Thread: Dome Lights
View Single Post
 
Old 07-20-2010, 01:53 AM
Jp7 Jp7 is offline
DISABLE ADBLOCK: LOLZ
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,471
Default Re: Dome Lights

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dcrymes99ranger View Post
I like the brighter lights a hella lot better. JP7 where do you get those lights?
I can't even remember those pictures are so incredibly old. If you notice none of my interior is painted in the photos.

I'm making a new dome light (soon- my next mod) by etching my own PCB boards and mounting my own LEDs to the board. Its going to be much brighter and a more flexible design.

Example: Like this -


Heres a stack of raw boards...


Your going to need a laser printer for this one...


Open up a paper feed tray...


Load it with some glossy photo paper, staples #471861 works best, im using cheap wax coated paper.


Make the design on your computer in B&W using photoshop, paint, or a free version of a board maker that will allow you to print your boards to scale. MAKE SURE TO PRINT IT MIRRORED! (Or else it would wind up backwards..) Set your printer to as dark as possible.


Oh, look... all done!


Hop over to a sink, and get your boards and a scotchbrite pad.


Scrub in a even pattern, i can get away with just one direction, but it helps the toner to adhere if you go widthwise and lengthwise to create a crosshatch pattern.


All scrubbed up!


Rinse it off, and this is what you get...MMMMmmmm.....


This is what you want to see...


If you see any spots where the water wont stick to, hit them again until the board will hold a smooth sheet of water...


Wrap it in paper towels, and try not to touch it...


Wipe it down throughly to get it nice and clean and dry...


Take your dried board and your printed pattern and line them up...


Im using a modified GBC HeatSeal H200 to get smooth even quick transfers. You would use a regular iorn set to MAX heat. Place the board and printed pattern on a phone book or something that wont trasfer heat, and press down decently hard and very slowly move the iorn around. On a bard this big, it would take you a good 5 mins to throughly heat it up. It might discolor slightly, thats fine.


Yes, this thing is basically god when you make tons of different boards....


40 sec later, and your thinking the $120 you spent on it is almost worth it...


Im using double sided boards, so i need to cover the back so i dont waste a ton of time and money etching the large amount of copper on the backside...


mmmm... automation...


Ok, now MAKE SURE TO LET THE BOARDS AIR COOL... After 5 mins of cooling, take your cold boards and go back to the sink...


Fill it up a good bit with hot water, hotter is better, and you can use a little detergent if you want, i never do though...


Let these babies soak for AT LEAST 30 mins, longer is fine too.. just make sure there is allways water in the thing and it dosent drain on you...


30 Mins later...


Carefully rip the edges off...


Applying medium pressure, rub the paper off about as far as you can easily do by using your fingers...


They should look like this...


Crack out your old toothbrush, or get a new one, and rub away, you shouldt be able to hurt the toner...


Rinse them off, and you get some nice looking boards...


Give them a light wipe off...


OH NOES! THE BOARD IS TRASHED! AHHHHH!!!


If you have any bare spots, just use a black sharpie and touch them up, if you use the staples picture paper, you shouldnt have any of these...


Ahhh.. Much better...


I like to precut my boards before i etch them so they fit into my smaller tank, and i have less etchant wasted...


I use Pirana Etchant, 2 parts of Hydrogen Peroxide, and...


1 part Muriatic acid...


Find a container the boards will fit in, and that you wont be needing to hold cheerios later on...


Pour in 2 parts Hydrogen Peroxide...


To 1 part Muriatic acid...

Now, there will be some fumes given off by this, they surely arent good for you, you might want to do this outside, or in a well ventalated area...


Drop in your boards...


Stir them up a little for the duration of the etch to speed things up...


Take a peek every so often, and when you cant see any more pinkish copper, pull them out. This took about 3-4 mins.


Rinse them off...


Grab some Lacquer thinner...


Dampen a paper towel with it


Wipe them off with the dampened paper towel.


Oh, lookie.. The boards are done!


Rinse them off and hit them with a green scrubber lightly to give you a good surface to solder to...


Populate the boards and solder...


you can get decent detail with this method, i could have gotten better results if i had used the staples picture paper, but i dont need any beter than this when the led's are going to be connected by solder anyways...

You can also use Ferric Chloride for the etchant, thats available at radio shack, but its hard to see whats going on due to its dark brown color. And you can hit the boards with scotchbrite to remove the toner, but some mineral spirits are much easier...

Last edited by Jp7; 07-20-2010 at 02:00 AM.
Reply With Quote