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DIY LED lighting MkII
18th May 2010
I now cut 2 pieces of thin acrylic and then hand shaped them so they were rounded at the ends. The original intention was to insert them externally into some routed recesses but it wasn't that neat so I routed the recesses on what would be the inner side.
Some lense holders were tested in each hole to make sure that the holes were able to accomodate them. Some were a little small so they widened gently with sandpaper until the lense holder fitted. The lense holders were then removed and set aside along with the perspex covers for the moonlight slots.
With all the parts of the casing ready I now used some very small 'veneer' pins to hold the unit together. These were in the region of 1mm diameter and about 10mm in length. I then glued all the inner edges to reinforce the join and also with it being waterproof woodworker's glue it acts as a seal between the joins.
After giving the glue a couple of hours to dry I got some black car spray Any will do because it will be lacquered over. The one I used here was gloss and cost £1 from poundland. Took about 10 thin coats each applied every 10-15 minutes before the colour matched due to the mdf being so porous. I then sanded it gently to remove any 'bobbles' from the dust in the air etc. and after cleaning off the debris from sanding followed on with the lacquer. This was £3.50 from Wilko's. Again 10 or so thin coats, each applied every 10-15 minutes and the unit was left to dry for a few hours.
Once dry I got out the fine wet/dry paper. Starting at P240
and working through P400, P600, P800 and P1200 I got the surface really smooth before polishing the unit with some car 'colour restorer' after wiping the unit thoroughly I finished the polishing by buffing it with a 'wool pad' that I got from Halfords and it attaches to a drill.
The final job of the day was to start veneering. I bought some iron on veneer for this unit with it being small. Cost was about £20. I am veneering the front, back, sides and also the bottom and inner lip where the bottom section is recessed.
