LED Nightlights

[Dee Gallo]

I finally got a chance to make 2 nightlights for some college kids. This is my first time using photos on a nightlight, and I'm happy with the way they came out. They are much prettier in person, but the pictures give you the general idea. I only adjusted the photos in photoshop and then imported to Corel to add letters and outline.

[Bill Cunningham]

Those look fantastic Dee.. Great idea...

[Frank Corker]

They look great Dee. Did you replace the light on an existing one or make your own from the start?

[Albert Nix]

Dee did you engrave the pics on clear acrylic?

[Steve Clarkson]

Dee,

Nice job.....they look great. (BTW.....your customers are much better looking than mine!).

I had made a nightlight a few weeks ago, just to see how it would look. I bought one at Walmart for like $3 and was able to cut a piece of acrylic almost perfectly to fit. It was small (2"x3" or so) but it lit up perfectly.

How did you make yours?

[Dee Gallo]

Thanks everyone, these are fun to make. I buy the lights from Jim Good (a member here at the Creek - check him out!) and you get both the base and a 5" x 5" (approx) blank to use so it's very convenient. You can use batteries or buy a small plug dealie from him... his prices are very reasonable. He calls them glowboards and the acrylic is clear, youchoose the color light you want (red, blue, green, white). He also has bigger sizes but I have not tried them.

cheers, dee

[Steve Clarkson]

I've bought quite a few of these from Jim......and everyone loves them.....especially the kids.

The prices are EXCELLENT and the service is.......well, OK it's Jim.......just kidding!

I bought one of his big ones (@ 20"x12"} and I'm dying to try it out....but I'm saving it for just the right project.

Highly, HIGHLY recommend Jim for these.

[Bob Keyes]

Dear Dee,

You have the best ideas. I buy the boards from Jim and engrave school mascots on them. They are beginning to sell some now.

Thanks.;)

[Martin Boekers]

They look great Dee!

I too have bought these from Jim, you can't beat them for what they are!

Great for night lights or holiday stocking stuffers.

I really like the mini ones too.


Marty

[onur cakir]

Perfect idea + perfect results !

Engraved on clear acrylic ? No paintworks on engraved areas ? I didnt understant how the engraved image on "clear acrylic" becomes visible with led light ?

[Steve Clarkson]

Onur.....you don't know what you're missing if you haven't done any edge lit acrylic! Use cast acrylic and the frosted parts glow incredibly well.

[onur cakir]

Onur.....you don't know what you're missing if you haven't done any edge lit acrylic! Use cast acrylic and the frosted parts glow incredibly well.

what is "cast" acrylic ? :o

[Martin Boekers]

Onur,

When you engrave into the acrylic it creates a frosted "rut" with the light shining up throught the edge of the acrylic it hits the frosted "rut" an illuminates it. This is a great effect for not alot of bucks. you can change the color of the light or the color of the acrylic for different effects.

If you do a web search for edge lit acrylics you'll see many exmples of this. This is a great tool for advertisers.

Marty

[Michael Kowalczyk]

I finally got a chance to make 2 nightlights for some college kids. This is my first time using photos on a nightlight, and I'm happy with the way they came out. They are much prettier in person, but the pictures give you the general idea. I only adjusted the photos in photoshop and then imported to Corel to add letters and outline.

Hey Dee,
What did you end up charging for those? What DPI for photo and PPI settings for laser? I did some last year and the acrylic started to cup. I may have ran it a little deeper/hotter than it could handle. You don't have much room to play with using 2mm acrylic. Just curious!

Thanks for sharing and ...

[Steve Clarkson]

what is "cast" acrylic ? :o


The opposite of extruded acrylic!!!!! LOL!!!

There are two kinds of clear acrylic.....cast (which engraves frosted) and extruded (which engraves almost totally clear and you can only really see it by color filling).

Mike, I use my standard acrylic settings, but Jim advised me to back off slightly on the power when engraving.....if the bottom (or the edge closest to the LEDs) is too deep, the light won't be able to travel through the acrylic to the outer edges.

[Steve Clarkson]

Here is a picture that I need to thank you for Onur.....it's a mirror that I engraved so hard that it frosted the glass and then I backlit it with colored christmas lights......I LOVE it!

Sorry Dee! Didn't mean to hijack your thread.....but colored lights are colored lights....right?

[Martin Boekers]

Nice Steve,

I like it!

Where was this last week?

We have an open house in the center on base Sat and I would love to have had a bit more time to come up with something like that!

You are gretting pretty darn creative sir, you keep this up and Frank just might graduate you from matches to a lighter for that flame polishing!!!

Keep up the good work!

Marty

[Steve Clarkson]

Nice Steve,

I like it!

Where was this last week?

We have an open house in the center on base Sat and I would love to have had a bit more time to come up with something like that!

You are gretting pretty darn creative sir, you keep this up and Frank just might graduate you from matches to a lighter for that flame polishing!!!

Keep up the good work!

Marty


Thanks Marty......but it was Onur's idea. I really do love the way it looks....especially in the dark.

[onur cakir]

have to find Turkish term for cast :D

is "cast" acrylic produced by "injection" ?


The opposite of extruded acrylic!!!!! LOL!!!

There are two kinds of clear acrylic.....cast (which engraves frosted) and extruded (which engraves almost totally clear and you can only really see it by color filling).

Mike, I use my standard acrylic settings, but Jim advised me to back off slightly on the power when engraving.....if the bottom (or the edge closest to the LEDs) is too deep, the light won't be able to travel through the acrylic to the outer edges.

[onur cakir]

Here is a picture that I need to thank you for Onur.....it's a mirror that I engraved so hard that it frosted the glass and then I backlit it with colored christmas lights......I LOVE it!

Sorry Dee! Didn't mean to hijack your thread.....but colored lights are colored lights....right?

wow ! looks like funky Studio'54

[Dee Gallo]

Hey Dee,
What did you end up charging for those? What DPI for photo and PPI settings for laser? I did some last year and the acrylic started to cup. I may have ran it a little deeper/hotter than it could handle. You don't have much room to play with using 2mm acrylic. Just curious!

Thanks for sharing and ...

I charged $15, not a lot, but they are kids, so I felt it was enough. When I do line drawing lights with designs I have already prepared, I charge $12-15 since there is no prep work to it at all. That is still more than twice the cost of the light units, so I feel it's a fair price. I had the kids use photoshop and remove the backgrounds from their 300 dpi photos and save as photoshop docs, not jpegs. Then I just tweaked the contrast and light, then made the outline in Corel. With computer & engraving, the two took maybe 15 minutes max. I don't normally do photo work, so I don't know what the "going" rate is... you should ask for the experts to check in. This was just a fluke job.

I used 100 sp/30 power for raster, 20 sp/100 power/5000 freq. also at 300 dpi. No photograv.

Like I said, this is not my bread and butter, more just fun jobs I take here and there when the mood strikes. I'd love to hear what others are charging for their lights. I've only done about a dozen of them.

cheers, dee

ps STEVE: I love your mirror, looks great! And you're right, colored lights are colored lights.

[Curt Stallings]

Dee,
Did you use the photo dithering in the print driver?

Curt

[AL Ursich]

Nice Projects.

I missed where you are getting the LED Lights? Can you post a picture of the LED's.

Thanks,

AL

[Dee Gallo]

Al,

Go to Jim Good's profile and his website is listed there (I don't think we're allowed to post it here). You'll be able to see all of the different sizes and shapes as well as what the bases look like.

Jim's a great guy and like Steve said his prices are right.

I have only had one product failure and it was my own fault - I pushed the board in too far and CRUNCH, no more light... they are loose until you press them in a bit and they stay in place, but just don't push too far!

I always take one with me when I stay in hotels or have guests stay here, they light up the room nicely.

cheeers, dee

[Dee Gallo]

Dee,
Did you use the photo dithering in the print driver?

Curt

I just used the default standard dither... probably would have looked nicer if I used Stucki or Jarvis though.

[Andrea Weissenseel]

They look really nice, Dee - especially with that shape cut

@Onur - in Germany the casted is Acrylic GS and the extruded is Acrylic XT, maybe its similar in Turkey. Acrylic GS is better for photos because it frosts better than the extruded. The only thing I don't like about the casted ist that the edges are dont cut so nice like the extruded does.

P.S. Dee, I love Mahjongg, unfortunately I have noone to play with, so I only play it on the computer

Andrea

[onur cakir]

Thanks Andrea, i guess cast is produced in "blocks" and extruded is produced by streching blocks. This weekend i'll visit some suppliers.


They look really nice, Dee - especially with that shape cut

@Onur - in Germany the casted is Acrylic GS and the extruded is Acrylic XT, maybe its similar in Turkey. Acrylic GS is better for photos because it frosts better than the extruded. The only thing I don't like about the casted ist that the edges are dont cut so nice like the extruded does.

P.S. Dee, I love Mahjongg, unfortunately I have noone to play with, so I only play it on the computer

Andrea

[Dee Gallo]

They look really nice, Dee - especially with that shape cut

@Onur - in Germany the casted is Acrylic GS and the extruded is Acrylic XT, maybe its similar in Turkey. Acrylic GS is better for photos because it frosts better than the extruded. The only thing I don't like about the casted ist that the edges are dont cut so nice like the extruded does.

P.S. Dee, I love Mahjongg, unfortunately I have noone to play with, so I only play it on the computer

Andrea

Andrea,

Good opportunity for you to teach some new players how to play mah jong! I know there are quite a few players in Germany, they used to make some really nice sets there. Very collectible if you can find them now!

The MJ people are the ones who love to buy my nightlights, by the way. Party decoration is popular when someone hosts a game.

cheers, dee

[Michael Kowalczyk]

I charged $15, not a lot, but they are kids, so I felt it was enough. When I do line drawing lights with designs I have already prepared, I charge $12-15 since there is no prep work to it at all. That is still more than twice the cost of the light units, so I feel it's a fair price. I had the kids use photoshop and remove the backgrounds from their 300 dpi photos and save as photoshop docs, not jpegs. Then I just tweaked the contrast and light, then made the outline in Corel. With computer & engraving, the two took maybe 15 minutes max. I don't normally do photo work, so I don't know what the "going" rate is... you should ask for the experts to check in. This was just a fluke job.

I used 100 sp/30 power for raster, 20 sp/100 power/5000 freq. also at 300 dpi. No photograv.


Hey Dee,
Was that price with or without the AC adapter?
If they were to try and get one from Radio Shack and have the proper voltage, they run about 6.00-8.00 each. Most consumers think that one AC adapter fits all as long as the plug fits. They burn brite with the wrong higher voltage but end up smoking real quick.

It was good to get them to clean up and remove the backgrounds. That sometimes takes the most time especially on intricate items. I had to remove a background of a pic of a Harley with other cars in back ground. The cars weren't that bad but going in between the handles bars, foot pegs and trying to keep clean lines on the windshield was a challenge.
So I try to to make sure they understand that if there is poor contrast between the object and background that the set up fee goes up. Bring me clean artwork and it stays at the minimum.

I normally wholesale mine for 12.50 with AC adapter. Custom Singles I get 20.00 or 25.00 with AC adapter.

I'll see if I can find some pics and post em.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

have to find Turkish term for cast :D

is "cast" acrylic produced by "injection" ?
Hey Onur,
Cast is poured into a cell and the extruded is squeezed or pushed. Kinda like when you decorate a cake and you put the frosting in the bag and you have different tips to get your effect but obviously more high tech than that. Cast will also have less consistency in it's thickness than extruded. I found some .080" cast acrylic from Calsak Plastics and it works great. This way I am not limited to the acrylic blank that comes with the LED kit. The shooting star look does not work with most of my designs.

[Dee Gallo]

Hey Dee,
Was that price with or without the AC adapter?
If they were to try and get one from Radio Shack and have the proper voltage, they run about 6.00-8.00 each. Most consumers think that one AC adapter fits all as long as the plug fits. They burn brite with the wrong higher voltage but end up smoking real quick.

It was good to get them to clean up and remove the backgrounds. That sometimes takes the most time especially on intricate items. I had to remove a background of a pic of a Harley with other cars in back ground. The cars weren't that bad but going in between the handles bars, foot pegs and trying to keep clean lines on the windshield was a challenge.
So I try to to make sure they understand that if there is poor contrast between the object and background that the set up fee goes up. Bring me clean artwork and it stays at the minimum.

I normally wholesale mine for 12.50 with AC adapter. Custom Singles I get 20.00 or 25.00 with AC adapter.

I'll see if I can find some pics and post em.

Yes, that is with the adapter, which I get from Jim too at a very good price. I don't want to state the price in case he's changed them recently, but suffice it to say that $12 with adapter is still more than twice the cost of the unit. These were the first custom singles I've made, and I agree that $20-25 would be a decent price. Since I was able to get them to do "my" work and clean up the backgrounds, my time was minimal on these.

I'd love to see some pics of yours!

cheers, dee

[Bill Cunningham]

I just could not resist this...

Having fun with LED's and sheep!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebolditalic%2Ecom%2Fquotula tiousness%5Farchive%2Fcat%5Fhumour%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded)

[Dee Gallo]

cool - how do you find these things???!!:D

[lee maisel]

I love these! I bought a bunch from Jim, and will be buying more!

[onur cakir]

I always admired people who have lots of free time !


I just could not resist this...

Having fun with LED's and sheep!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebolditalic%2Ecom%2Fquotula tiousness%5Farchive%2Fcat%5Fhumour%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded)

[Bill Cunningham]

Actually, I just sort of stumbled into it, and though it was cool.. Ha.. I WISH I had more free time...

[onur cakir]

well...my comment was for guys with sheeps too :)

-no sheeps injured during this footage-

by the way...i failed to buy cast or extruded acrylic...they are sold in huge panels..looking for smaller sizes to buy.