A long time ago I designed a small PCB for making LED flowers for a bonsai tree ornament. At that time I hand etched over 128 PCBs, drilled almost 3000 holes, fitted 256 resistors and well over 1000 LEDs. Then I hand twisted solid-core support wires into a fairly chunky tree shape with the LED flowers covering the surface.
You can see that project here:-
http://www.bigclive.com/bonsai.htm
I recently revisited the project with a PCB design that improved on the ease of assembly and utilises just 6 LEDs instead of the 9 on the original. This makes it better suited to modern Gallium Nitride LEDs with their higher forward voltage, and the common 12V DC supplies.
I find it quite therapeutic to just chill out and populate these boards with LEDs from time to time. At some point I'll put these in my webshop as full kits of the LEDs, resistors, PCB and wires.
You can see that project here:-
http://www.bigclive.com/bonsai.htm
I recently revisited the project with a PCB design that improved on the ease of assembly and utilises just 6 LEDs instead of the 9 on the original. This makes it better suited to modern Gallium Nitride LEDs with their higher forward voltage, and the common 12V DC supplies.
I find it quite therapeutic to just chill out and populate these boards with LEDs from time to time. At some point I'll put these in my webshop as full kits of the LEDs, resistors, PCB and wires.