This is a technique called cracking the ice where an standard lensed LED has the end of its resin case cracked off with a pair of cable cutters. (snips, side cutters, wire cutters)
The resultant cracked ice effect on the end makes the light fragment out in random directions making the LED look a lot brighter from all viewing angles.
Note that care must be taken not to crack the resin down to the area of the chip itself or the tiny wire that jumps from the side terminal onto it. Also note that the end of the LED flies off at high velocity and ricochets around the room with a peeeeow noise, so make sure anyone else in the room is adequately shielded or has eye protection.
The resultant cracked ice effect on the end makes the light fragment out in random directions making the LED look a lot brighter from all viewing angles.
Note that care must be taken not to crack the resin down to the area of the chip itself or the tiny wire that jumps from the side terminal onto it. Also note that the end of the LED flies off at high velocity and ricochets around the room with a peeeeow noise, so make sure anyone else in the room is adequately shielded or has eye protection.
I love you Clive
You can even sand the ends flat. Oh yes. There is no magic in LEDs despite other claims.
True story. Back in my days as a bench technician (about 35 years ago) I was sitting next to my partener, he was working I was not. While killing time I was doing exactly this with a small pile of leds on the bench. As Clive says it would be a very good idea to wear safety glasses As I cut the last one (last one for good reason) the cut bit shot straight up into the 8' fluorescent fixture over our heads and the moment it hit the glass tube with a loud click the lights went out. My partner instinctively threw his head down and covered himself, I foolishly looked up in wonder. Fortunately the bulb did not come down but apparently the cut bit struck with enough force to crack the glass and blow out the tube. Those days were fun.
Clive you are the best, man.
After watching this I fetched one of my rechargeable USB bottle "corks" lights and replaced the white LED with a "cracked" slow color changing LED.
Now it is far more interesting than its chromatically stable brother!
Thanks again!
Good idea!
This will be handy in the bulb replacement jobs I do on occasion, especially where the bulb was light piped from the sides. I'm thinking of trying a disc of tinfoil (or something reflective) on the end of a straw hat type to reflect most of the light back.
Hmm, and if I put some kapton tape on that and add a smd led of a different color, that could be neat for other stuff.
Thanks for the tip.
Use a good robust pair of sharp snips and only cut the very tip off well away from the chip.
It gives a completely different effect to sanding. As opposed to the matt front surface it gives a multi faceted effect that transmits and reflects light in random directions. Incidentally, I used to put a dab of two part resin on the front of sanded down LEDs to turn them into a "straw hat" type of LED before they were readily available. Because I used the ground down LEDs a lot in TV props I ended up modifying a belt sander with an LED guide.