LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

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RAMTechRob
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LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by RAMTechRob »

Well, some of you know I am new to this machine, coming from the Radio Control Hop-up industry. I make LEDs for RC trucks and cars in various sizes. So, I figured I would make some garage style LEDs for my Delta Orion. Went to the stockpile of light kits and got a soldering iron. Took the hotend off the machine and sat down with a pencil to sketch up the lengths and figure out a harness. Then realized there were 6 holes already in the holder. It couldn't be that easy, I thought?? I sell a 6 LED system for the Traxxas Slash trucks that fits perfect with only a slight increase in the hole diameter of the holder. I used a .120 diameter drill to take the small shoulder out of the hole. You can power these with the 6 volt wires for the fan, just cut my wires after the in-line resistor hidden under the heatshrink. Or use any 6 volt battery pack, or 9 volt battery if you don't want to cut wires and splice. I will probably use a 6 volt rechargeable battery pack that I have plenty of.

[img]http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/rapezade.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/syzyba6u.jpg[/img]

The cost is $9.99 retail for the LED kit, and you can use coupon code 3Dguys for an additional 10% off. http://ramtech-rc.com/product.sc?produc ... egoryId=13

Thanks for the great machine and forum for us to use.
RAMTechRob
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by RAMTechRob »

I'm not sure if this is in the right place, or will offend anyone, I just thought it was hilarious and if some people can use them, that would be good.
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by geneb »

So you're just stuffing the LEDs in the existing holes in the effector platform? Clever!

g.
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Captain Starfish
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by Captain Starfish »

Sometimes life just hands you these little nuggets of convenience - great find :)
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Batteau62
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by Batteau62 »

I really like this idea! So much so, I just placed an order. Can't wait to try it! And thanks for the coupon code!
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by McSlappy »

Man that is so kickass! I've wanted an LED ring but I've held off since I didn't want extra bulk on the underside of the effector plate... This... This is... Art...
I loved my Rostock so much I now sell them in Oz :)
RAMTechRob
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by RAMTechRob »

Thanks for the orders. This just cracks me up.
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Boundless
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by Boundless »

This is awesome. Will be ordering some soon.
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by McSlappy »

Yeah this is seriously good - what about piggybacking the power from a fan? Perhaps it runs whenever the hot-end is on, or perhaps the layer fan?
I loved my Rostock so much I now sell them in Oz :)
RAMTechRob
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by RAMTechRob »

Yes, you can piggyback the power from the layer fan.
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by TFMike »

I am lookin at my orion effector and tryin to figure out how you did that without removing the screws and having the whole thing fall apart, oh well, we must have different versions I guess.
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by RAMTechRob »

I'm traveling for business this week. I will take better pictures on Monday.
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by McSlappy »

Your Orion probably uses the V1 effector which is two halves held together with about 12 screws. You may just have to use the 3 unused holes and perhaps try to include the 3 smaller layer fan holes on the outermost edge...
I loved my Rostock so much I now sell them in Oz :)
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Mike B
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by Mike B »

I ordered and am going to install these lights tonight. You said to tie them in to the layer fan, but did you mean the PEEK fan? If I used the layer fan, then I wouldn't have lights while printing ABS.. since you are not supposed to use layer fan for ABs.. right?
Also to be clear, using these with 6 volts tied in to the fan, do I cut off and remove the inline resistor?
Thanks!
RAMTechRob
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by RAMTechRob »

Sorry I'm not sure when the fan is on for different materials. It needs 6v to work.

Leave the resistor in place for any voltage. That means you need at least 4 inches of wire left after the LEDs.
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Mike B
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by Mike B »

RAMTechRob wrote:Sorry I'm not sure when the fan is on for different materials. It needs 6v to work.

Leave the resistor in place for any voltage. That means you need at least 4 inches of wire left after the LEDs.
I am still working on getting this set up so I don't need a separate battery but the voltage on the PEEK and layer fan is 12 volts. The inline resistor gets damn hot! Is there a safe way to drop the 12 volts down to 6v or is it best to use battery after all.
There's not enough room to put a lantern battery in top of the Rostock. Unless I use 4 D cell's or something, I'm not sure what to do.

Is anyone using a hot end fan to power these led's?
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by RAMTechRob »

I use a 9v battery all the time with these. Or you can use a 4 AA pack from Radio Shack or eBay.
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Mike B
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by Mike B »

Ok, I will go for the 9v. Thanks!
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Tinyhead
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by Tinyhead »

Or just get a higher wattage resistor.
RAMTechRob
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by RAMTechRob »

I am travelling this week in Texas, so I don;t know what resistor will work with the 12V. I will figure it out when I get home.

Is there a 6v power source anywhere at the hotend?
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Mike B
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by Mike B »

No, there isn't a 6V source there, but I just wired up a switch up top and used a 9V for tonight. I will probably change this to 4 AA or C cells at some point for extra run time. It is actually kind of nice to not have it on only when the hotend is on. I can use it as is, so don't worry about the resistor unless you want to post for other users in the future.
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by geneb »

If you use a 7806 voltage regulator (.35c from Jameco), you can feed it 12v and get 6 out and won't have to worry about battery packs or resistors.

g.
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JohnStack
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by JohnStack »

As much as I love lights, I hate wires sticking out all over the place. LOL

I think it's time to figure out to hide everything on the effector - something like what a bonnet does for a car...LOL
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Josshe
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by Josshe »

I'm making a setup using 3 LEDS fed by the PEEK fan leads of which i used a connector for easy disconnects etc...
The other 3 LEDS are being connected to the Layer fan.
I'm using ultra bright LEDS of white and blue than i got when I started playing with programming the Arduino kits.
The resistors are 150~470 ohms 1/4 watt or 1/8 watt if i use a resister on each LED rather than one for each string which is being supplied 12v by the corresponding fans.

I think you came up with an excellent solution dude as I've been wanting to add LEDS to my hotend but did not want to buy the add-on and never even considered the already present holes... ;) :(

Thank you for this wonderful mode.

Now if I can only get the specifics and parts on how to mod to magnetic mounts... :roll:
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Re: LED lights for the Hotend -- Wierd Story

Post by Gary »

Where in your system is 6V generated? Aren't you using an ATX power supply? I would think the fan is getting 12V via PWM.
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