Need Opinion - Best way to connect Fiber to LED

[Watson]

I am in the last throws of finsihing my CC X-Wing and the only thing holding up final assembly and painting is finding a good way to connect my LEDs to the various fiber strands.

I am leaning towards straws, but I was hoping some of you might have some better ideas.

JDH

 

[Wolvster1]

JDH, I realize this may sound
REALLY DUMB.. But, have you ever
thought of the " shrink " stuff
electricians use ??? Looks like a
short black straw, you just apply a little
heat to it and it " shrinks " onto whatever
it's slid over ???

Not sure if that would work, but once that sucker
shrinks up it won't go ANYWHERE !!!!!

 

[Watson]

</SPAN><TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD CLASS=$row_color>Quote:<HR></TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS=$row_color>JDH, I realize this may sound
REALLY DUMB.. But, have you ever
thought of the " shrink " stuff
electricians use ??? Looks like a
short black straw, you just apply a little
heat to it and it " shrinks " onto whatever
it's slid over ??? </TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE><SPAN CLASS=$row_color>

I have tried that, but the problem is that it causes this really weird "buckling" in the fiber. Makes it look kinda wavy and the light transmission is not as good.

 

[jakob2121]

globs of clear resin and/or epoxy won't work?

 

[rayra]

dab of hot glue.
Make sure the fiber is as cleanly cut as possible. If it is large fiber, consider wetsanding / polishing it. You'll get more light through it that way.

 

[autoprops713]

Yup, clear epoxy, hot glue, or even super glue. Just a small drop of any of these will work and even clear up the cut end.

Dave

 

[gonk27]

Hi JDH,

You could try hot-glueing/superglueing the ends of your optic fibres onto a clip-on LED cover? Or you could make small holes and thread them through to be right up against the LED itself.

That way you can unclip the LED if you need to change it without re-glueing stuff..


Jeremy

 

[star-art]

First, I have not gotten around to this part of my project yet so I am not speaking from experience, but I have read many times that you should not use CA glues on plastic fibers as it can damage them. I would think hotmelt could be a bit risky as well when using delicate plastic fibers?

Anyway, check this place out. It's the best source I have found online for fiber optics. If anyone knows of a better place, please let me know.

http://www.fiberopticproducts.com

They have fittings that are used to connect a bundle of fibers to LEDs. Can't recall exactly where I saw them on their site, but they do have them. . .