Low Cost Led Panel

thingiverse

Cheap LEDs on Aliexpress are a great deal - 1m LED strips with 30 WS2812B LEDs for just 1 Euro. The other sizes have normal prices, but this top-left selection is an absolute steal. Check it out: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/32682015405.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.56f54c4dPQGb5C I recently bought a couple of these in a playful moment and started to fold them. Folding isn't hard, even with re-folding in different patterns I didn't damage them - just be careful not to crease the soldered LEDs. So, I coiled the strip until it covered a small rectangle and printed a tiny case to keep it in shape. I used transparent colorless PLA for that. In another project (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4159218), I learned how LED panels benefit from having a diffuser. For this little case, I kept it light and added a second layer with no inner walls or support - the lines hang loose, but that's intended to diffuse the light. Don't expect perfection; 30 LEDs aren't enough for a continuous plane of light you'd want to install in plain sight. But it provides a colorful indirect backlight and actually replaced my Phillips Go for me. At 1 Euro for the light strip and 2 Euros for the ESP8266, add another 2 Euros for a USB power source (https://de.aliexpress.com/item/32787718638.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dIHYn4g) - the cheapo light panel comes in at 5 Euros. The opening for the cable was meant to secure the thin strip, so you may need to enlarge it if you want thicker cables to go through it. As usual, the freeCad source is included, making it easy to adapt this thing to your needs.