DIY Light Box using White LED strips

[Gina]

I'm looking into making a light box for taking flats and wondering about using white LED strips in a square matrix but with a round shape. I have a 120mm opal acrylic disc I bought for the job. It works fine with daylight but I'd prefer an independent light source. I can't afford an EL panel large enough - it's to go on the dew shield of my ED80 which is about 115mm diameter (so a 100mm panel would not be big enough).

LED light strips designed to decorate cars are cheap on eBay. The LEDs are 1cm apart. To cover an area of 120mm diameter I calculate I'd need 120 LEDs. This could be derived from a pair of 48 LED strips (96 LEDs) and a 24 LED strip (24 LEDs). viz 96 + 24 = 120.

I'm attaching a diagram to show what I mean. I'm wondering if these LEDs would be consistent enough in light output and whether this is a sensible idea. Any thoughts, please?

[russellhq]

I know you like to DIY, but I came across these before which might be of use:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Lighting/LED+Lamps/LED+2D+Type+Lamp+5W+2+Pin+Cool+White+450Lm/d220/sd3276/p57739

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Lighting/LED+Lamps/LED+2D+Type+Lamp+14W+4+Pin+Cool+White+1000Lm/d220/sd3276/p20677

[Bizibilder]

I made mine with just 4 LED's - works well on my ED80 (and 200P and ED120) - just change the dimensions of the box as you need to. The trick is to get the light to reflect from the scope end of the box to the "far" end and then back to the scope via an opal sheet - this gives a very even illumination and is more than bright enough for my DSLR. http://stargazerslounge.com/showthread.php?t=120317&highlight=light+box

[Gina]

I know you like to DIY, but I came across these before which might be of use:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Lighting/LED+Lamps/LED+2D+Type+Lamp+5W+2+Pin+Cool+White+450Lm/d220/sd3276/p57739

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Lighting/LED+Lamps/LED+2D+Type+Lamp+14W+4+Pin+Cool+White+1000Lm/d220/sd3276/p20677

Thank you

[Gina]

I made mine with just 4 LED's - works well on my ED80 (and 200P and ED120) - just change the dimensions of the box as you need to. The trick is to get the light to reflect from the scope end of the box to the "far" end and then back to the scope via an opal sheet - this gives a very even illumination and is more than bright enough for my DSLR. http://stargazerslounge.com/showthread.php?t=120317&highlight=light+box

Thank you Roger - this is just what I've been looking for I did a search of the forums but this one didn't come up Your method looks a much better idea

[Bizibilder]

I must add that my design is a composite of several different ones that I found on the web - nothing original.

[celkins]

I'm looking into making a light box for taking flats and wondering about using white LED strips in a square matrix but with a round shape. I have a 120mm opal acrylic disc I bought for the job. It works fine with daylight but I'd prefer an independent light source. I can't afford an EL panel large enough - it's to go on the dew shield of my ED80 which is about 115mm diameter (so a 100mm panel would not be big enough).

LED light strips designed to decorate cars are cheap on eBay. The LEDs are 1cm apart. To cover an area of 120mm diameter I calculate I'd need 120 LEDs. This could be derived from a pair of 48 LED strips (96 LEDs) and a 24 LED strip (24 LEDs). viz 96 + 24 = 120.

I used 96 of these in a spiral for my 152mm 'frac panel

I'm attaching a diagram to show what I mean. I'm wondering if these LEDs would be consistent enough in light output and whether this is a sensible idea. Any thoughts, please?

IMHO, their output isn't uniform enough simply illuminating a single sheet of acrylic - but I did find that by using 2 sheets spaced, the first acts as a fairly even source for the second, which in turn seems to act as a pretty uniform field to the 'scope.

(made my supports out of 3mm foamed PVC, BTW - can be cut with a knife and shaped with a heat gun)

[Gina]

Ah yes, I thought that might be the case - thank you

Think I'm going for the reflective design. I've ordered some foamboard and a circle cutter from Amazon.