Acrylic Bulb Enclosure for the Kitronik Round Side Illumination LED Module hero image

Recently we brought out the beautifully bright Kitronik Round Side Illumination LED Module, and to mark the new board, our Development Director Dave Sanderson designed an extremely cool light-bulb enclosure that takes advantage of the multi-directional nature of the LEDs on the board.

Follow Dave & Emma's instructions below to make your own!

 

We have used:

 

Step 1 - To the laser cutter:
Acrylic Bulb Enclosure for the Kitronik Round Side Illumination LED Module design

Open the DXF in your Laser Cutter Software! It will appear as below, and you should set the particular parts of the design to cut or engrave as per the diagram. The filament design (green on the diagram) could also be kiss-cut as well as engraved if you want to outline the design more brightly.

Cut out the design, in the order defined in the diagram.

 

Step 2 - Power in:
Acrylic Bulb Enclosure for the Kitronik Round Side Illumination LED Module wire attached to board
Acrylic Bulb Enclosure for the Kitronik Round Side Illumination LED Module render of board

 

Before we assemble the bulb, we will want to alter the board a little. Many of our boards, this one included, have solder pads to allow a little more customisation. We will be adding an alternative power source that doesn’t rely on the micro USB port.

You will want to solder two wires so that they extend up from the back of the board. You will want to solder one wire to one of the two pads (it doesn’t matter which) marked with “cut”. Do not cut the track.

 

Step 3 - Assemble the bulb:
Acrylic Bulb Enclosure for the Kitronik Round Side Illumination LED Module putting it together

Assemble your bulb! Sit your board into the slots at the top of the bulb, as per the image below, and make sure the wire runs up the centre of the “stem” of the bulb.

In order to close the bulb around the board, the easiest method is to push all but one of the vertical sections into the bottom circular bracket, then thread the top bracket (the one with the circular hole in the centre) over the wire. Then push in the board, with the USB socket in the largest gap, and pop in the final vertical section. Finish securing the bulb together by sliding the top circular bracket down over the top of the bulb and sitting it in the grooves.

 

Step 4 - Tidy up loose ends:
Acrylic Bulb Enclosure for the Kitronik Round Side Illumination LED Module copper tape

Finally, finish off the look of the bulb with some heat shrink on the wires, and emulate the metal part of a real bulb using copper tape!

 

the finished article

And we're done! You should now have something similar to the above image.

 

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