# Let there be light!



## B-RAD (Mar 24, 2012)

I got this LED ring from Tricled.com, how I first found these lights was through research on lights for my Can-Am Renegade 4wheeler. They are coated in a silicone type material and wipe clean very easily.

My camera corrected for brightness, its actually very brite, first pictures were taken in my very bright garage in the middle of the day, the night pics were taken a few min ago.































Picture of blue leds on my 4wheeler.







Hope this helps someone.


Sent using Tapatalk...


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## RonGinger (Mar 24, 2012)

Neat. How about some more detail on them- where would I buy some, how much do they cost? Are they 12volt?

thanks.


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## PerryRT (Mar 24, 2012)

Ditto! Details, please! For example, what mill is this on? What's the ID and OD of the light ring? Power draw? (I'm assuming they're 12VDC, coming from an automotive application.)

This looks like an easier version of a project I've seen on madmodders.com:

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=3111.0

I was considering building one of those...but if this works "out of the box", it would be much cooler.


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## terrywerm (Mar 25, 2012)

I did a little quick research on them and they are available at http://www.tricled.com/ but brace your self, they will eat a serious hole in your wallet pretty quickly. They are designed for motorcycles, etc., so I assume that they are 12 volt. A bit pricey, but they really light up the work nicely!


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## B-RAD (Mar 27, 2012)

SX2 Mill, 12 VDC, can use a 9volt but it's a little dimmer. 


Here is my temp setup.






They are 35$. [email protected] his name is Reggy, a great guy to deal with, and if you want to incorporate a switch I'm sure he would throw one in for nothing if you tell him Brad sent you.

He has 2 sizes, I have the small one, I don't have a measurement right now, but if you have an R8 spindle then I'm sure it's about the same size as mine. The back has 3M adhesive on it and is VERY Sticky!

Here are some close-up's.


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## sunworksco (Mar 27, 2012)

I want one!


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## petertha (Mar 27, 2012)

What is a typical current draw at the recommended 12v voltage?


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## rleete (Mar 28, 2012)

Search eBay for "ring lights". A pair cost me about $6 shipped. Shipping was fairly slow, being from Hong Kong. Measure your mill spindle to get the size that works best.

An old computer power supply works well to power them, or you can buy 12V supplies about the size of a pack of cigs. Old laptop adapters work well, too. Current draw is minimal for the amount of light.


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## Omnimill (Mar 28, 2012)

rleete  said:
			
		

> Search eBay for "ring lights". A pair cost me about $6 shipped. Shipping was fairly slow, being from Hong Kong. Measure your mill spindle to get the size that works best.
> 
> An old computer power supply works well to power them, or you can buy 12V supplies about the size of a pack of cigs. Old laptop adapters work well, too. Current draw is minimal for the amount of light.



Top man! I can get a pair for about £10.


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## n4zou (Mar 28, 2012)

Deal Extreme has them cheap with free shipping. They do get shipped on a slow boat from China so don't expect to receive them for a few weeks or even a month or two. You can pay extra for faster shipping. These are in raw form. They are not embedded in epoxy and polished making them immune to coolant or anything else. I purchased several and consider them disposable. I'm still using the first one I installed 6 months ago and it's still working as good as new. All I did was glue 3 super magnets to the back and wired it to a 12 volt "wall wart" power supply obtained from a thrift store. I did put a fuse in-line just in case it ever shorted out. 

http://s.dealextreme.com/search/White+Light+Car+Angel+Eye


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## Admiral_dk (Mar 28, 2012)

Again you get what you pay for .... :

Those LED's from Deal Extreme are a lot less powerful than the ones from Tricplate and they are NOT protected against moisture, again something the ones from Tricplate are and the last part ; poor wires ....


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## n4zou (Mar 28, 2012)

Admiral_dk  said:
			
		

> Again you get what you pay for .... :
> 
> Those LED's from Deal Extreme are a lot less powerful than the ones from Tricplate and they are NOT protected against moisture, again something the ones from Tricplate are and the last part ; poor wires ....


These are the same LED's used in the higher cost light assembly's. All LED's are now made in China in 3 different factories all owned by the same (government) people. The higher cost is from the added cost of the epoxy coating. I'm not operating my mill in a commercial environment so I don't have coolant spraying on it or even very many chips because I operate at slower spindle speeds to squeeze out as much life from my tooling as possible. If I was using my mill in a commercial environment I would spend the money but it would be on proper lighting, which would preclude using this type of light due to the required wire feeding it power. Electrical wires running on any commercial equipment would be required to be encased in Flexible Metal Conduit. That requirement would eliminate the use of this style of LED light. Anyway, I ordered 3 lights and will most likely die of old age before I use all three of them.


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## B-RAD (Mar 28, 2012)

Tricled... 3 days from Florida to Rural Iowa. 

Hard to find this quality in a light ring... I can route the wire into my switch box but I didn't yet so you will have minimal wire showing. 

Also in a commercial environment I think that rule only applies over 50volts.....


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## Admiral_dk (Apr 5, 2012)

If you have a good look, you can see that Tricplate uses a more powerful LED (not same model or housing).

The epoxy coating is important in more ways than moisture - it will also protect against chips and dust + mechanical abuse (below a certain amount).


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## B-RAD (Apr 5, 2012)

I just answered a PM from a member who brought up a good point.

I didn't mention that you have to email tricled to get this deal, you won't find this on his site as he isn't putting it up on his site yet unless there is a demand for it.


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## PerryRT (Apr 30, 2012)

As an update to this thread, I ordered and received the larger of the two sizes Reggy (tricled) had in stock. It will be pretty much a perfect fit on my SX3 (Grizzly G0619). The OD of my mill spindle is 2.675" with the ID of the LED ring being just slightly larger than that at around 2.74"-2.75" or so (I didn't try to get too accurate measuring it, as the edges were a little springy.)

I've been busy at work, but I finally have time to fiddle with it. 

Pictures and more details to come this weekend.


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## B-RAD (Jun 17, 2012)

Any Pictures yet? Also show how you wired it.


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## Sk8Ter (Jul 24, 2012)

Looking on Epay found several ring led lights....


I will be using on my x2 mill an 80mm od and 60mm which will fit inside the 80mm...should produce plenty of light!

I just could not bring myself to pay 35.00 dollars for a 4 dollar led light!

BTW all SMD Led are basically the same its how they drive them(on off cycle)...the 50/50 ones are the brightest they are cycled you guest it 50% on 50% off and thats how they get them very bright!
links 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/200796222665?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221070974162?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Lawrence


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## sunworksco (Jul 24, 2012)

Do these lights need any drive adaptors?
I would light to use an LED light ring for my desk lamp that is 115volt.
Have lots of AC/DC adaptors for that. I could cut one in at the plug to wall.


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## B-RAD (Jul 24, 2012)

As for the eBay ones.... Follow my thread on cnczone... You will soon find out the eBay ones are junk. You get a free lighted switch too!

As for the adapter, yes any dc adapter will work from 9-18vdc, but the voltage would change the brightness, the amperage of the adapter will more than likely be more than enough. I run my light at 12.7vdc and its VERY bright.


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## Sk8Ter (Jul 24, 2012)

B-RAD said:


> As for the eBay ones.... Follow my thread on cnczone... You will soon find out the eBay ones are junk. You get a free lighted switch too!
> 
> As for the adapter, yes any dc adapter will work from 9-18vdc, but the voltage would change the brightness, the amperage of the adapter will more than likely be more than enough. I run my light at 12.7vdc and its VERY bright.




Quote:You will soon find out the eBay ones are junk

are you speaking from experience? if so which ones did you use?


Lawrence


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## B-RAD (Jul 25, 2012)

Others in that thread have experience, go read the "huge" thread. Are you good at applying "doming resin"?


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## Sk8Ter (Jul 25, 2012)

B-RAD said:


> Others in that thread have experience, go read the "huge" thread. Are you good at applying "doming resin"?




Quote:  go read the "huge" thread. 

Link?


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## B-RAD (Jul 26, 2012)

I would but I'm always on my phone, sorry, its a pain, but I believe it is the same title as this just on cnczone.


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## steamboat willie (Oct 5, 2012)

Hello There!
I bought one of these LED light rings for $4.40 incl P&P to Australia. (Delivered in 10 working days). Fitted it to my Seig X-2 equivalent mill today using an old 12v power supply. I was worried too about the durability of this unit (as I didn't want to cop a loss on my $4.40 investment...) and so made a perspex/lexan cover disc to protect the lights. Works brilliantly (sorry for the pun, but it helps illuminate the narrative...).
Thanks to all those who have brought this to my attention. The really good thing about it is no shadows when machining, as often occurs from a side light on the job/tool.
Steamboat Willie.


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## dsquire (Oct 5, 2012)

Hi Guys

here is the link to the Cnczone post you are talking about.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/benchtop_machines/150679-let_there_light.html

Cheers 

Don


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## Herbiev (Oct 5, 2012)

Great tip Brad. Simply ingenious


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## B-RAD (Nov 12, 2012)

Glad people are getting some use out of this.


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## chipenter (Nov 13, 2012)

Here in the UK these come in up to 10 metre lengths for silly money http://www.maplin.co.uk/ip65-12vdc-led-strip-628936 and they are waterproof .


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## Robsmith (Nov 20, 2012)

HOLY DOOLEY those prices are ridiculous......have a search on alibaba.com   they are sure to have them cheap.


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## Dmurphree (Dec 19, 2012)

Just purchased an 80mm ring from Superbrightleds.com out of Missouri. Have purchased from them before and had good luck. They also have plastic covers for them also. We will give it a try and see what happens.


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## RManley (Dec 20, 2012)

Really like this idea, shame I've only just found it otherwise it would've made a great Christmas present for someone I know.  

I can't seem to find a supplier in the UK that does these with the resin protection that yours seems to have.  I have found a company that can supply a very small amount of clear doming resin (40ml) so I could make my own from one of the cheapo HongKong based ones.  The resin is almost three times the price of two rings though!  

Does anyone know of a UK based LED ring suitable before I go and spend money [FONT=&quot]unnecessarily[/FONT]?  I will be taking a holiday in Miami in april so possibly could get on in the states whilst Im over there...

My SX3 is being delivered TODAY  and I already want to buy toys for it (if the missus sees this post I don't expect me to be around much longer :hDe.  

Rob.


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## sunworksco (Dec 21, 2012)

An easy option is to cut a ring out of a sheet of polycarbonate and glue up thin strips to cover the OD and ID.


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## rleete (Dec 21, 2012)

How about potting it in high temp silicone?  Clear stuff will take any heat (minor), not reduce light output significantly, and last for many years.


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## goldstar31 (Dec 22, 2012)

I think that the matter can be tested to see what heat-if any is generated.
If it is substantial, Rleete is quite correct in saying that high temperature silicone injection materials are OK. An old club member -with vast experience- used to mend his car exhausts /mufflers with the stuff.


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## sunworksco (Dec 22, 2012)

You need optically clear acrylic or polycarbonate. Otherwise it will make a nice nightlight for the bedroom.


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## steamboat willie (Dec 22, 2012)

I suggested this on 12 May! I made such a cover and it is working just fine.


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