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Giant 100mm LED

Giant 100mm LED
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This is a hand made 10x scale model of a 10mm LED that gives off light via 3 one watt LEDs inside a custom made resin cast (made by me) that also has a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) light dimmer. To set the cast I first had to create a wooden form of an LED and slather silicone on to create a mold so that I could pour resin into it.

If you have any improvements that you like to be made note of, please leave a comment!

This is part of the Craftman contest, so if you liked this instructable, please vote for me between january fifth and eleventh by hitting the vote button in between those dates (a vote is different than a rating, but ratings are welcome too ;) )

I give you one of the world's largest, DIY LED.
 
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Step 1Table of Contents

Table of Contents
This is a somewhat complex instructable involving the following skills:
--soldering/electronic knowledge (Must know how to read schematic, but if you cannot, please ask questions by leaving a comment)
--Wood work (need to be able to use the following: lathe, coping saw, various sanders, drills, etc)
--Resin Casting (This was my first real time casting anything, so don't worry about it)

I have broken this instructable up into the following:

--Forming the Wooden LED: steps 2-10

--Making a Mold of the Wooden LED: steps 11-12

--Electronics: steps 13-16

--Casting the LED: steps 17-20

--Finishing Up: steps 21-23
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280 comments
1-40 of 280next »
Feb 15, 2012. 1:50 PMhec317 says:
Shouldn't one "leg" be smaller than the other?
Nov 13, 2011. 11:24 PMzack247 says:
ooh, i like this.
id do this except with a 0603 style LED just for kicks.
Nov 13, 2011. 11:00 PMaidanjarosgrilli says:
make a giant ir tv remote!!
Nov 13, 2011. 6:10 PMbuilding_boy says:
it's so big
Nov 13, 2011. 5:42 PMvincentstockdale says:
this looks wrong btw
Nov 13, 2011. 8:40 AM1161858 says:
you should have a black comfoter and a silver and black alternating bedskirt and it would look like a processor chip
Aug 16, 2011. 6:54 PMcommanderzhao says:
holy crap... plum creek's the tree farm above my property!
Aug 5, 2011. 7:51 AMsysop says:
Love it!
Simple suggestion: What about making the LED leads/supports using square tube stock instead of the round tubes?
Aug 5, 2011. 6:53 AMtechnodude92 says:
Nice radial arm saw. Is that in your house? also i'm going to assume you didn't have a fume hood in your house as well. But all in all, a very cool project. Just out of curiosity, how heavy is the damn thing?
Aug 4, 2011. 10:13 PMMonsterguy says:
That's wonderful! :)
Aug 4, 2011. 8:53 PMps3king1 says:
ill buy one, how much?
Aug 4, 2011. 5:10 PMtheawesomeninja says:
Next up -- Jumbo sized incandescent bulbs!
Aug 3, 2011. 7:00 PMrandofo says:
Sometimes I feel like I have seen just about every project on this site, but every once and a while I still run into something new from the archives and think "Wow! That is awesome!" This is one of those projects. Nice job. Really digging this.
Jul 26, 2011. 5:47 PMWally_Z says:
Could you add a potentiometer or rheostat to change the brightness easier?
Apr 29, 2011. 7:24 AMchicopluma says:
OMG I knew optimus prime eyes worked with led and here is the proof hahaha
awsome proyect
Mar 3, 2011. 7:37 PMSHIFT! says:
How come I've never seen this before- this is AWESOME!
Dec 5, 2010. 1:39 PMjamesorlov says:
it;s great! ))
Dec 2, 2010. 5:22 PMhintss says:
we should have a giant SMD LED. and a giant arduino.
Sep 30, 2010. 4:20 AMElvenChild says:
which end is +
Oct 6, 2010. 2:35 PMSaturn V says:
The longer one.
Sep 29, 2010. 3:18 AMKryptonite says:
I love the rating this has got.
Sep 29, 2010. 1:46 AMwobbler says:
A bright idea!
Jun 7, 2010. 3:39 AMzombiefire says:
ill make a much simpler instructable simular to tis soon
May 16, 2010. 11:22 AMBlackice504 says:
This is so cool in a geek way i will build one as well but with some differences but thank you for the idea keep up the great work.
Mar 12, 2010. 11:07 AMRimwulf says:
Can't I use casting wax to make the the dye instead of wood?
Jan 3, 2010. 8:26 AMHighjump44 says:
 instead of spending so much time and money on the the wooden mold couldn't u just put the resin into a trashcan or a drinking glass, vase ,etc  
Nov 30, 2009. 8:07 AMJodex says:
Grreat!
Nov 22, 2009. 1:01 AMwyzzz says:
you are the real winner, its great.
wyzzz from vienna
Sep 26, 2009. 1:30 PMOverSaltedFry says:
I absolutely love it! Fantastic job!!!
Sep 26, 2009. 12:55 PMNYPA says:
Imagine a light board of these!
Aug 25, 2009. 1:52 PMmoshee says:
you could make it detachable by putting 2 giant breadboard-style holes in the base
Jun 25, 2009. 6:21 PMDagon327 says:
What about grinding off the lip on one side for the cathode?
Jun 22, 2009. 4:12 PMCybergothiChe says:
That is SOOOOOOOOOOOO cool!
Jun 7, 2009. 8:30 AMRichard.marier says:
That is pretty impressive. I think I would try sand blasting it to make it evenly mat. Or you could do like they use in industrial plastic manufacturing and dip the thing into acetone. (providing this plastic is sensitive to it) it will make it shiny. ( this is what they use for screwdriver handles at Stanley) Anyway, This is really cool Idea! Congrats...
Jun 3, 2009. 9:22 AMeng.germano says:
What did you use to fill it? What material?
Feb 1, 2009. 5:15 AMrpjamess1 says:
Another way to find center, and easier than using the triangle method, is to take a ruler that goes through a 90 degree angle, place the cylinder (of big LED) into the angle and draw a line. Rotate the cylinder, draw another line. The intersection is the center.
May 31, 2009. 3:16 AM_soapy_ says:
So, what you are saying is, "If you have a neat tool designed to find centres, use that, as it is easier"? It's only easier if you have the specialist tool. Otherwise a regular ruler is much, much easier.
Feb 1, 2009. 5:17 AMrpjamess1 says:
Jan 31, 2009. 6:06 PMelectfire says:
This is sooooo cool. i think i will make an even bigger one; say about 1meter across that would be huge.
Feb 1, 2009. 8:13 AMyourcat says:
??? that would weigh 1000 times as much as guyfrom7up's here...
1-40 of 280next »

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