Just right light for Lulzbot Mini by Ductsoup

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

Aziz light!
Luvs me da Mini but it doesn't come with lights. The cheap LED flashlights from Lowes or Home Depot get the job done in a pinch but here's a better, more permanent solution to the problem. For me, 24" of LED strip lights front and back is massive overkill. Six warm analog LEDs in front yields a little over 40 foot-candles at the bed and that seems reasonable.
This clip is designed to snug fit the top frame without drilling holes or additional hardware and, angles the LED strip towards the bed/extruder so you get the light just where you need it and nowhere else. If the fit isn't tight enough just add a length of black electrical tape to snug things up.
I used two segments of this adhesive backed strip (about 120mA @ 12VDC) and printed in black so it blends in.
https://www.adafruit.com/products/357
Consider using some Loctite super glue ultra gel as it doesn't degrade over time from the heat generated by the LEDs. If your strip is shorter or longer just scale the Z-axis.
Optional Hack (that will void your warranty)
If you don't want (yet another) a separate power supply and have the skills and confidence to modify the wiring without damaging yourself or your printer there's a way to make this a bit neater. If you're not 100% sure what you're doing it's probably best to stick with the extra wall plug.
The Mini uses a 24VDC power supply but these LED strips can only tolerate 12VDC. For low amp draw things like this my go-to solution is a Traco TSR 1-24120 DC-DC buck converter. They're much more efficient and readily available from all of the major supply houses like Newark.
http://www.newark.com/tracopower/tsr-1-24120/dc-dc-converter-non-iso-pol-1/dp/51R5687?st=TSR%201-2412
The leads are closely spaced and difficult to solder. I opted to stick one of these to the inside of the case instead.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/65
Update
The connections to the LED strip are delicate, the mini_light3 file adds a strain relief.