LED lighting & acrylic sheets

[Daverey2]

Hi All

I'm currently running through some ideas of how to create some cool lighting effects around all my AV equipment.

One idea I've had is to stand each component (TV, Receiver, Sky+, DVD, speakers etc) on a cut-to-size sheet of 10mm clear acrylic, and then attach an LED strip (like the Apollo kits advertised on the forums) to the back of each acrylic sheet. The effect I'm after is for the light to shine through the acrylic and make the sheet edge light up, but not too brightly as to distract.

Has anyone tried this or does anyone know if it would work out OK??

I've seen online suppliers of acrylic sheets (such as http://www.westwardplastics.co.uk/d_...&subcat2=Thick) - can anyone forsee any problems with this?

Alternatively, does anyone have any other cheap-ish, easy to install lighting effect ideas I could "borrow"?

Thanks in advance
Dave

[dolph]

Think that should work, although there may be better led products (LED ribbon / strip?) - the apollo product is designed within a tube with a view to diffusing the light whereas your idea would probable want a more "directed" light source?

[Fieldling86]

Another way would be to drill shallow holes in the back edge of the acrylic and inser LED's of your choice. This way the light will pass through the sheet rather than over it and I think it will give a stronger/better quality light on the front and side edges.

I have been told that one issue with acrylic though is that if you have a hot running AV amp/receiver or hot equipment, it can warp or become uneven!

Hope this helps?

Cheers

Per

[Daverey2]

Originally Posted by dolph

Think that should work, although there may be better led products (LED ribbon / strip?) - the apollo product is designed within a tube with a view to diffusing the light whereas your idea would probable want a more "directed" light source?

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

As for the point above, do you know of anything that might work instead of the Apollo lights??

I like the ideo of drilling the acrylic and putting in LEDS, but I'm no DIY man, and certainly no electrician, so that might be a little way out of my league!!

Dave

[Oily]

I did the very same thing,here's a picture of how it looks at night:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/attac...4&d=1199046842

You can read the whole thread here:
My First AV install

[Daverey2]

Hi
Do you have a link for where you bought the acryllic from? I'm quite interested in doing something like your setup - although I think I might end up getting a wooden cabinet made and just using the acryllic under teh equipment to give some sort of light out?

Ta

dave