Laser In Use - Light Up Sign

thingiverse

When you've got your safety glasses securely fastened and the laser firing away, and the wife walks in to say "That's a pretty blue light", you know it's time for a Laser In Use sign to be displayed prominently. I opted for a short strip of LEDs that ran on 12 volts designed specifically for PC case decoration, but any cool-running light source will work effectively. Additionally, I used a 12 V automotive light switch, ensuring the switch was definitely turned on. It looks great too - another feature that lights up the space. The holder/mount for the switch is included in the package, along with a replacement nut for the lighted switch that can be manufactured using nut_job.scad from http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:193647/#files . Settings for the nut are as follows: Diameter 16, Height 6, Thread Outer Diameter 13, Thread Step 1. This innovative design (minus the nut) was inspired by the On Air Sign created by sxyang119. I simply enlarged the case to my preferred size, decreased its depth slightly, added some mounting holes and a hole for the wires to pass through, and crafted a new message to display. After completing my project, I noticed that the lettering was a bit too close to the edges of the case. This issue has been resolved in the uploaded file. Furthermore, I printed the message on clear-red PLA from MakerGeeks but found it to be too transparent. To rectify this, I applied some dark paint to mask off the back of the message panel.