These are Hard Drive holders for an old computer case. I’m looking at them and they are begging to be put in use somehow with LED’s. Anyone with any ideas or thoughts?
I was thinking of cutting the ends off (tabs on left and right) at min, keep it clean. Maybe add some plexi glass underneath so I’d have some frosted diffuse openings. Then maybe add pixels under each…a string of 50 would be perfect as there is only 48 holes.
Anyone with other thoughts?
Do ping pong balls or small cups fit in those holes? :). Otherwise, 3D printed channels to isolate each LED would be cool.
I was just going to ask what’s the diameter of those holes? Because I too was wondering how close they were to ping pong ball size. 
Would these:
fit in those holes?
These are fun to use. Here is a video of a shortened version of the Chase Demo sketch run on these modules in my new DIY WS2811 MegaPixel Strip:
Put upside down glass candle tee cups inside holes and light them up with LEDs, but doubt peg/hole size will match.
ping pong ball size might work! Interesting idea. I think they are going to be too big, but might be able to slice them in half (save money too. lol) I don’t have anything to measure with or a ping pong ball right now, but I’ll check it out tonight at the house. Thanks for the ideas!
1-1/8" inches. I’ll get mm when I get home. Ping Pong is 1.57" so def could try and split them…not sure how well that would work…
Ping pong balls are 40mm. After looking again… the holes in the metal have a very close spacing. Unless those holes are really close 40mm, ping pong balls probably aren’t going to nest together nicely since they will be bumping into each other. :\
I have a few strings of these… I bought them but didn’t find a good use for them yet. Size looks close to your cut outs:
If holes are slightly smaller than ping pong balls: rest ping pong ball in hole from underneath; hot glue into place; trim away the bottom part of the ball. And you should be able to cover two holes per ball by using the trimmed parts.
Some type of LED whack-a-mole game would be interesting!
ok I am going with a lens diffuser for florescent lights. simple and classy look with or without the lights on. I have not decided on the orientation. I could do a 4 sided box, no top or bottom. An angled stair step vertical sculpture piece, a 4 square side by side (like original picture), or I think I might be leaning towards a 4 square linear as shown in this video. This is just some simple patterns that had nothing to do with this layout…so a bit wonky in places…but decent!
It’s great the strip I have for at least 4 spots almost matches perfectly the spacing of LEDS to holes. Shown here it’s very loosely laid out, taped together etc. Progress!
And end table with the enclosures making up 4 panels (trimmed with wood to hide the edges) and a frosted glass panel on top. Some simple paper tubes would let you isolate the circles to allow one LED per and you could run all kinds of cool patterns.
I guess you could also just use the “table top” skip the legs and make wall art.
@allanGEE Yea I’m leaning towards wall art at the moment. As I progress in the build I am def going to consider isolating the circles, but honestly in person when aligned they do a pretty good job just in how the LED directs it’s light. Def some wash though…
I wonder how long a battery operated display would run…might consider an on/off switch and a button to change patterns on it too…shrug having fun!
Grab some cells from a drill battery for the power supply and put a small jack in the frame so you can recharge it without taking it off the wall. You could even paint the wire to match your wall for your own use, and then unplug it when company comes over. Depends how often and how long you use it.
Would also be nice to add a timer function so you don’t have to physically turn it on all the time.
Keep us posted!
I have seen these used and produce some interesting effects…
