Project 3G Clear

Here is the circuit board fitted to the base plate. It is held in place using self adhesive nylon stand-offs. The LEDs are sunk in to the slot behind the diffuser strip and covered with black felt to prevent light leakage. The wires coming off the board sides go to the lighted feet...



The feet were made using the left over centres from the 80mm case fan cut-outs. We had two clear ones for the front feet which would be lighted and two smoked ones for the rear feet which would not be lit. The discs were marked and four 5mm holes to accept LEDs were drilled. The disc edges were then diffused with wet and dry paper and then sprayed with window frosting to increase the diffusion.

The discs were glued to the base plate which had also been drilled to take the LEDs. The LEDs were pushed into the holes and wired up. Power was supplied from the HDD meter circuit board.

The LEDs were rated Vf = 4.1V and If = 30mA. They were wired in series pairs. Each pair with a 150 Ohm current limiting resistor. A total of 8 LEDs were used in the feet.



A final touch to the feet was to stick a disc of silver foil underneath them to reflect the LED light out. The foil was covered in black felt to make the feet none scratching. Even against the clock we are still very thorough!



With the lighting finished it was time to finish the assembly and remove all the remaining protective paper. Once MrHaz and I had stopped dancing around the room in glee Windows XP was installed and the system tested. Phew it all worked a treat!



Because this project was going to be on public display, it was decided to place the power switch on the rear panel, away from mischievous button pressers.