DIY: LED Workbench Light From LED Strips

by Well Done Tips

39K53320

Intro: DIY: LED Workbench Light From LED Strips

This time I’ll show you how to make simple workbench light by using high CRI Yuji LED strips and piece of aluminium.

How I did it - you can check by looking DIY video or you can follow up instructions bellow.


For this project you will need:

Materials:

LED strip

Flicker free dimmable LED power supply

Aluminium profile

Tools:

Soldering iron

Drill and bits

6mm bolts and nuts

Cutters

STEP 1: Materials

In this project I’ll use Yuji LED production: flicker free dimmable power supply and high CRI LED strip. I choose Yuji BC series 12V LED strip with color temperature of 5600 of kelvins. All Yuji LED production is unique, because of high color rendering index. This LED ribbon have CRI rating of 95. High CRI LEDs provide the best color rendering ability and that’s why they are perfect for photography and video lighting.

I’ll use an aluminium strip with dimensions of 3 by 25 millimeters and total 2 meters of length. Aluminium is the best solution to ensure proper LED cooling. Also it’s lightweight and cheap. Plus it’s very easy to work with it.

STEP 2: Working With Aluminium

The idea is to form an illuminated arc over working area on my workbench.

Stand legs was made form L shape aluminium profile. Each was 30 centimeter length. Drilled a hole in a middle of stand legs and used it as a template to mark drilling point at aluminium arc. Stand legs and aluminium strip screwed together with 6 mm bolts and nuts.

STEP 3: Small Adjustments

Made small adjustments to get proper shape.

STEP 4: Glueing LED Strips

And the fun part - to glue LED strips. I’ll use two LED pieces of 125 centimeter length and glued them in parallel.

STEP 5: Wiring...

Pretined and soldered both LED strips in series.

Made two holes for power wires and soldered them in place.

Connected power wires to solderless connector and zipped it to aluminium profile.

STEP 6: Testing Time..

And the moment of truth!

STEP 7: Summary

What’s great about dimmable power supply - thats I always could get exact amount of light when working and filming my projects.
One meter of this LED strip is producing up to 1300 of lumens and takes up to 18W of power. So my setup at max power should give up to 3200 of lumens and will take around 45W.

18 Comments

steven4872 7 years ago

Note Flexfireled.com also sells 12 high CRI LED light strips that are about 2x brighter than what I see on fuji website. CRI is an indirect measure of light spectrum coverage. High CRI LEDs cover most of the visible spectrum of light. A CRI of 100 covers the full spectrum. Most consumer LEDs are at about 70 to 80CRI. US Energy Star labeled LEDs must have a minimum CRI of 80.

https://www.flexfireleds.com/categories/LED-Flexib...

Unfortunately these high CRI lets cost significantly more than your typical LED strips.

LED flicker is mainly caused by by powering the LED with AC power. A well regulated 12 DC power supply will also produce flicker free light. Another source of flicker is from the dimmers often used in such projects. A good flicker free dimmer can be hard to find.

JumpingThrghHoops 6 years ago

It's also my understanding that the higher the CRI the better the quality. Can you confirm this information? Thx

tulekah 7 years ago

funny...i bought 3 led set of xmas lights for a light box...only needed two and am going to use the third and a split hula hoop for just this kind of light setup...must be steam engine time...thanks

Dawsie 7 years ago

nice I loved the idea and it's perfect for solving shadowed areas while working too. Will have to look at this idea some more for my work desk that's for sure

Thanks for sharing the idea.

nader nadiri 7 years ago

excellent,simple & light,many thanks.

jmatteis 7 years ago

Nice... like the idea, and the portability, bring the light to wherever you are working... Where can you buy aluminum flatstock like that? Also, could you use PVC, and make something similar? Wouldn't look as nice, obviously, but function wise, would it do? easy way to hide the wiring as well?

WadCutter1 7 years ago

I have been waiting for some one to make a high detail light system tutorial. I'm a Card Stock(Paper)modeler and at this time of the year when it gets foggy or cloudy it's hard to see at times plus getting an idea and wanting to work at night. This is a gift from God for me. My very deepest thanks for doing this project. This will really be a huge help. Thank you very much. wc

lurifax 7 years ago

Great design, ive tried making a few lights but none of them has been satisfactory. I'll try this one and report back. :-)

askjerry 7 years ago

I have a suggestion... before attaching the legs to the project, cut two identical lengths of black heat-shrink tubing and slide over the lower parts of the lamp. Heat to shrink, then install the legs. This will give a clean black to silver transition to the project, and help to hide the wires leading into the lamp.

An alternate idea... which would perhaps look better, would be to fabricate legs from a nice hardwood stained a dark color. The leg on the side of the electrical connections could be routed to conceal the wires and contain the power switch. It could be held on with small wood screws and would facilitate easy repairs if needed in the future.

orcnd 7 years ago

very effective design. i will made it

Eric_Methven 7 years ago

Excellent! Just what I need for electronic circuit board assembly,
fiddly soldering and Arduino stuff. I'm going to make mine with wing
nuts on the stands so I can fold it flat when not on use.

inlina 7 years ago

Thanks. I've been wanted to make some video lights after I found my LED lights in the basement were flickering in video. I knew I would have to look for some kind of a flicker free PSU but wasn't even sure where to start. I wasn't aware of the CRI rating so I will make sure I get strips that have a high rating.

Nematic! 7 years ago

nice and simple design

Thandir 7 years ago

Its a eleganr design!

GirishP 7 years ago

such a simple but very effective design. I've been looking to design a desk light and yours is the best by far. one extra thing I would need is for the light to be moveable. that's the tricky part I'm thinking of.

lobueno 7 years ago

Man, i like it. Simple, minimalist and useful. Nice job!