Fluorescent lights in miniature

[Mike Waterhouse 1Participant @mikewaterhouse1]

[Mike Waterhouse 1Participant @mikewaterhouse1]

Hi to all.

I need to make realistic looking fluorescent lights of about 25 mm long. Does anyone have any tried and trusted methods please?

I've tried 1.5 mm LED's in silicone fuel pipe but the result isn't up to scratch.

Any ideas appreciated.

Regards

Mike.

[shipwrightParticipant @shipwright]

Mike,

Just a thought (I haven't researched the topic) – have you tried electroluminescent sheet ?

See :

**LINK**

Ian

[shipwrightParticipant @shipwright]

….. and here is another link to electroluminescent panels :

**LINK**

Ian

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Try matting up acrylic rod, and lighting it from behind or with an LED from one end.

Ashley

[shipwrightParticipant @shipwright]

I like Ashley's idea. I assume that "matting up" means matt white paint. Alternatively use fine abrasive paper to make the rod surface opaque and then use 2 tubes to hold an LED at each end – like this :

Ian

[Mike Waterhouse 1Participant @mikewaterhouse1]

Hi Ian and Ashley.

Thanks for the ideas……….quite like the thought of acrylic tube but uncertain what it is.

Any chance you could explain a bit more please.

Regards

Mike.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

It is just clear rod made from acrylic. I feel sure that the above idea would work – roughen up the surface with fine wet & dry paper and put a white LED at the end of it. get acrylic rod from model shop.

Bob

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Mike. The theory is… light goes into a sheet of acrylic, and comes out at an end…the edges this means…if you matt up ythe surface and put a light source at one end, the light comes out all over the matted surface, so the whole rod will glow.

I am sure you have seen fire exit signs.. they are just thick green sheets of acrylic with the words routed out half depth, and lit from a tube on the top edge so the lettering glows.

Ashley

[Kimosubby ShipyardsParticipant @kimosubbyshipyards]

Hi Mike,

perspex or methacrylate sheet does the same. Light in one end and the light stays in and shines out other whilst the rid/tube lights up. It comes in all sorts of colors and sizes.

Here's a suppler of like stuff http://www.ema-models.co.uk/index.php/acrylic-plastic-shapes.html never used them but they also supply jetulong timber blocks so I'll be seeing what their quality is.

Gareth Jones's Shemarah thread also has some words on this subject of lighting, I think its about page 38 onwards, and how he overcame his lighting problems.

Aye, Kim

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

Shining a light down a clear rod is not really new – i was on a course back in '68 where a "mimic diagram" was being used. Under control, bits of the "wiring" would light up. These were actually acrylic sheet edges, the lights being ordinary bulbs shining into another edge backstage. Almost as interesting as the course material. Normally the requirement is that as much of the light as possible comes out of the other end and it gets called a fibre optic cable. These rely on the sides if the rod being as smooth as possible to make the light bounce off the sides until it appears at the other end, possibly a lot of miles away. If you want the sides to light up, abrade them.

White paint will do little more than cut the visible light down – just use the right colour LEDs.

The size you want, you could be looking for surface mount LEDs. The trick is to get as much light in to the rod (or light guide) as possible.

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