**Display Case Lighting**
Rather than append this different topic to the LCD/LED/CF thread by David…
My son wants me to build a compartmentalized display case for his 200+- shot glass collection. In other words, a small cubby hole for each glass. Painted black. Hanging on the wall and surrounding a rectangular mirror.
He says, “Dad, it would look great if I could put a light in every cubby hole”.
OK, I can figure that part out, IF I can come up with about 200 individual light bulbs that can be wired to a common 12v source and be individually replaceable if needed.
I did think LED but thats kind of expensive. I have a childs toy fan that has colored LED’s in one blade that alternate on and off as the fan spins. Maybe, but each fan at the dollar store is a buck or more and I’d have to dismantle each and put the light strip in each cubby and figure out the wiring. Plus they’d be colored and flashing because of the way they are made.
Then I remembered the model trains I have and the miniature seed lamps in the tiny accessories.
Any one see a drawback in mounting a seed lamp in a tiny recess in each cubby above the shot glass, routing the wires thru a tiny hole to the back of the display and connecting to a harness and then to a transformer?
Any other ideas?
Replies
Sounds like you have been given your "hobby" for the next 5 years...
Yeesh, that's a lot of cubbyholes.
Not to mention a lot of wires, bulbs, chances for tiny little screwups....
As for a solution, what's wrong with using rope light meant for decks ?
And I am wondering what it would look like if you made the horizontal divide big enough to bury the rope light in, then arranged it so that the light shines not only down on the one below, but up through the bottom of the one above...
I wonder if you could build a "light box" under each shelf.
What I mean is build an enclosed "box: that's a couple of inches thick, and put light in that holow space somehow. The light would come out through the holes you drilled for the shot glasses to sit in.
A lot of wiring. I've gotten started on several projects like that and never finished. (But then I have some dexterity problems.)
I'd look into surplus fiber optic stuff -- Install a fiber to each cubby and route the other ends into a light box.
If you do go the seed lamp route I'd suggest you come up with some way to mount a whole row of lamps on a stick or rod that can be inserted/serviced as a unit, vs trying to individually manage each lamp.
there's a way (I don't know it) to use glass and edge light it, might be able to work something outthen there are Christmas tree lights.
bobl Volo, non valeo
Baloney detecter WFR
"But when you're a kibbutzer and have no responsibility to decide the facts and apply the law, you can reach any conclusion you want because it doesn't matter." SHG
You can get LED rope lighting. You may be able to take it apart and use the individual LEDs.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
With Christmas approaching there will be all kinds of CHEAP fiber optic Santas, snowmen, etc. About 30 dollars or less I would guess. Take it apart, and separate the fibers. Using a soldering iron close to the end heat it until it slightly melts and forms a little glob. That will act like a bulb and disperse the light. Reassemble the fibers after poking them through a small hole in each cubicle. Build a small enclosure around the bulb with plexiglass or ply wood, insert the bulb, and apply power. Usually they are 12v systems, so plugging and unplugging the transformer will suffice to turn it on and off.
Stef
I get a catalog named Micro Mark. I think they're out of New Jersey. They have all kinds of supplies for model railroad enthusiasts, and I know I've seen a bunch of what they call "grain of wheat bulbs". Don't know the voltage but I think they weren't expensive. Check them out at http://www.micromark.com
Edited 10/29/2007 1:03 pm ET by fingers
Cir-Kit Concepts is another miniature lighting outfit you may want to Google. The do R/R stuff but also specialize in dollhouse lighting.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
You can buy LEDs in bulk (relatively speaking) on eBay and elsewhere. I bought a bag of 200 extra-bright LEDs for hobby use a couple years ago on eBay, I don't recall the price exactly but I think it worked about to something like 25 cents each. I also bought a bag of resistors to use in the power circuits for the LEDs on eBay as well, and they were a few cents each. They came from some electronics house in Singapore and delivery was very fast.
If you go with LEDs you also need a DC power supply (I happened to run mine off a 12 volt battery pack, but you can do it a bunch of different ways.) You can find basic LED circuit wiring diagrams on the web that show how to hook everything up.
Problem is that LEDs are monochrome and usually not white. Not necessarily what you want for display case lighting.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
The ones I bought were "super white." I see they're even cheaper now, 100 for $17.00. http://cgi.ebay.com/100-SUPER-White-LED-5mm-10000mcd-Free-S-H_W0QQitemZ140172100385QQihZ004QQcategoryZ66952QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I was a Professional Photographer in another life......I've "lit" my share of glass.......
WHAT does the shotglass look like with the different possible lightsources
Because glass is both Transparent/translucent and Reflective it takes radically different looks depending on the light.....
Single Bulbs as individual point light sources tend to only show the glass edges.....(besides being a possible construction/maintainence nightmare).....
Consider the LightBox........simple flourescent fixtures within a large deep frame......a sheet of opal lucite (sign maker's stock) mounted to spacers.......and fill the box-frame with half-lap eggcrate shelves to cuddle each individual shotglass.........
The current display design is to surround a 42' square mirror with the half lap eggcrates but with random length extensions to the left and right of the square bulk of the cubbies. This will make the whole display rectangular - and huge. He has around 200 shot glasses.
Each cubbie will be just deep and wide enough to hold one shot glass, probably no more than 2' square. The material will be 1/4" thick.
My son wants the thing totally black.
To illuminate the glasses I thought I could use a Forstner bit to put a recess in each cubbie directly over each glass position and drill a hole through the back edge of each shelf to meet this recess and thread in the leads to a sub miniature bulb, like the wheat or rice bulbs used in model railroading. I appreciate the links that have been offered.
I will do a mockup of ONE cubbie and buy one bulb at the hobby store to test the design before I commit to this project.
The fiber optic idea is also something I will consider.