I model in Z scale and work with SMD LEDs, from size 0402 to 0805 and was wondering if anyone had suggestions for DYI light shades. For example, exterior lighting on buildings much like that you would see on untility buildings etc, for building and ground lighting effects. I have been making box style enclosures with card stock, but its very tidious due to the small size and large number of lights in my layout plans (probably 100+ throughout)
To affix an LED to the exterior of a building with no shade produces way too much light pollution.
I have looked at various beads and other jewelry making pieces that could work as a shade, small pieces of micro hardware etc with not much luck. Sequins worked ok for light posts, but I am wondering if there is anything that will just fit over the LED without any modification.
Does anyone know of, or used anything similar to what I am trying to describe?
LION make these lamps out of coffee stirrers (the kind with two chanels in them), an LED and a thumb tack with the point clipped off painted to match the post.
The lamp in this picture uses the same coffee stirrer with a 1/16th inch welding rod passed through each chanel. The LED is soldered to these, and a lump of modeling clay formed the head. This one I painted by hand, and looks rather gross, I now have some silver spray paint that I will try.
Ahem… Z scale is rather small for using LEDs. If LION wanted smalle point lighting, him would mount the LED under the table and use an optic fiber to transmit the light to the point of service. Use heat shrink tubing to make the splce between the LED and the optic fiber. For the light shades, LION would look in the craft store for those glittery things that girls make things out of. Seed beads might work, so would those glittery round things with the hole in the middle. Sequins, that is what they are called, but if a guy goes into a craft store and asks for glittery round things, the clerk will show you the sequins.
A piece of aluminum foil can be shaped over a suitable form or over the LED itself, and will effectively block extraneous light. In Z scale, a roll of foil oughta do a fairly large, well-lit railroad. [swg]
I’ve made shades out of Evergreeen styrene tubing. Comes in many sizes, so should cover very tiny, which I pressumed they will be in Z.
For an exterior light, I slice the tube in half and glue on over the LED. There are some of these above the warehouse doors in the background of this pic.
If you have an overhanging roof, your sightlines may allow you to simply secrete it up in the rafters, like on the icing dock on theb left side of the background in the pic.
The ones in next pic probably won’t work with the SMD LEDs since they’re so tiny and in a package that offers only 180 degree visibility, but maybe the lamps in the next pic will give you some more ideas.
Thank you, these suggestions are all very useful. The seed beeds I was looking at today, but they say they are glass. I don’t know if that makes them difficult to cut or shape with tools, but I may look into that. The foil I tried, and works, and looks decent once painted over, but a little hard to get nice straight edges.
I like the plastruct styrene idea. I have some channels I got as stocking stuffers, so nice to know they will come in handy!
Thanks again, and hopefully in a few days I can share some photos of the various!
Be cautious with the foil. It can short out on the connections on the back of the SMD LED unless the spots where the leads are soldered are insulated first. Epoxy or CA will insulate it, as will liquid electrical tape, then you can shape the foil around it worry free.
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. A friend makes marker lamps with those tiny LEDs, but Z is way smaller. However, since you’re working at the practical limits of sight and touch, others can learn by how you do things.
I am wondering if you could drill a hole/series of holes into 1 LED and use fibre optics with the end heated to form a bulbous shape? That would/should serve to diffuse the light output and incidentally be easier to handle.
You make a very good point. In Z scale, fiber optics could be a very handy technique to have in addition to working with SMD LEDs. They effects are different enough that having both available could serve Bucktoof well.
