Not making light work of it

Sometimes life seems to make things more complicated than you (or at least I) expect.

For instance, you wouldn't think that getting some LED lights to light my Lithophane would be that difficult. Of course, buying them is easy, there are hundreds available. There is a rainbow of different colours, and metre long strips, and multiple connectors.

But I only want 3 strips, each about 20 cm long, and getting that, and a power source, seems very hard. I can buy LED lights, and separate power sources, and separate connectors, but buying them to do what I need to do is both difficult (never being sure that what I am buying is compatible with what I've bought) and putting them together as I want is more effort than the product is worth.

So! That's where 3D printing really comes into its own.

In the end I have designed a unit that will hold the LED lights in place, and is compatible with the low price LED light unit I can buy off the shelf.

This is one of the aspects of using 3D printing to support my work that I really like, the technology must be an enabler, not something I find excuses to use!

The design below is still a bit jury rigged at the moment, as I work out the design, but each step is moving me forward!

Lithophane frame lit by 3D printed LED light holder