Summary
This is not a thing you're likely to specifically need. This is here just to spark some ideas. My wife bought an acrylic lion figure at a flea market, and it came with a pretty ugly lighted wooden base. When the light burned out and I went to get a replacement, I found these nice blue LED candelabra base, night-lite type bulbs. They were much too cool for the old base, so I printed this base. It's not perfect, but it made the wife happy, and scored a few points.
Instructions
Although I uploaded the .scad and .stl files, you're not likely to need this specific base, so more important is just a few of the ideas used here.
The lamp socket is cheap and readily available here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UID44G/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1ZEMTT4HTM149
I found the LED candelabra night-lite bulb at Wal-Mart, but haven't been able to find it online. Cheap at 2/$4. The one I used is blue, which worked out perfect. The packaging sort of implies that there are other colors available, but I didn't see any. The brand is Meridian #13116B.
The light from the bulb is directional vertically, so the base had to be tall enough to hold the socket and bulb in that orientation. The socket has metal spring 'wings' on the sides that compress and hold it in place when you shove it in a one inch hole. The channel in the bottom for the AC wire to exit features some 'bumps' which help to hold the wire in place. Slide the cord in by the narrow edge, then twist it flat and it will stay in place.
I printed this in Octave glow-in-the-dark blue ABS, which was perfect with the blue bulb, but other than when the LED is on, I haven't noticed any glowing in the dark.
The other interesting thing with this item was that it's the first thing I've tried finishing with acetone vapor. This was mentioned in the Makerbot group, which pointed to a blog post on the Solidoodle forum at: http://solidoodletips.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/presto-part-finisher/
The basic idea is to get a Presto model 06006 deep fryer, put a few tablespoons of acetone in it, place your part in the steaming basket into the fryer, cover and turn on at the lowest setting. The acetone readily vaporizes and deposits evenly on all of the surfaces and leaves a remarkable finish. You don't have to have a whole pot of acetone to dip an item. Needless to say, read all of the instructions and observe the safety precautions mentioned in that post. See the attached pic, and no, don't do this in the house.
Tags
Modellquelle
