Display case for minis build

[phoenixcinder]

Just send me whatever info you have on where these LEDs came from. And what type of battery you are using (as well as the new one you plan to use). And I'll take a quick look.

Currently using these lights and battery pack
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01KL9 ... UTF8&psc=1

I am waiting for this to come in the mail
https://www.extremeglow.com/store/p/400 ... Light.aspx

I got the version that takes d cell batteries, so I will be just snipping off the lights this came with and wiring it to the current lights I am using

[whitebeard]

Thanks for sending. I looked it over and these lights are very cool.

As an end product, as opposed to electrical supplies, we would need to disassemble these and document the circuit. There might be a resistor hiding inside the battery box... and since you are still using this, you are automatically good to go.

Running just one LED on the battery pack seems to be within spec, so I don't expect any damage. The other supplier calls them 4.5 volt LEDs so no resistor would be required there and these are probably setup to work the same way.

The 3 AA battery pack should light 100 lights. Have you already exceeded this number? Or when you light the entire strand, is it dimmer like this? I suspect the original strand was not more dim.

It is somewhat concerning that the new LEDs are bright and the old ones are dim. Maybe there is some minor damage from running only a few lights on the battery pack? It is more likely that the bright ones indicate that there is a bit less resistance in the wiring / solder joints to these LEDs and they are getting a bit more current than the rest. These wires are either much shorter, a different wire type, or you are getting better at soldering as you do more, etc. I would not worry too much about it. The larger battery pack should fix your issues by giving you more available current.

And Very Cool project by the way!

[Anderas]

The cheapest LED solutions are sold without no current source and no resistor.
They calculate the internal resistance of the battery and the mini-resistance of the LEDs to delay the breakdown just enough so that the customer doesn't see it in time to send it back.
They stay good for one battery fill, sometimes for two or three battery refills, often then that's it.

If it turns out you accidentally damaged the LED, I would restart with something like this:

Link to Amazon

They have built-in resistors for protection, are self-gluing and need very little work for installation.

[phoenixcinder]

Testing out some rough pillars in various widths

[phoenixcinder]

Sprayed all the slats with multiple coats of gloss varathane so the light can bounce around better. I will most likely spray the underside of each slat as well for more reflectiveness



Cut some beveled strips to go in front of each of the slats


Each of the strips overhang the slat slightly so if you are eye level to a section the lights will not glare at you. Then I stained them dark to match the exterior of the display case.

[phoenixcinder]

Got all the posts turned and sliced in half


All the posts in place. Just have to paint them all now

[phoenixcinder]

Getting the lights in the center column secured using a hot glue gun. And testing out the frontal peice to block the light


Testing out with minis


Middle column all cleaned up and lit

[phoenixcinder]

Finally got all the pillars painted up and varathaned Starting to glue them all in.


Really disliked how the pillar supporting the top row doesn't align with all of the other pillars in the column.


So I re-etched the outer columns in the top row to be 3x4 instead of 2x4 to force the front pillar to align with the others


All of the pillars in place, goodbye lego

[Anderas]

I just love this hobby project!

You could share your icons here, too.

[phoenixcinder]

I just love this hobby project!

You could share your icons here, too.

Icons???
Not using any icons in this build