Question(s) For Those That Used Pegboard For Their LEDTriks

[mikentn]

Evening, fellow DIYC'ers;

I finally have my LEDtriks built, and am now ready to move on to making the enclosure for it. I used pegboard instead of Frank's boards, and left one row of holes around the border of the sign, with thoughts of glueing battens inside the frame and screwing the sign to the battens through the holes. Problem is, I would like to use some type of diffuser panel instead of clear plexiglas for the front of the sign, and the biggest diffuser panel I can get at the local big box is 24" x 48", and with the border I left, I'm looking at a length of around 50" or so.

So, to those who have traveled this road before me,

(1) did you leave any border around the edge of your pegboard
(2) If you didn't, how did you mount it inside the frame?
(3) Did you have to get a custom piece of plexiglas or something similar cut to fit?

Thanks!

Mike

[johnsoutheastiowa]

I got a 24" x 60" piece of plexiglass at my local Menards for my enclosure as I needed a piece 50" too. Ended up using it for both the front and rear of my enclosure which worked great in being able to see all the led's on the Triks and Triks-C. I used a router and cut a grove in the enclosure for the plexiglas to set in.

[T.D.Sutton]

I made mine out of Peg Board, 1" spacing as well, mounted in a snug fit frame, and used a 3/8" strip glued around the front edge of the frame on three sides with the fourth side rebated into the vertical, with no front support on that vertical at all as I made my two panels as a pair to be attached together with a couple of heavy duty hinges. The rebating and no support was necessary in an attempt to keep the matrix spacing as close as possible to correct across the join between the two individual panels. To keep the panel in place inside the cabinet I screwed some 3/4" strips around the rear of each panel which locked them into place nicely.

For the front protection, I ran into the same problem with dimensions, and in the end I purchased some custom cut "Perspex" Acrylic sheet and screwed it on the front surface of the frame with "Clear Seal" under the top and sides to seal the weather out but left the bottom unsealed so that any moisture that may get in can get out! Thankfully we have a couple of companies here that stock full sheets of Acrylic Sheet, and are prepared to cut to size at no extra cost, as they can use the "Off Cuts" on other projects that they manufacture.

To finish the front off I made a picture frame out of 3/4" x 1/16" Aluminium angle and mitred the corners to make it look as though someone cares!! I fitted this over the top and and both vertical sides of each panel, prior to fitting the alloy I ran a strip of plastic Electricians Tape over the Perspex/wood joint to add another layer of weather seal. Since I had painted the alloy Satin Black before fitting it I fudged the overall look by adding a decorative strip of black tape along the bottom edge of the panels purely for looks.

I was concerned about the perspex being a bit "Floppy" across its width and length so I added four supports across the front of each panel. I did this by pushing a 5/32" pan head engineers screws through appropriate holes from the rear of the panel, and a suitably sized dose of "No-More-Nails" to hold it, and a suitable black plastic miniature chair type tip, cut to the correct length to keep the perspex from being pushed in and displacing the LED's!!

All in all they have been very successfull for me - using the PixC interface, and with the wet weather we experienced during last Christmas's display period no water got in at all.

Below are a couple of Pic's of the rear of one panel and the front of both - not all that good for fine detail but should give and idea of what I have been rambling about :-)

Terry

LedTricks Front.jpgLedTricks Rear.jpg

[mikentn]

Gents,

Thanks for the input. T.D. - very, very nice setup you have there.

I went to a local plastics supplier yesterday evening, and got both a sheet of clear acrylic and a prismatic diffuser panel cut to the dimensions I needed, and the cost for both pieces was less than what just the acrylic alone was going to cost at the big box stores. The only length they had for the diffuser panel was 47 3/4", so they cut a small piece to extend the total length to what I needed (50 1/4 "). I figure at night the seam shouldn't be that noticeable. Going to test my woodworking skills this weekend.

[T.D.Sutton]

Hi Mikentn,

Funny what happens when you go to the source of the items you need :-) The price is always somewhat less than the Retailers try and pass off as "the price"!!

I will be interested to hear how well the diffuser panel works, and if it makes the display easier to read in daylight. Mine are not "readable", if that is a word, in daylight, unless you are almost dead on, and at right angles, to the front of the panels. At night there is no problem at all and a fantastic enhancement to our display.

Further to my description below the back is a piece of 5/16" ply with a louvered air vent at each of the top corners with a small fan ex computer powersupply, behind them, and the air inlets are set into the bottom edge so that no water can get in. The reason for the added fans etc. is due to the fact that our Christmas is in Mid summer, with air temperatures up to the high 70's - mid 80's F in the daytime and my panels look directly into the sun later in the day. The black aluminium trim gets hot enough to burn your arm if you touch it!!!

The picture below shows only one vent in each unit, I added another for last season to ensure cooling :-)

Ledtricks Rear Covered.jpg

Cheers, Terry

[mikentn]

Hi Terry;

Thanks for the additional input. If I may ask, what size lumber did you use for framing? 2" x 6"?? I thought about going with 1" x 6" or deck boards (1-1/4" x 6"), but I'm wondering if that will be thick enough. I plan on making rebates in the frame for the back panel, and want to screw the panel in vs. glueing it just in case I need to take it off for any work on the LEDtriks panel, and I don't know if the 1 x lumber would leave enough surface for a screw.

Good idea on the louvered vents. I was planning on putting a couple in as well to try to keep the condensation down on the inside of the box.

Thanks again for the input.

Regards,
Mike

[T.D.Sutton]

Hi Mike,

My frame was cut out of dressed 1" x 5" softwood timber, initially I thought it would not be stable enough, but this proved to be no problem. All the 3/4 " framing strips to hold the panels inside the frame, and the back, is dry screwed for the same reason you suggested, "should I ever need to get the panels out of the box". The panels themselves are not attached to the frame at all simply a tight friction fit between the front retaining bead, that is glued in, and the 3/4" rear screwed strip. As I said below, I rebated the front of the center pair of verticals to allow for the matrix to get as close to the box edges as possible so that they would appear to one unit when they are joined together as a unit. From memory I think I reduced the edge to about 1/4" thick for about 1" to 1 1/2" deep so that I could maneuver the panel into place easily after completion. Once the panels themselves are installed inside the "Box" it really stiffens up the whole assembly, although the overall cabinet strength is due to the front Acrylic sheet and the plywood back.

I fly my pair, clipped together, up above a bow window roof about 14' in the air. I lift them on two trunk handles, one at each end of the pair of panels, with Polyester rope running through a 2" pully attached with a "D" shackle and then over another pair of pully's attached to "J" hook screws into the underside of the eaves, the rope end is lashed to the "J" hook to give a 2:1 purchase for the lift. My wife plays "Anchor" and pulls the other end of the ropes while I climb a ladder and position the whole assembly as we lift it to its final location. It hangs there happily for the whole of the display season lightly resting on a couple of bricks wrapped in black polythene, to stop the wind blowing it around, and also direct it's field of view more directly at the audience.

If you look closely at the signature picture you can see the panel above the window on the right hand side. It is also visible in our the "Vimeo" videos, for example :- http://vimeo.com/34500058 etc.

While I am rambling about the construction, for the record, at the rear of each panel, to hold the wiring to the LED's nice and tidy, I mounted some second hand aluminium curtain rail on short lengths of 1" in diameter polythene rod that I had in my workshop. These were turned down at the peg board end to around 1/2" diameter for about 1" high to ensure that they didn't interfere with the LED's, and then threaded on both ends 5.0 mm metric, to suit the hardware that I had on hand. They were then mounted on the back of the panel from the front with pan head metal thread screws to afix the standoff's, and the aluminium curtain rail attached the same way on the rear. The Ledtrix and "Pix C" boards were mounted in a similar fashion, but on a piece of Acrylic sheet that I had laying around as the base. Once everyting was in place I painted the heads of the pan head screws satin black on the front so that they dissappeared into the black background. This little bit of extra work made the back of the panels a whole lot tidier and easier to work on than if the wiring was flying "free", let alone a lot less chance of wires detaching themselves at the "wrong" moment!!

Cheers,

Terry