Under-Rail Lighting

[hanselcj]

My shapeoko lives in a somewhat dark corner of the shop. Using the laptop over there is ok, but sometimes working on the mill at night is just too dark. Shooting video is a challenge too. In comes LED light strips to save the day. I got these from amazon for a very reasonable price. http://amzn.com/B002Q8V8DM



It has the resistors built in, and can but cut at various segments. Supply 12V DC and they will do the rest. They sell double headed connectors to link sections together. I mostly chopped the one connector off and attached that to my own lengths of wire. The connectors have a springy bit that is supposed to connect to the round pads. I soldered them on to prevent movement and vibration issues.

The strip is backed with adhesive, so peel and stick wherever you want. One segment one under each Y rail, and two went under the X rail. I zip tied around the rail to help keep them from getting tugged off. Before and after pics are below.





It isn't a complete game changer, but it makes working under the hood a lot easier and cuts out the shadows I had previously. I was going to build a ring light for the spindle, but now it might not be needed. I still have over half the strip and a lot of connectors left over, so total cost is in the 25 dollar range.

For more pictures and details visit my blog: http://kiltedcraftworks.com/2015/03/09/ ... -lighting/

[CastIrony]

Cool, I just got a roll of that for a desk lamp project I've been designing, but I'll have a bunch left over when I'm done. This looks like an awesome use for it.

How many amps is your power supply rated for?

[hanselcj]

I got the 30W one they suggested on amazon. P=VI, so 2.5A. It was way overkill for this project as the whole 5m reel only needs 24W. At 15 bucks thought it looked like a good power supply and now I can add whatever kind of lighting I want to and not have to worry. I might add the aforementioned ring light, or some enclosure lighting and this supply could handle it all. Good lighting is important for a workspace!

[Woodworker]

That is extrodinary, I want to add strip lights to my upsized SO2 and this lets me know what to expect. Will the strip lights fit into the slots on the makerrail? Great job and info.

[hanselcj]

That is extrodinary, I want to add strip lights to my upsized SO2 and this lets me know what to expect. Will the strip lights fit into the slots on the makerrail? Great job and info.

Not into the slots, but on the flat part. If you look at a piece of rail on-end there is the side where the V-Wheels go, and the flat side. It fits pretty well on the flat side. Bottom left most surface in inventable's picture https://www.inventables.com/technologies/makerslide

Take care when applying, if you get too far over it will get hung up on the V-Wheels.

[CastIrony]

That is extrodinary, I want to add strip lights to my upsized SO2 and this lets me know what to expect. Will the strip lights fit into the slots on the makerrail? Great job and info.

I just measured mine, and it's 8mm wide by about 2mm thick, which should fit into the gap on the bottom of the makerslide. If you're not using the adhesive, you'll need some other way to secure it into place.

[Woodworker]

Thanks for the tip, that will help during installation

[Brian Stone]

Hah. That's a clever use of strip lights. Nice job!

[secretspy711]

where'd you get those fancy little blower nozzles?

[WillAdams]

Documented here: http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5560

Listed on the wiki under: http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/ ... ternatives