DIY Illuminated Name letters

Thanks for the comments so far.

Some progress....

My colleague has his CNC machine up and running and has done a trial cut using some MDF (we're still waiting for the perspex to turn up). The laser cut stainless steel letter seems to be about 0.5mm larger than the CNC cut MDF letter. He's going to re-calibrate his machine, cut a square and measure it with a vernier gauge to ensure that it's cutting the correct size.

20160803_094926_zpsqonkuofi.jpg


20160803_095010_zps7r14idba.jpg


20160803_094942_zpsnowfphmw.jpg


20160803_095030_zpsgodcnrun.jpg


Note that the inner angles of the 'A' are rounded, whereas the laser cut letters are perfect angles. This was due to him using a 2mm milling bit. The next version will be cut using a 1mm bit that will largely eradicate this issue. To get it to match the laser cut stainless letter he'll file the inner corner by hand.

20160803_094949_zpsnkum3y9g.jpg


20160803_095656_zps53djj1vg.jpg


The channel that he's cut in the letter is 9mm wide so will accommodate the 8mm LED tape perfectly. Depth of channel is 4mm and tape is 2mm thick. Our plan is to seal the tape into the channel using some electrical potting compund. This self levels (it's not very viscous), sets hard, is clear and shouldn't go brittle or yellow over time. JFM suggested taping over this which I don't think adds any material value but we'll do it anyway (belt and braces) and it does hide the electrics underneath. This isn't VHB tape, as I know it, but some decent single sided 3M tape that I've yet to choose.

Length wise, the channelut in the upward strokes of the A are around 130mm which is perfect as the tape can be cut every 3 LED's / 25mm. We'll have 15 LED's each side and 12 on the cross bar. The two long pieces will be wired together at the top of the 'A' and the cross bar will be a separate piece with a spur taken off one of the long pieces.

More to follow next week as long as you're not finding this too boring!.....

Pete
 
Last edited:
Here's another pic or A rse :)---- tender garage open
Maybe the other letters dropped off ? :):):). It's by Oligarch standards a bit old now -but how does one offload that ?
null_zps7b1fe8b6.jpg
 
LED's have arrived so we should make some more progress this week. In the mean time, I'm starting to think about power....

Question 1 - Assuming a name with separate letters, are the letters connected in series or in parallel?

Question 2 - I've read that LED light strips are very sensitive to voltage. I understand that batteries often supply voltages between 10v and 13v, depending on whether they are being charged or discharged. Do boats normally have a regulated supply to supply exactly 12v or do I need to use a raw DC to regulated DC power supply to prolong the life of the LED's?
 
petem said:
LED's have arrived so we should make some more progress this week. In the mean time, I'm starting to think about power....

Question 1 - Assuming a name with separate letters, are the letters connected in series or in parallel?

Question 2 - I've read that LED light strips are very sensitive to voltage. I understand that batteries often supply voltages between 10v and 13v, depending on whether they are being charged or discharged. Do boats normally have a regulated supply to supply exactly 12v or do I need to use a raw DC to regulated DC power supply to prolong the life of the LED's?
Click to expand...

1. Slight misnomer here. The LEDs on a strip are all parallel within the strip anyway, so whether you think you're connecting in series or parallel you are in fact connecting parallel. Anyway, it is much easier to supply a 2metre wire tail on each letter and bring all those wires back to busbars inside your connection box, so that will feel like parallel, and has the "paralleling" effect of not using the busses on the LED strip within each letter to take the current of the downstream letters, ie each letter's LED strip sees only that letter's current

2. Definitely need regulated. Most boats wont have a ready made regulated supply available in the transom area so you need to supply a junction box containing the regulated supply and the bus bars mentioned above
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top