[DIY] Let there be MORE light ! - 3D Print

 

After spending days, literally, on correcting the exposure and editing out the shadows in product pics taken in an unevenly lit room, I finally decided to flood the space with powerful light bars mounted on the ceiling.

Not wanting to disable or replace the existing round ceiling light, a simple add-on base was designed to hold the ends of 4 LED bars and house the electrical connections. And a pull-chain switch allows to turn the bars off when needed.

I wasn't ready for the blinding blast of photons. Experienced vision spots for half a minute 😂

Below is the same scene with bars off then on. The camera exposure was 1/40 of a second and 1/120, respectively. That's a 1.5 stop difference (retro-applied to the pics). Not only is the room much brighter, but the shadows' vertical edges are also more diffuse thanks to the wide light field. Great upgrade.

The parametric Fusion 360 CAD model (messy), STEP and 3MF files are on Github

Feel free to copy, remix, publish, whatever.

Hafta find me some sunglasses now...

 

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 CAD

The base was split into 2 halves to fit on the printer's plate. They hold together thanks to 2 glue-in dog bone connectors. The thin wall that holds the two bones together ensures printability, and is designed to easily snap free.

My ceiling light fixture has a ~14" large base (356mm), and the LED bars are ~1.5" tall (38mm), hence the following values. The model being parametric, those values can be changed to adap to a different ceiling fixture:

The 2 inward-jutting screw-holding arms are placed in a location specific to my room to compensate for the electrical box's rotation, ensure that the bars were aligned with the room corners, etc. Can be changed as needed.

 

 3D Printing

 Settings on H2S with PC filament:

• 0.4mm nozzle, 0.2mm layer height
• 3 walls / top / bottom
• 8% adaptive cubic infill
• no support or brim 
• 280°C nozzle temp, 110°C plate, 60°C chamber 

 

Bambu Lab's PC filament was chosen for its high-ish heat resistance of 117°C (HDT 0.45MPa) vs 57°C for PLA and 87°C for ABS. Though never believe manufacturer claims, as they can vary with filament color (clear / white / black PC results by MyTechFun), production lot or the phase of the moon...

Of course it still won't meet the US NEC electrical code since it isn't fire retardant, UL certified, etc. So, to all tinkering idiots like me: beware the Darwin Awards prize.

 

 Parts & Assembly

 

Used these 4' long 2200 lumens 5000K, 120V 20W LED light bars 

and this 3A single pole pull-chain switch

Each light bar is held on one end by the base, and near the other end by a clip screwed into the ceiling. So, first, I laid down painter tape on the ceiling as a placeholder for each bar, then found the intersecting rafters behind the ceiling's drywall and installed one clip per bar (sorry, forgot to take pics).

The bone connectors were then superglued to one half of the base, and the switch was installed:

Once both halves were in place around the electrical box, electrical wires dangling in the center, they were superglued together and temporarily secured to the box via two #10-32 3" screws.

Each light bar could then be installed: clip first, then slid into its respective opening in the base:

Once the electrical connections were done, the #10-32 screws were removed, the base got capped with the existing light fixture, and the screws were re-installed through it all (trying to find the threaded holes in the box without seeing the screws inside was fun):

And finally: "Fiat lux !"

Et la lumière fut...