Acrylic light guides

Acrylic light guides – Version 2

The ordered new multicolor RGBW NeoPixel Buttons had arrived and I wanted to replace the monochrome green “LED sequins” for the Alpha-to-Delta lights with them. I started preparing the NeoPixel buttons by carefully filing down the sides to make the buttons more compact.

Before soldering the connections of the Buttons, I stuck small strips of insulating tape between the filed sides to prevent short circuits between the PCBs. I then placed the four buttons on tape to temporarily align them, and soldered the row connections.

The new LED row didn't fit well in combination with the light guides I had already made for the sequins. So I made new light guides for the Neopixels. First I sawed the acrylic profile into short pieces with 45° angles. Then I sanded down the sides and filed a notch to provide additional support when the light guides are inserted into the shell. After wet sanding and polishing all surfaces, I sprayed three sides with white paint.

The white painted sides should help to prevent light bleeding at the outside and reflect/diffuse the colored LED light at the inside of the light guide. Later, I also added black PCV to the sides again. But for now, I didn't go ahead with the light guides because I wasn't sure if I would use the NeoPixel buttons that way. I didn't like the thickness and the spacing of the boards when they were placed to the wall of the shell.