Quantum gantry lights

[dalewheat]

I added some LED strip lighting to my Quantum.

You can get this from Mouser.com: Mouser PN: 901-4823

It runs on 12V and has a barrel connector on both ends. You can even buy entire kits, ready to go. Just search for "Inspired LED", the manufacturer.

The strip is rigid, with two mounting holes. I used #4 hardware to attach it to the MakerSlide slot.

It really helps light up the build platform.

[bdring]

Very nice.

I did something similar with my laser

http://www.buildlog.net/blog/2011/02/pimp-my-laser/

[tylerv]

Awesome! I did this literally last night as well, but I put mine on the underside of the X carriage.

How much current does your lighting take? I am toying with the idea of putting the lights on the Fan pin (500ma max) on the Azteeg controller, so it only turns on while the print is running.

[dalewheat]

I haven't measured the actual current consumption. The entire unit is rated at 2W @ 12V, so that's ~167mA max. I'd think a 500mA switch would be more than enough. I'm using it both as a build are illuminator and as a "power on" indicator. It reminds me to turn off the ATX power supply when I'm done with it.

A couple of big Luxeon stars under the gantry bracket, as you have mounted your LEDs, would also look pretty cool, I would think. They draw about 350ma each (for the 1W version) and you can string up 3 of them in series with a current-limiting resistor to run from 12V and still be able to switch them on and off from program control.

[Enraged]

I used something similar. I bought mine from seeedstudio. I only have about 8 inches installed right now, I'll add some more in the future. I got a nice little RGB remote for it too. It's handy to have bright white light when setting up, and then switch it to fading RGB during printing.