xxkbxx Posted March 28, 2006 Report Share Posted March 28, 2006 Plexiglass mousepad! It's rounded off acrylic with paper glued on for a mousepad surface. The 2 green LED's are powered by a 5V current from a USB port on a parallel circuit. Here are the pics: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubba Bob Posted March 28, 2006 Report Share Posted March 28, 2006 LOL! Why don't you just neon the whole room? Neat, keep em comin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xxkbxx Posted March 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2006 LOL! Why don't you just neon the whole room? Neat, keep em comin I know - my dog has a gigantic night light! That's why I posted in PC Support for a program to independently control USB ports so I can turn off this without having to unplug it.My dad, works in advertising, got me a bunch of acrylic from work, why I've been doing alot with that lately.I think I'm done, as far as computer accesorries go - I need other stuff to light up! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brian_Holiday Posted March 28, 2006 Report Share Posted March 28, 2006 I don't see how you can sleep at night, the clock keeps me awake. What are using to cut it? The edges are a little rough, and from my experence you get a better glow when the edges are smooth and opaque. You also might get more light if you silver the bottom with some paint. I wish someone would give me some acrylic.. It sucks to be grown up... BH Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xxkbxx Posted March 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2006 I don't see how you can sleep at night, the clock keeps me awake. What are using to cut it? The edges are a little rough, and from my experence you get a better glow when the edges are smooth and opaque. You also might get more light if you silver the bottom with some paint. I wish someone would give me some acrylic.. It sucks to be grown up... BHThe computer is one floor below my bedroom - however, it makes it real easy to see my way around at 5:00 in the morning when I have to get up for practice. I used a regular Dremel cutting disc - I wasn't going for a real clean look - I just wanted to light up some acrylic just for kicks and get some practice in (which also rules out painting the bottom, but I'll keep that in mind for future projects).As far as acrylic, I got a real good deal on 10 8 x 11.5 sheets for $15 on eBay before I knew I had the free stuff coming in. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bozodog Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 (edited) You have good creative ideas. But you really need to refine them to "finish quality". Get your hands on some sandpaper... 80, 120, and 220 grit. Smooth the edges down with 80 and a small block of wood. Work up in grits to the 220. When you get good at that, you can go all the way to 400, 600, 800, even 1000 grit (wet) to get a real fine polish. You can also paint it by sanding with 220 and spray painting the surface, instead of paper glued on. Another trick: use your Dremmel to lightly etch a logo into the paint. Edited March 29, 2006 by bozodog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xxkbxx Posted March 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 You have good creative ideas. But you really need to refine them to "finish quality". Get your hands on some sandpaper... 80, 120, and 220 grit. Smooth the edges down with 80 and a small block of wood. Work up in grits to the 220. When you get good at that, you can go all the way to 400, 600, 800, even 1000 grit (wet) to get a real fine polish. You can also paint it by sanding with 220 and spray painting the surface, instead of paper glued on. Another trick: use your Dremmel to lightly etch a logo into the paint.I did etch something (just with a cutting disc) I didn't really want to work on finishing this since it was just a timekiller (on my 1 free night out of the whole week) / oppurtunity to get some more practice with plexiglass and power LED's off a parallel circuit. However, I will definitly do that in show projects in the very near future (as long as I don't run out of ideas) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Honda_Boy Posted April 2, 2006 Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 (edited) HEY, I got an idea. Why don't I be another retard ricer guy and have you LED the living crap out of engine bay. Nah. I'm goin sleeper. I don't like my car screaming jackass, and colossal waste of money.Cool stuff yoo're doin. I tend to stick to doin elaborate hardware setups and functioning mods. looks ain't my bag. It's performance. Same for both car and computer..... almost. I do like an "out of the box" cool lookin case but I have no skill or patience to mod the way you do. (By functioning mods I mean things like what I just did. I replaced my compaqs rear exhaust fan with a high power thermaltake and jerryrigged the old one into the front for intake.) Now if you showed up and offered to make a kick ass mod like the ones you've been doin then heck yeah. Edited April 2, 2006 by Honda_Boy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xxkbxx Posted April 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 Yeah I've noticed that my number of nonfunctional mods is proportional to free time. I know what you mean about the people with all the LED's on their cars - especially when it's stock. Makes me laugh, and laugh, and laugh. But if you got the hardware, IMO you can go somewhat out witht the lights.I'm trying to think of something to do in my car's interior, perhaps replace part of my box, or amp, or something, with a plexi panel. (at least it won't be as random as the mousepad, I just wanted to see how straight I could cut with a Cutting disc. Last night I actually did a functional thing - Cut a plexi piece to fit in my dad's truck for his satellite radio. When it's suction cupped to the windshield the glare makes the screen almost impossible to read, and the unit won't stick to anything but glass - I cut one the size of the empty space behind his gear shifter (even sanded the edges, for once!) and it works great Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir_Siddy Posted April 6, 2006 Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 How did you get the power from the USB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xxkbxx Posted April 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 How did you get the power from the USBUSB is composed of three wires - red (5V), black (ground) then green and white (data+ and -)I just took the red and black, and made a parallel circuit to power the LED's Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir_Siddy Posted April 7, 2006 Report Share Posted April 7, 2006 Did you take the wires from inside the computer like from the wires that connect the front ports to the motherboard or did you take it from an actuall usb socket. I was wondering how I could get the power from an actual USB socket Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xxkbxx Posted April 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2006 Did you take the wires from inside the computer like from the wires that connect the front ports to the motherboard or did you take it from an actuall usb socket. I was wondering how I could get the power from an actual USB socketfrom an actual USB port in the back of my computer Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir_Siddy Posted April 7, 2006 Report Share Posted April 7, 2006 How did you do that though. Is there a pic I can see of the connection. I want to do this little mod myself actually. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xxkbxx Posted April 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2006 How did you do that though. Is there a pic I can see of the connection. I want to do this little mod myself actually.I don't have a pic - and it's really hard to see because I covered the area in hot glue.Here's what to do - get a USB cord from something you don't need - I used a TI-83 connection cord.Strip the wire down about 6 inches for plenty to work with, save the Red and Black - cut off the foil, green, white, and string (if there is one) You want the LED on a parallel circuit which means:(positive wire) + \ \(Led's) / /(negative wire) - They are not connected in a series, because there wasn't enough power.I plan on re-doing the project this weekend (actually finishing it this time, spraypainting the top and bottom, and engraving it) I'll post more detailed pics! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir_Siddy Posted April 8, 2006 Report Share Posted April 8, 2006 Ok I get it thanks man. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xxkbxx Posted April 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 Ok I get it thanks man.Ah, didn't have time to redo the project this weekend - too busy redoing the lights in my car (what a suprise!) I'll just push this one to the back shelf (again) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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