DIY: Light Housing

[kaserpick]

DIY: Light Housing

Hey everyone! Before I begin, I'd like to say a couple of things. First, thank you very much to all of those that have shared their experiences/experiments with us. It's because of your work that I've learn much more than I could have anticipated. Again, thank you! :thumbsup: Second, I'd like to take a moment to point out that this is my first attempt at a DIY project that involves bending/manipulating metal.

...and now onto the build!

If you're like me and you want to dabble and make your own light fixture, you've probably run into the same problem I've found. It's very hard to find a source for light fixture housings that meet our hobby's taste and requirements. This is why I decided to build my own. I wanted something sleek and modern (much like an ATI fixture) but smaller than most fixtures, oweing to the fact that my tank is a 16" cube (in progress). I knew about the AI fixtures, but couldn't see myself affording that kind of money just for the lights.

Also, as I may have hinted at in the previous paragraph, I wanted to go with LED's. I want shimmer, power, efficiency, and even spread; they seem like a good fit.

Here's a list of things I used during this build:

Tools:
Power Drill
Hack Saw
Center Punch
Dremel Tool
2 C-Clamps
19mm and 52mm Hole Saws
Pair of pliers
Sharpie Pen
Ruler, Square, and protracter.

Building Material:
Aluminum Sheet (mine is 1/8" thick x 13" x 8.5")
Flat Aluminum
Flat Iron
JB Weld

There may be more, but I'll have to list those later.

On with the pics...

First, here's a shot of sheet metal before bending and marked for the scoring with the Sharpie pen. I chose to mark about 1 1/8" from the sides and each line:

Next, you'll see that I've aligned the flat iron with the lines on the sheet metal. This is to guide me while I score the metal with the Dremel. Note that I scored the two outside lines first, and then bent them. This was then repeated on the two inside lines.

Here's the two stages of bending (both angles are 125 degrees)

There's is definitely more progress than this; I'm almost finished with the building part, getting ready to proceed to painting. I'll post more tomorrow, but unfortunately, this'll have to be a teaser. I have to go to work!

Please feel free to leave any comments/critiques, and ask as many questions as you'd like. I'll be able answer around 3am EST.

 

[kcress]

Looks reeeeeealllly nice.

Looks like you scored the outside? Why not the inside instead? Or maybe I'm not seeing it right.

How deep are you scoring it?

 

[kaserpick]

Looks reeeeeealllly nice.

Looks like you scored the outside? Why not the inside instead? Or maybe I'm not seeing it right.

How deep are you scoring it?

Thanks! I didn't mention it before, but the scoring was done on the inside. I went just over 1/16" deep, and the width of the scoring is pretty close to 1/16" as well.

 

[kaserpick]

Back to the progress...

Back to the progress...

At this point, the main body of the housing has been formed. It's now time to move on to the end plates to enclose it. First, I traced the inside of each end onto two other smaller pieces of sheet metal (8.25" x 2"). Once this was done, the cutting begins (with a key-hole style hack saw).

Here you can see that one end is done. I placed it next to the main body to show how it fits together.

And here's a quick pic of one of the end caps completed (before trimming the bottom and securing).

 

[kaserpick]

Cutting and drilling some holes...

Cutting and drilling some holes...

I next wanted to use the JB Weld to attach the end caps to the main body, but I decided to wait, oweing to the fact that I wanted to drill/cut holes into the body, first. Here's ad pic of the fan holes (52mm dia.) and the switch holes (20mm dia.)

There's more to come, but that's it for now. I've got to go to bed!

 

[Gamepro_inc]

This is exactly what i have been looking for. I want to build a DIY Led for my 34 solana rimless so the fixture would have to look sweet. I had a thread a while back for people to post their aestheticly pleasing DIY leds but only got a few replys. Definatly subscribing to this one.

 

[Neogenocide]

Looks very very nice. I can't wait to see how this turns out in the end!!!

Scott

 

[zenpytho]

looking pretty sweet kaser one of the best diy housings i ve seen so far

 

[kaserpick]

This is exactly what i have been looking for. I want to build a DIY Led for my 34 solana rimless so the fixture would have to look sweet. I had a thread a while back for people to post their aestheticly pleasing DIY leds but only got a few replys. Definatly subscribing to this one.

Thanks! I'm very glad to be able to share this with you!

Looks very very nice. I can't wait to see how this turns out in the end!!!

Scott

Thank you very much for the kind words!

looking pretty sweet kaser one of the best diy housings i ve seen so far

Thank you; that's very encouraging! :thumbsup:

 

[kaserpick]

One thing I wanted to note was that I'm going with a 'Y' hanging kit from Rapid LED's. So, for the holes, I just matched the size with the diameter of the bolts. I forget the specific size, itself, but if anyone wants it, I'll figure it out.

 

[kaserpick]

Ok, so at this point the main body has been formed and drilled (except for the fan and power cord holes), and the end caps have cut. Now, I need to drill some exhaust holes on an end cap for the fans.

I chose to go with a kind of diamond pattern for the vents. Here's the pattern with the center hole punches to help keep the drill bit in place. It's important to note that a center hole punch was used for ever hole. This helps keep things symmetrical/in line.

Here's a pic with the holes drilled and the end cap in place (not attached, yet).

After drilling them, I noticed that I still might not have enough holes for the fixture to breathe, properly. This brought me to a point of pondering. I wanted to keep the fixture sleek and modern, and so I didn't want the end cap to look like well organized swiss cheese. In the end, I decided that I'll probably leave a gap on the acrylic at that end. That being said, you can probably just do that and forget about the exhaust holes. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, it'll become more clear later on.

 

[kaserpick]

Here's a quick shot to show you what the fixture looks like an end cap:

 

[kaserpick]

Now, I need to assemble to main body and end caps! Originally, I wanted to use screws to to hold them together. But, I decided to use JB Weld to minimize the amount of visible fasteners. The only thing I needed to do was make some right angle brackets with which to 'weld' the pieces together. I cut flat aluminum strips and bent them to 90 degrees; I'm ashamed to admit that, because you can just cut the angle aluminum that's on the list! :lmao: I guess this is one reason we share our builds, to show you what NOT to do. The strips were about 1/2" wide; I didn't get precise with them since you won't see them. They just have to function.

As you can see, I have 4 more right angle pieces. I'll use 2 of these on each side to ensure a strong bond.

 

[kaserpick]

At this point, I didn't drill the holes for the fans or power cord because I didn't have them to see where the holes should go and/or what diameter to drill. Now, the build thread is in the present time. Today, I'll be drilling the holes for the fans and cord and using Bondo to fill in any small gaps on the end caps. I'll keep you all posted!

 

[edsreef]

Looks nice. Good job!:thumbsup:

 

[kaserpick]

Looks nice. Good job!:thumbsup:

Thanks, Ed!

 

[dacaptain78]

The housing is coming out great. Can't wait to see the rest of the build.

 

[kaserpick]

The housing is coming out great. Can't wait to see the rest of the build.

Thanks Captain! More updates to come, but for now, it's off to work!

 

[zenpytho]

still looking good but instead of bondo might want to just run it up to local welding shop and have them tig the end caps real quick itll look way better imo at the end plus bondo will crack sooner or later

 

[kaserpick]

still looking good but instead of bondo might want to just run it up to local welding shop and have them tig the end caps real quick itll look way better imo at the end plus bondo will crack sooner or later

Thanks for the advice, but what does 'tig' mean? Is that just a light weld? I'm looking for a filler that will make the whole piece smooth and continuous. I want it to look like one piece of metal. I'll have to think some more; I've already started on the Bondo. :worried: