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garage LED lighting project
03-02-2014, 10:26 PM, (This post was last modified: 03-04-2014, 01:20 PM by Brian_H.)
#10
RE: garage LED lighting project
Boy it's been a long time!

I'm pretty much done fussing with the shop at this point. The air has been plumbed, work benches and shelves have been built and put in place, and all the scraps and garbage are out of there. Now I can focus on my projects....

[Image: shop_jan_1s_zps1efffa05.jpg]

[Image: shop_jan_3s_zpseeb53dce.jpg]

[Image: shop_jan_2s_zps7b93d0e4.jpg]

The LED light project is moving along at a decent clip now. A couple months back I finished modelling all of the LED light bar components, acquired the material to manufacture the components, and all of the necessary fasteners to assemble it all.

I decided that the end caps will be held in place by a single screw which engages with an angle bracket that bolts onto the extrusions. Each led will be held in place by two 4-40 screws with fiber washers underneath to protect against shorts. The plastic diffuser will be held in place at the ends by the end caps, and in the middle by two 10-32 screws going through the diffuser, spaced equidistant from the ends. The grooves in the extrusion coupled with the end caps and screws should keep the diffuser held firmly in place and with no light able to escape at the seams. The end caps have a lip to them so if they were to flex slightly it will be imperceptible because the lip shrouds the end of the extrusion.

[Image: end_brackets_zps5b920b9d.jpg]

[Image: gmuw.jpg]

I have machined some of the parts so far. First I machined the aluminum extrusions. The total machine time on the 30 extrusions was about 13 hours, and this was because I surfaced the little grooves that the diffuser will sit in with a 1/32 4fl ball end mill, and I am limited to a spindle speed of 6,000 rpm. The extrusions themselves are 19 inches long, and my mill only has 16 inches of X axis travel, so I machined half of the extrusion and then rotated it 180 and finished to other half so it blends in the middle. The extrusions are pretty dimensionally consistent so the blends in the grooves are smooth or unnoticeable.

[Image: extmill3_zps260a38fc.jpg]

[Image: ext_in_mill2_zps58c4ba00.jpg]

[Image: ext_fin_zpsaf365abd.jpg]

I milled ten mounting brackets at a time and then parted them off with a slitting saw, so they are complete in one setup, except for the 10-32 hole on the side, for which I made a simple fixture to bolt the brackets onto.

(this piece of stock was short, so only six and a half were cut from it. )
[Image: s1_mounting_brackets_zps4ca55eb7.jpg]

The slitting saw is a real time saver. No backside operation was necessary after the part off.
[Image: slitting_saw_zps78a7e179.jpg]

Here's a bunch of brackets after the first setup and the fixture for the side hole operation:
[Image: mounting_brackets_s1fin_zps2ccd7d13.jpg]

The finished side holes:
[Image: mb_s2_fin_zpse2aa46bb.jpg]

The mounting bracket in place on the extrusion:
[Image: mb_end_zps122adabe.jpg]

Then I ran an end cap through both setups to make sure it fits well:
[Image: end_cap_outside_zps41be0635.jpg]

[Image: end_cap_inside_zps78ffd9ab.jpg]

And here it is all bolted up and with the diffuser in place. It fits good with minimal slop.
[Image: end_cap_mounted_zps9196bb00.jpg]

So now I need to work out the finer details of feeding the wires into the light fixtures. My plan is to use 3/8" flexible conduit and feed it into the square portion of the end caps. I picked up some 3/8 flex conduit from the scrap yard for cheap, and then I went to the hardware store and picked up some 90* conduit clamps. The clamps are too large though so I will have to return them. I should be able to use a grommet of some sort and feed the conduit into that. After I get that figured out I will go buy some more aluminum and make 60 end caps.

Scrap yard conduit:
[Image: flex_conduit_zpsf8448ed5.jpg]
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Messages In This Thread
garage LED lighting project - by Brian_H - 09-13-2013, 01:03 AM
RE: garage LED lighting project - by Dimitri4466 - 09-13-2013, 05:22 AM
RE: garage LED lighting project - by Dan - 09-13-2013, 08:02 AM
RE: garage LED lighting project - by Photonic - 09-13-2013, 09:33 AM
RE: garage LED lighting project - by Brian_H - 09-14-2013, 12:49 AM
RE: garage LED lighting project - by Brian_H - 09-20-2013, 02:54 AM
RE: garage LED lighting project - by Brian_H - 09-25-2013, 11:59 PM
RE: garage LED lighting project - by Brian_H - 03-02-2014, 10:26 PM

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