This project is in the category of "worth doing", but also in the category of "labour of love".
It's based loosely on a very old and rare type of novelty Christmas light that was a glass sphere with a phosphor coating inside and a gas discharge to make it glow. They were apparently very dim, so never really took off. This copy of it using real neon discharge lamps is also quite dim compared to other light sources.
The project uses a couple of different styles of housings 3D printed in clear PLA with a globe/reflector and integrated resin cup to allow potting in of the light source. That theoretically makes it waterproof, noting that PLA may degrade over time in moisture. Ideally the cable would be double insulated for a real rugged waterproof set.
If using neon lamps you will need to use a suitable resistor or in the case of 230V supplies a couple to help spread the dissipation. I used two 100K quarter watt carbon film resistors.
Each holder is wired in parallel to the mains supply.
The end result is nice, but more as a novelty than as a practical light.
I've attached the openscad scripts down below if you want to try the project. There are two different types, so be careful not to copy and paste both in at once accidentally.
The project is VERY time consuming and messy as it requires getting two part resin into a narrow cylinder and then inserting your chosen light source, resistors and wiring into it before it has cured.
This might be a good project for runny fast-curing blue/UV light cured resin.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
Reflector version. Copy and paste the script into openscad to create the 3D printing STL file.
//Reflector style encapsulated neon fairy light. Big Clive 7 Jan 2020
difference() {
union() {
difference(){
union(){
//Create a solid sphere
sphere (15);
}
//remove a smaller inner sphere to make it a hollow ball
sphere (14);
//remove a large cube so just bottom of sphere is left
translate([-20,-20,-5])
cube([40,40,30]);
}
//Add solid cylinder
translate ([0,0,-35])
cylinder(h=30,r1=4.5,r2=4.5);
//add spere to end of cylinder to make it rounded
translate ([0,0,-5])
sphere (4.5);
//add tapered cylinder as collar for easier printing
translate ([0,0,-16])
cylinder(h=3.5,r1=4.5,r2=7.5);
}
//remove smaller sphere at end of cylinder to make it hollow
translate ([0,0,-5])
sphere (3.5);
//remove thinner cylinder to make whole tube hollow
translate([0,0,-36])
cylinder(h=31,r1=3.5,r2=3.5);
//Test cube to "x-ray" profile during design
//translate([-20,00,-40])
//cube([40,40,40]);
}
Globe version. Copy and paste the script into openscad to create the 3D printing STL file.
//Globe style encapsulated neon fairy light. Big Clive 7 Jan 2020
difference() {
union() {
difference(){
union(){
//Create a solid sphere
sphere (15);
}
//remove a smaller inner sphere to make it a hollow ball
sphere (14);
}
//Add solid cylinder
translate ([0,0,-30])
cylinder(h=30,r1=4.5,r2=4.5);
//add spere to end of cylinder to make it rounded
translate ([0,0,0])
sphere (4.5);
//add tapered cylinder as collar for easier printing
translate ([0,0,-16])
cylinder(h=3.5,r1=4.5,r2=7.5);
}
//remove smaller sphere at end of cylinder to make it hollow
translate ([0,0,0])
sphere (3.5);
//remove thinner cylinder to make whole tube hollow
translate([0,0,-35])
cylinder(h=35,r1=3.5,r2=3.5);
//Test cube to "x-ray" profile during design
//translate([-20,00,-40])
//cube([40,40,50]);
}