Talk:Mendel LED print light

I had been thinking of hooking up a LED under the X-axis carriage; this could either be powered in parallel with the heating element (meaning it would switch on and off with the hot-end heater), or preferably, would have its own wires back to the power supply so it is always on. I hadn’t got around to working out what specification of LED(s) I should install, when I came across a cheap USB LED-Illuminated Magnifier in a “Specials” bin at the local supermarket – only $4 for a really bright lamp with 18 LEDs in a ring, and a nice flexible “gooseneck” for positioning. I have attached this to my Prusa Mendel, and it draws power from the 12 V supply to my RAMPS (using a 100 ohm resistor to limit current / voltage on the lamp module). Full write-up on my blog: http://julianh72.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/lights-cameras-action.html

Ikea Ledare

For anyone thinking of adding lighting to their reprap, I'm currently testing it using plastic LED strips from Ikea. They were £11 for 3 and are called 'Ledare'. They are basically a clear plastic strip with 9 bright LED's inside. I've tested them on an i3 wooden laser cut frame, mounting one at the top, and two on either side and they work brilliantly.

You do however need to do a bit of soldering - they are designed to go in a line and click into each other, so you need to basically add a bit of wire to allow them to bend around a corner.

The end result is a cheap LED lighting system, and since they work on 5v and are only 0.6 watts, can run off your ATX supply's unused 5v rails.