jimtyp
1st Class Member
Centennial, CO
Conductor
Posts:720
Send Message
 | | 08/22/2008 11:08 AM |
| | I'm building a signal and trying to use a 5mm LED. It's just a little too long for the space I have to work with. A 3mm doesn't put out enough light to fill the lens. Is it okay to grind the tip down a bit? | |
livin' la vida loco | |
|
toddalin
Foreman
Posts:406
Send Message
| | 08/22/2008 11:32 AM |
| Yes, most definately! Just go slow and keep testing it during the process. You may have some failures if you go too far, but LEDs are pretty cheap and after you do a couple, you'll know how far you can go.
You can use an automotive plastic cleaner to polish out the lens when you get it to size. | | | |
|
dbodnar
1st Class Member
Pittsburgh, PA
Brakeman
Posts:48
Send Message
| | 08/22/2008 11:35 AM |
| Jim - you can grind it down but you will lose the focused light that the rounded end provides - give it a try with an LED that you can afford to ruin and see how it works out - you should try to leave as smooth a surface as you can - do the initial plastic removal with a grinder or power sander then move to finer & finer paper to remove as many scratches as you can.
Let us know how it works out for you.
dave | | | |
|
Dr G
1st Class Member
Ft Myers Florida
Foreman
Posts:132
Send Message
| | 08/22/2008 12:53 PM |
| Jim,
I cut down a LED for a rotary becon on my engine--works great. (The orange color is Tamaya orange clear paint--just dipped the LED in).
Sorry a little out of focus--but I think you get the idea.
Matt | |
Matt--FEC Nut
http://www.fecrs.com/ | |
|
Torby
1st Class Member
North Chicago 'burbs.
Engineer
Posts:1666
Send Message
| | 08/22/2008 4:01 PM |
| Sure.
Look close at your LED. Inside you see a chip on top of two metal leads. It'll be find as long as you don't get down that far. You can actually do quite a bit to an led to change its apperance. | |
 "If Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier. But it is not. We cannot compete, in simplicity with people who are inventing religions. How could we? We are dealing with Fact. Of course anyone can be simple if he has no facts to bother about."-- C. S. Lewis | |
|
Del Tapparo
1st Class Member
Fort Collins, Colorado
Foreman
Posts:208
Send Message
| | 08/22/2008 6:57 PM |
| | I hope it works. I just did my first one today. Haven't tested it yet, as some silicone adhesive is still drying. The LED is going behind a diffuser type of lens anyway, so what can it hurt? | |
G-Scale Graphics
Custom Vinyl Lettering & Simple Low Cost Battery Power
www.GScaleGraphics.net | |
|
John J
Moderator
Conductor
Posts:766
Send Message
| | 08/22/2008 10:18 PM |
| I did not know you could do that. Isn't amazing what you can leard from a bunch of wierdos who play with trains  | |
 | |
|
Del Tapparo
1st Class Member
Fort Collins, Colorado
Foreman
Posts:208
Send Message
| | 08/23/2008 11:07 AM |
| I just tested mine. (Still seeing spots from staring into a lit LED :blink
I cut my LED flat using a rotary cut-off disk. No attempt to polish.
The cut LED works fine, but the point of light seems to be about half the diameter of an uncut LED. The dome of the uncut LED magnifies the diameter. The uncut LED is brighter when viewing straight on, but has a narrower viewing angle. I think the cut LED now has a wider viewing angle and a more uniform intensity from straight on to an angle.
Perhaps some reshaping of the dome and some polishing would produce better results, but that is more than I care to do. I think I prefer the look of the uncut LED, but this is good enough for me. I'll give it a try on the layout. | |
G-Scale Graphics
Custom Vinyl Lettering & Simple Low Cost Battery Power
www.GScaleGraphics.net | |
|
John J
Moderator
Conductor
Posts:766
Send Message
| | 08/24/2008 4:56 AM |
| | What about belving the side of the LED. Does that improve visability? | |
| |
|
Del Tapparo
1st Class Member
Fort Collins, Colorado
Foreman
Posts:208
Send Message
| | 08/24/2008 11:08 AM |
| | I decided I didn't like the look from my cutoff LED, so I modified the housing to accept the length instead. | |
G-Scale Graphics
Custom Vinyl Lettering & Simple Low Cost Battery Power
www.GScaleGraphics.net | |
|