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hi,<br><br>
as far as diffusing LED lighting goes - i've been thinking along the
following lines:<br><br>
white, opaque, 1/4 " plexi (if it exists) could be drilled to accept
LEDs. if you position the LED so its light source was in the plane of the
plexi, then its light should be diffused throughout the medium of the
plexi (in roughly a circle). position the LEDs as appropriate for your
lettering, etc.<br><br>
i might even suggest painting the tops of the LEDs white so they don't
"hot spot".<br><br>
in my truck, i removed the heater control knobs (which conduct light to
their pointers), and found a similar lighting arrangement - except
they don't use LEDs. the concept seems to be: "make lots of light in
back, then block it off in front".<br><br>
the "block it off part", being your panel. i plan to paint the
backside (of a clear lexan panel) black, and allow the light to
pass through any open (unpainted) areas. <br><br>
hopefully, this will result in a nice, scratch-resistant panel, with all
lettering, etc on the backside.<br><br>
- adm -<br><br>
<br>
At 01:54 PM 1/5/04 -0700, you wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>A clear piece of plexiglas might
not be the best solution for the panel since the LED light (or whatever
you use for a light source) would not diffuse very much and it would be
more like a spot of light. But I would have to do some
testing to really check that out. Hopefully something easily
obtainable like plexiglas would work as opposed to some sort of
unobtainium. :-)<br><br>
I know the material the real panels use have a sort of hazy, milky
look. I actually think the real panels are epoxy
filled.<br><br>
The real panels I have taken apart have that hazy center section or
"plate". The plate is then covered with a white
"paint" layer that is about 0.010" thick and then the
whole thing is painted with a layer of black paint again in the
0.010" thick range.<br>
Jim</blockquote>
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<br>
Alan D.
Mazurka
adm.design@verizon.net <br>
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