Giant 100mm LED

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.

Step 1 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

Comments

[hec317]

Shouldn't one "leg" be smaller than the other?

[zack247]

ooh, i like this.
id do this except with a 0603 style LED just for kicks.

[aidanjarosgrilli]

make a giant ir tv remote!!

[building_boy]

it's so big

[vincentstockdale]

this looks wrong btw

[1161858]

you should have a black comfoter and a silver and black alternating bedskirt and it would look like a processor chip

[commanderzhao]

holy crap... plum creek's the tree farm above my property!

[sysop]

Love it!
Simple suggestion: What about making the LED leads/supports using square tube stock instead of the round tubes?

[technodude92]

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?

[Monsterguy]

That's wonderful! :)

[ps3king1]

ill buy one, how much?

[theawesomeninja]

Next up -- Jumbo sized incandescent bulbs!

[randofo]

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.

[Wally_Z]

Could you add a potentiometer or rheostat to change the brightness easier?

[chicopluma]

OMG I knew optimus prime eyes worked with led and here is the proof hahaha
awsome proyect

[SHIFT!]

How come I've never seen this before- this is AWESOME!

[jamesorlov]

it;s great! ))

[hintss]

we should have a giant SMD LED. and a giant arduino.

[ElvenChild]

which end is +

[Saturn V]

The longer one.

[Kryptonite]

I love the rating this has got.

[wobbler]

A bright idea!

[zombiefire]

ill make a much simpler instructable simular to tis soon

[Blackice504]

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.

[Rimwulf]

Can't I use casting wax to make the the dye instead of wood?

[Highjump44]

 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  

[Jodex]

Grreat!

[wyzzz]

you are the real winner, its great.
wyzzz from vienna

[OverSaltedFry]

I absolutely love it! Fantastic job!!!

[NYPA]

Imagine a light board of these!

[moshee]

you could make it detachable by putting 2 giant breadboard-style holes in the base

[Dagon327]

What about grinding off the lip on one side for the cathode?

[CybergothiChe]

That is SOOOOOOOOOOOO cool!

[Richard.marier]

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...

[eng.germano]

What did you use to fill it? What material?

[rpjamess1]

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.

[_soapy_]

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.

[rpjamess1]

This is what I'm talking about: http://www.rockler.com/gallery.cfm?offerings_id=18997&r=2

[electfire]

This is sooooo cool. i think i will make an even bigger one; say about 1meter across that would be huge.

[yourcat]

??? that would weigh 1000 times as much as guyfrom7up's here...