evilc66 Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 No. It's the fact thats it's a permanent mount. If an LED fails for whatever reason, it will be very difficult to remove. Also, if you don't apply adequate pressure during the curing process, the thermal resistance of the epoxy goes up, increasing your LED temperatures. Bolting an LED down with thermal paste ensures about as good a thermal interface as you can get, shy of bonding the LED directly to the heatsink. Lower temperatures = longer LED life. Link to comment
minimonsterLED Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 No. It's the fact thats it's a permanent mount. If an LED fails for whatever reason, it will be very difficult to remove. Also, if you don't apply adequate pressure during the curing process, the thermal resistance of the epoxy goes up, increasing your LED temperatures. Bolting an LED down with thermal paste ensures about as good a thermal interface as you can get, shy of bonding the LED directly to the heatsink. Lower temperatures = longer LED life. sounds good, any recommendation on hardware for drilling/tapping (preferably stuff that can be picked up at Home Deep). Link to comment
evilc66 Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 3mm or 4-40 drill and tap set, a tap handle, and PB Blaster for a cutting fluid (better than WD40 IMO) Link to comment
minimonsterLED Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 sounds good, any recommendation on hardware for drilling/tapping (preferably stuff that can be picked up at Home Deep). is there a preferred composition of the drill/tap set? I read in someone's build that carbon taps wear down faster, than aluminum ones (or something to that effect). And yes PB Blaster is much better than WD40. I have a buddy, who is a mechanic, that thought it would be a good lubricant for a beer-tap, it worked great, no one ever did figure out why they kept smelling "gas" when they went to take a drink. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Your options at Lowes and Home Depot are going to be limited. Most tap sets are carbon steel, which is fine for the limited number of holes you are tapping, provided you use cutting lube and don't try too hard. TiN coated taps help. McMaster Carr has a great selection of different taps, and help you decide which is best for your application if you don't mind waiting a day or two for shipping. Link to comment
ir0n_ma1den Posted September 16, 2009 Author Share Posted September 16, 2009 Got my heatsink, BuckPucks, and Royal Blues in today from Heatsinksusa and LedSupply. Shipping was excellent in both cases. I didn't realize how damn small the LEDs were! Link to comment
ir0n_ma1den Posted September 17, 2009 Author Share Posted September 17, 2009 powersupply and heatshrink came in today! Now I'm just waiting for my White LEDs from DealExtreme... Link to comment
minimonsterLED Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 powersupply and heatshrink came in today! Now I'm just waiting for my White LEDs from DealExtreme... Congrats, you're in for some fun. I've learned a lot from this experience, mostly how impatient i am when it comes to shipping. good luck, be careful, and don't cut corners. Link to comment
ir0n_ma1den Posted September 20, 2009 Author Share Posted September 20, 2009 still waiting for my LEDs from DX... but, today I went out and bought: blue and black 16AWG wire (this will work, right?) Wells 40W soldering pen #6 nylon washers (I hope these work, it was the smallest they had) 4-40 screws I'm ordering a tube of arctic silver 5 tonight, will 3.5g be enough? EDIT: #6 washers are too big and I ordered the 3.5g tube of AS5 Link to comment
minimonsterLED Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 still waiting for my LEDs from DX... but, today I went out and bought: blue and black 16AWG wire (this will work, right?) Wells 40W soldering pen #6 nylon washers (I hope these work, it was the smallest they had) 4-40 screws I'm ordering a tube of arctic silver 5 tonight, will 3.5g be enough? #6 washers are too big and I ordered the 3.5g tube of AS5 i couldn't find a 4-40 tap so i went with #6-36x.5inch they work pretty well and are still really small. 16awg might be alittle big, i used 18 all the way around. Here's what evil has to say about wiring: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=208941 You'll just use a rice sized dallop of AS5 on each led, so that should be plenty, maybe 1g worth, a little bit goes a LONG way. Link to comment
ir0n_ma1den Posted September 23, 2009 Author Share Posted September 23, 2009 Got my AS 5 here today, super fast free shipping from the ebay store. I still haven't got my White LEDs from DX.... but in the mean time I want to get an LED 1:1 placement setup printed out. What program could I do this with? Link to comment
ir0n_ma1den Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 STILL waiting on my white LEDs from DX... They are in New York (thank god) so I should be getting them soon. Today I got a vertical float switch from eBay ( at total of $3.65) and 24 nylon washers from mac622 for no charge! Thanks again mac622! Link to comment
ir0n_ma1den Posted October 3, 2009 Author Share Posted October 3, 2009 My LEDs from DX finally came today!!!!!! I have everything to finally start the build. What should the layout and spacing be for the LED's? For the layout I was thinking of 3 rows of 4 LED's alternating. W B W B B W B W W B W B Link to comment
evilc66 Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 two rows of six alternating colors. It will give you far greater coverage. Link to comment
ir0n_ma1den Posted October 4, 2009 Author Share Posted October 4, 2009 two rows of six alternating colors. It will give you far greater coverage. how far apart should each star be away from each other, and how far from the edges should they be? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 You should be fine with 2" between LEDs in each row, and 3" between rows. Link to comment
ir0n_ma1den Posted October 5, 2009 Author Share Posted October 5, 2009 I followed your advice and spaced them 2" from each other and 3" between rows. Is it okay that I have a 4" gap between LEDs in the middle? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 You are going to have a darker spot in the middle. Link to comment
ir0n_ma1den Posted October 6, 2009 Author Share Posted October 6, 2009 alright, I'll make the gap in the middle 2" so they're uniform Link to comment
keli Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 I'd say just add a couple of LEDs in the middle rather than space them out more Link to comment
ir0n_ma1den Posted October 10, 2009 Author Share Posted October 10, 2009 Before I actually get to stick the LEDs on, I need to come up with a low profile housing for this baby. I can't have it hanging. Anyone have any suggestions? Link to comment
ir0n_ma1den Posted October 10, 2009 Author Share Posted October 10, 2009 ugh.... I decided to go ahead and drill the heat sink and ended up breaking both the drill bit and the tap... didn't get past the third hole. first, how do I get them out? second, what brand of tap and drill bit should I get? the ones that broke were craftsman brand. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted October 10, 2009 Share Posted October 10, 2009 The drill and tap didn't break because of where you bought them from, but how you were putting stress on them. With the drill, you could have been side loading it when it snapped. Cutting fluid help with a faster cut. When you are drilling, watch the drill bit. You can see it bend if you are streesing it too much. Keep it straight and you should be able to get a lot of use out of it. For the tap, sounds like you were going too fast, or no cutting fluid. Remeber, it's half turn in, quarter turn out. Link to comment
ir0n_ma1den Posted October 10, 2009 Author Share Posted October 10, 2009 thanks evil, you were right about putting too much stress on the drill bit. For tapping, I was using cutting fluid, but i was only turning out 1/4 about every 5 revolutions. How do I remove the bits? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 You might not be able to. If they broke flush, or sub flush with the surface, they are in there for good. Drill a new set of holes. Link to comment
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