LED Strip Loop Clamp

thingiverse

I've been experimenting with addressable LED strip and wanted to cut it into twenty-centimeter sections, then solder wires to increase the overall length. The problem is that solder joints are brittle, especially when suspended above a crowd of excited dancing people. As the strip is addressable, a break at any point will affect all the LEDs downstream. To make the connection point between strip and wire more secure, I designed a clamp that simultaneously clamps the wire and strip, protecting the solder joint inside. All the wires exit from the top, while the LED strip loops out the bottom. You can give it a good yank without breaking it: proper party-proof. The clamp consists of three components: the outer support hub, the tapered wire wedge, and the tapered strip wedge. Using a single M3 screw, the top wedge is pulled toward the bottom wedge, clamping the wires and strip simultaneously inside the support hub against the tapered faces. I was using 2.5mm thick wire, which has three strands due to its addressable nature. Smaller wire might work as well. I used WS2811 LED strip (although it turned out to be GS1903, but that's another story). The solder joint should be made as small as possible to facilitate assembly, although there is plenty of clearance within the outer support hub to accommodate some sloppiness. The external diameter of the clamp is the same as the ID of a bottle, which means I can protect it inside a plastic bottle by drilling a hole in the lid. Like a DIY LED light bulb! I found sparkling water bottles to be the best (I've had to drink a lot of them over the past few days). This has survived one party already, with slinkys attached to each bottle, and people yanking the ends. If it can survive that... Here's a set of twenty-one LED "bottle bulbs" flashing, with slinkys and balloons attached, of course: https://www.instagram.com/p/BrbBBtAHgGL/.