BaronJ
22nd July 2015, 08:29 AM
Hi Guys,
Just to show that I've not been lazing around for the past few weeks I've made some fittings for LED lights to go into my camper conversion.
353274
I started with some off cuts of 12 mm thick plastic kitchen worktop material. Its a very hard, dense and abrasive substance, but its a brilliant white colour which is what I want. I used a 42 mm diameter Starret hole saw with a 1/4" drill centre running at 450 rpm to cut ten round, 12 mm thick blanks. Each ending up a shade under 40 mm diameter.
353275
Then using a second 30 mm diameter hole saw I cut a into the blanks that I had just made to a depth of ten millimetres, creating a groove about 2 millimetres wide. At this point I realised that I needed a mandrel on which to place the blank in order to turn the outside face down so as to create a flange on the bottom edge 2.5 mm thick.
For some reason I haven't taken any pictures of this. But it was a simple 12 mm diameter rod turned down to a 1/4" diameter for 25 mm and then the last 14 mm turned down so I could put an M6 thread on the end. The blank being held in place by an M6 nut and washer.
353276
Here I'm cutting out the plug in the middle. This is the point that I realised I'd made an error and needed to turn the step on the outside first. Since when I had removed the centre I no longer had anything to grip. You can see the flaky dusty swarf produced by this plastic. Fortunately you can't smell the awful odour that this stuff produces. It reminds me of formaldehyde.
353277
Anyway I finished turning this one and then used it as a template for the other ones.
353278
This is what it looks like. The step in the bottom is to support the printed circuit board with the surface mount LED's on it. The red paint at the bottom is from the hole cutter. It rubbed off easily with a touch from some sandpaper.
353279
This is a picture of the finished holder and the plug of scrap that has been removed from the centre. The wall thickness is two millimetres and the flange three millimetres wide. This side of the holder will be a press fit into a hole cut into the roof boarding, the flange preventing it from being pushed all the way through and the flange on the inside supporting the 30 mm diameter PCB.
353280353281
These two pictures show the component parts prior to assembly. The indentation that can be seen in the left hand picture was caused by me trying to cut the blanks out by hand and letting the hole cutter drag off centre. The PCB has twelve 5050 type surface mount LED's on the face of it. On the back side is a bridge rectifier and four 370 ohm resistors. It is designed to run from 10 to 14 volts AC or DC and consumes 25 milliampere at 14 volts.
353282353283
These last two pictures show the finished item. A couple of spots of super glue holds the PCB in place. There are just a couple of wires to solder on and then they can be fitted into the roof lining. All in all a good mornings work.
The 10 off LED PCBV discs came from China for the sum of £5.95 post free. Though I have seen them at half that price. I've also seen some with 24 LED's that are similar in appearance. There are similar items for sale here in the UK being sold on caravan and camper websites at ridiculous prices, at least 20 times what I've made these for.
Just to show that I've not been lazing around for the past few weeks I've made some fittings for LED lights to go into my camper conversion.
353274
I started with some off cuts of 12 mm thick plastic kitchen worktop material. Its a very hard, dense and abrasive substance, but its a brilliant white colour which is what I want. I used a 42 mm diameter Starret hole saw with a 1/4" drill centre running at 450 rpm to cut ten round, 12 mm thick blanks. Each ending up a shade under 40 mm diameter.
353275
Then using a second 30 mm diameter hole saw I cut a into the blanks that I had just made to a depth of ten millimetres, creating a groove about 2 millimetres wide. At this point I realised that I needed a mandrel on which to place the blank in order to turn the outside face down so as to create a flange on the bottom edge 2.5 mm thick.
For some reason I haven't taken any pictures of this. But it was a simple 12 mm diameter rod turned down to a 1/4" diameter for 25 mm and then the last 14 mm turned down so I could put an M6 thread on the end. The blank being held in place by an M6 nut and washer.
353276
Here I'm cutting out the plug in the middle. This is the point that I realised I'd made an error and needed to turn the step on the outside first. Since when I had removed the centre I no longer had anything to grip. You can see the flaky dusty swarf produced by this plastic. Fortunately you can't smell the awful odour that this stuff produces. It reminds me of formaldehyde.
353277
Anyway I finished turning this one and then used it as a template for the other ones.
353278
This is what it looks like. The step in the bottom is to support the printed circuit board with the surface mount LED's on it. The red paint at the bottom is from the hole cutter. It rubbed off easily with a touch from some sandpaper.
353279
This is a picture of the finished holder and the plug of scrap that has been removed from the centre. The wall thickness is two millimetres and the flange three millimetres wide. This side of the holder will be a press fit into a hole cut into the roof boarding, the flange preventing it from being pushed all the way through and the flange on the inside supporting the 30 mm diameter PCB.
353280353281
These two pictures show the component parts prior to assembly. The indentation that can be seen in the left hand picture was caused by me trying to cut the blanks out by hand and letting the hole cutter drag off centre. The PCB has twelve 5050 type surface mount LED's on the face of it. On the back side is a bridge rectifier and four 370 ohm resistors. It is designed to run from 10 to 14 volts AC or DC and consumes 25 milliampere at 14 volts.
353282353283
These last two pictures show the finished item. A couple of spots of super glue holds the PCB in place. There are just a couple of wires to solder on and then they can be fitted into the roof lining. All in all a good mornings work.
The 10 off LED PCBV discs came from China for the sum of £5.95 post free. Though I have seen them at half that price. I've also seen some with 24 LED's that are similar in appearance. There are similar items for sale here in the UK being sold on caravan and camper websites at ridiculous prices, at least 20 times what I've made these for.