what is the best way to diffuse leds?

Archive FastLED Archive
,
1

what is the best way to diffuse leds? if i was going to make an enclosure out of ninjaplex, would i use semi transparent? or white? or would it be best to cover leds with white, then use semi transparent as the enclosure? I see lots of led poi use semi transparent, but almost everything i see on here uses white covers.How do you guys diffuse your light in close quarters?

2

You can use a variety of different things to diffuse. Experiment! The more important factor is to get a bit of distance between the LEDs and your diffusing material so it’s not sitting right on top of the LEDs. Even 15mm or 30mm will make a big difference from 2 or 3mm.

3

I’ve not used ninja flex but with standard 3d printed abs I have found that plain white diffuses better and lets almost all the light through. It works well. An as Marc said, a little distance makes a huge difference.

4

I’ve been searching for something on this as well. Tap Plastics carry alot of different acrylic rods I’ve thought of using. They make a half round rod that would work great I think, if you placed the strip in a aluminum channel. Course they also sell acrylic tubes that could be sliced in half.

With either, you would wet sand the inside of the acrylic with 400~600 grit wet sand paper, until you reach the glaze you want for defusing.

But on a small job it may be cheaper to just buy some of the defused channel on ebay.

http://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/plastic_rods_tubes_shapes

http://www.ebay.com/cln/mat-helm/leds/206861562013

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-3ft-Aluminum-U-Channel-for-flex-hard-LED-Strip-Light-w-Oyster-White-Cover-U02-/131130368978?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e87faa3d2

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aluminum-LED-Strip-Fixture-Channel-1-Meter-Under-Counter-Cabinet-Light-Kit-/251282818559?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item3a819f85ff

http://www.aliexpress.com/af/category/200002293/3.html?spm=2114.30010108.4.310.H5ZsRW&g=y&CatId=200002293&shipCountry=us&isAffiliate=y

5

I am sanding 1.5mm acrylic sheet with 60-grit paper on an orbital sander.

Cheap as heck and good diffusion.

I just ordered some more. When it arrives I will scratch it up and make up a vid.

6

I’m working on a new matrix project and have been trying out these two types of acrylic:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160472892812
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400248891316
The Opal version can be placed quite close to the LEDs without spotting but does reduce the light output a bit more then the plain frosted. I did try sanding plain acrylic but found it difficult to get a consistent result.
For frosted 43mm and opal 15mm.

7

I really like Acrylite Satinice, it’s a frosted acrylic made for lighting applications, more details here:

8

I second taps plastic. They have some beautiful and extremely reasonably priced acrylics, with a really interesting diffusive coating.

They do cut to size as well, so if you dont have a table saw or dont want to deal with that they’ll handle that as well.