Cultural Learnings of Borat Continue To LED Light

[Borat]

Now received my last batch of heatsinks. These are individually small 50mmx50mm - but then there are 38 of them that i will mount on a single plate to share the heat load.

 

[Borat]

I ordered 4mm thick 13cm x 100cm aluminium base plate, on which heatsinks will be mounted...

I also ordered 5mm and 3mm acrylic (black perspex), I will use a combination of 5mm and 3mm acrylic (by gluing them and creating 8mm acrylic sheet) for side panels and top cover. Side panels will have holes drilled (to vent air out) - and so 5mm acrylic will not be strong enough. Top cover also have holes drilled (fans drawing air) - and thus will also need to be reinforced. The top cover will have the most load - as light mounts will be connected there...

The fixture length will be 105cm long, 15cm wide and about 8cm tall.

 

[Borat]

Received some goodies last night:

 

[Borat]

Lots of acrylic to cut... also 4mm aluminium plate

 

[Amphibious Wallet]

Very nice, very nice.
I've been thinking about fabbing up some 3mm wall box aluminium to make an offset 'ribcage' of sorts - the idea being that I can mount a fan to the assembly elsewhere if convection does a rubbish job.

I'll be interested to see what the Delta T is on those sinks, depending on what you go with on driving.

 

[Borat]

I needed to build an additional (removable) workbench add-on:
- this platform (made of 2 pieces of 18mm plywood glued together) enables me to clamp pieces of acrylic for subsequent drilling/cutting (and do all other funky activities with various materials)
- the platform is raised 2cm above the workbench surface - enabling me to use F-clamps all around it..
- I can adjust its location so that it protrudes more/less - for example for convenience of sawing acrylic, the platform is secured by 2 T-bolts
- the platform was pained using polyurethane varnish to make it tough/durable


I will start cutting acrylic tomorrow, for now the platform is left to dry/settle down.

 

[mlivvy]

Following. Love DIY led. Too bad its not done as much anymore.

btw I hate that I read your posts in borats accent.

 

[Borat]

I have been busy fixing the immediate problems with my tank.. some potassium depletion and a need for an additional doser and also need to rearrange the sump space to fit that doser...

So I built an additional doser, revamped by sump space and now I am back to my project...

 

[Borat]

I cut 2 pieces of acrylic that will be the top and bottom pieces, disregard the messy looking surfaces - these still ha ve the protective film cover and will look pristine once the film is removed:

 

[Borat]

I also experimented with placeholders for LED lens: these were cut in 2mm transparent acrylic

without lense


with lense inserted (trust me - the lense is there!)

 

[Borat]

I also bought a diamond cone drill bit, maybe I will be able to expand 38mm holes (which are relatively easy to drill) in 5mm acrylic base to match 40mm lense diameter (therefore avoiding creating 21x pieces of 2mm acrylic holes).. I still haven't tried it yet as I received the cone drill bit today

 

[Borat]

OK, I was still trying to get the best cutting tools to create a placeholder for lens.. I decided to ditch the prior approach and try to drill 38mm hole with 40mm opening - where the lens would go.

Here's the result, this loos pretty good..

 

[FishTruck]

very exite to see you finished progress.

 

[Borat]

very exite to see you finished progress.

I very excite that you are excite!!!

 

[Borat]

Some drilling done late - 22x 38mm holes have been drilled, I will do the finishing touches tomorrow..

 

[Amphibious Wallet]

Ooooo, a big-boys dedicated hole-drilling station.
I like this idea, having recently tried to drill 80mm holes via a battery drill into kwila wood (and purple heartwood which immediately told my holesaw to bugger off) but don't want to fork out the $ and space for a drill press.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Some drilling done late - 22x 38mm holes have been drilled, I will do the finishing touches tomorrow..

I want see more of your trinkets!

 

[Pny]

Nice to see someone building a DIY LED light these days!

As a matter of fact, I made a a light for my own tank about 11-12 years ago... Mainly royal blue and white Cree LEDs, but also green, deep red, blue, turquoise and violet LEDs, all on separate controlled dimming channels. It's cooling is also made from a number of small heatsinks, just like yours... 224 pcs of them, actually... I'm not sure if I should be proud or ashamed of the fact it is still running over my FOWLR tank...(!)

 

[Borat]

I had to order larger lens as 40mm was too small.. These should be delivered next week, in the meantime here are some pictures:

50mm diameter lens holders in 2mm acrylic:

 

[Borat]

Heatsink base plate mounts: