Gallery, Projects and General > How do I??

Diffusing light within plastic?

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lesterhawksby:
Flatting/sanding the LED ends causes light to start diffusing out there, but if you can still see the LED end, it'll still look like a point. You could use a separate diffuser (eg sanded bit of clear plastic) a bit further away onto which they both shine.

Mike's suggestion of fibre optic strands is cool but maybe tricky. If you have any sheet acrylic scrap, maybe cut a "Y" out of it and polish the ends so it works as a light pipe? (not super shallow though)

If there's room, it might work to have both LEDs point backwards onto a bit of white plastic which serves as the apparently illuminated surface. Or sideways and have the white plastic as an angled reflector, saving case depth at the expense of width.

If you ARE prepared to go SMD you can probably just make the two so close together they are hard to tell apart...

I assume buying parts to make it look super fancy is out of scope, but if not, there are some lovely RGB LED rings out there...

AdeV:
Today, I got back in the workshop for the first time for a few weeks... so I had a go at re-doing my "light pipe". This time, I've just flattened the sides a bit (didn't quite get it centered, but then I wasn't measuring). Laying the LEDs over is the trick, I think, so now they shine into the sides that I've cut. Adding some black tape (in the final version I'll use paint) cuts out the point glare pretty much entirely.  :thumbup:

My original circuit had the computer & the various resistors in the same housing as the LEDs (the bit that'd live outdoors, on the side of the door), but turning the LEDs means I don't have room to do that any more, so there'll have to be a separate box inside with the electronics - no biggie for me, and it also means the IC is inside, so I don't have to worry quite so much about weatherproofing it.

So, that's pretty much the last piece in the puzzle; now I need to make the aluminium outer box to cover the whole contraption, make another small circuitboard to hold the LEDs & light pipe & sensor, and find/make a suitable box for the indoor electronics. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll have a working doorbell again!

RussellT:
Brill!

I bet, like me, you're always wondering why you never have time to do stuff.  :D

Russell

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