Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
well. With the advent of fab labs and hackspaces, many ordinary people have access to laser
cutters, and they can make a very neat job. However, I want to show you a simple but efective
method of box construction using only small hand tools and low-cost materials.
You can make the box from 6 mm (1/4˝) plywood. Start by simply cutting out two rectangles 92
mm (3 5/8˝) by 180 mm (7˝). hen clamp them together, and making sure that they are square,
drill a 3 mm (1/8˝) hole 10 mm in from each corner. After you drill the irst hole remove the
clamp and put a nut and bolt to temporary hold the two pieces together while you drill the next
hole. Use a nut and bolt for the second hole as well to keep the pieces together while you drill
the last two holes. his ensures that your holes line up. You can then use hexagonal tapped
spacers to hold the two sheets apart. Make the sides from four lengths of strip pine. he exact
height of the strip pine depends on the construction method you used to make the LED board.
If you used the surface mount technique, you can make your box nice and thin, using 5 mm
strip pine. However, if you used a through-hole LED, you need to use 12 mm strip pine. his is
because you want the LED at the same level or slightly below the lid of the box to get good cov-
erage of light on the difuser. Glue the four pieces of strip pine to the base, and make sure that
they are level with the edge of the base. his sandwich arrangement is shown in Figure 8-9.
Figure 8-9:
How to put your
box together.
Mark out four holes for each switch and drill them at 0.8 mm. When itting the switches,
solder some thin wires to the connections in the opposite corners, thread the wires through
the holes and push them into place. It should hold simply by the it, but you can add a blob
of glue at the switch center irst. Don't do it yet, though, until the box is inished and painted.
To act as the difuser and place to see the colour, I used a half table tennis ball. You can cut one
in half using various methods, but I found the best way is by using a hot wire cutter of the type
