Print Bed Lighting System

thingiverse

Watching prints in my dimly lit dining room proves quite challenging, as the low light level makes it difficult to focus on anything clearly. Therefore, I made it my mission to illuminate my print bed and alleviate this issue. The idea started out simply enough with a desk lamp, but then it escalated quickly to white LEDs before settling into its current state - seven color surround lighting is the final solution. As for the setup, I've included both a cover for a switching circuit as well as LED mounts to create the desired effect. It's worth noting that the specific LEDs used in this design are 5050 RGB LEDs. These provide several options for customizing the lighting to suit my preferences, which include: Red Green Blue Cyan (Green + Blue) Yellow (Red + Green) Magenta (Red + Blue) White (Red + Green + Blue) It's worth noting that these specific color combinations were possible due to the versatility of 5050 RGB LEDs. I've recently added some new details in response to the sudden spike in views and downloads over a short period. These include: A schematic outlining the entire setup A BOM for reference purposes Some instructions to aid users in constructing this system Now that we have all these parts ready, let's move on to assembling everything. The following materials are needed for this project: Three RGB LEDs - available from various retailers online Four 400 to 600 Ohm resistors Four switches All the usual wire-related materials and tools A printed version of each of the LED Covers I've included with this setup. The instructions provide details on how to wire everything together. You can see that I've included a circuit schematic for reference purposes. The electronics in question involve three LED loops connected in series, with one switch controlling power to all of them and four individual switches enabling control over each color channel. This setup should be more than adequate, especially considering that my chosen resistor value - 550 Ohm - results in the LEDs being operated at 21 mA. Keep in mind, however, that higher currents may lead to shorter LED lifetimes, so I'd recommend selecting resistors with values between 400-600 Ohm instead for improved performance.