED, the second grid "receives" the isolated color (diffused, not spot/point) which then gets finally diffused for viewing.

Surely you can look up how to avoid bubbles on a semi-transparent resin pour.

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2. Lerc ◴[] No.45686685[source]
>Surely you can look up how to avoid bubbles on a semi-transparent resin pour.

I know how that's done (usually a combination of careful stirring and a vacuum chamber). The principle is easier than the practice. I am dispraxic and generally shouldn't be allowed near physical objects, but I like them so.

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3. ramses0 ◴[] No.45699333[source]
Poke at blender / sketchup!

https://blenderartists.org/t/how-do-i-put-a-soft-glowing-led...

...all the joy of creation with none of the cost or danger of losing fingertips! :-P