Drill size for Ray's RGBs

[jwilliams31]

I'm working on a last minute wooden display.  This year I'm just going to use standard lights, but I wanted to upgrade it to RGBs next year.  My plan was to make it similar to the coro displays, by drilling holes and mounting the lights on the back with the bulb poking through the hole.

So I get the spacing right, does anyone know what drill I should use for these?

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Thanks.

Jason

[njKeever]

I used the diagram below when I made my smart star. I don't remember what drill size I used, but I'm pretty sure it was 1/2" based on the dimensions listed.

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[jwilliams31]

Wow, looking at the picture, I would not have thought they would be a 1/2 inch in diameter, but I guess that would make sense with the circuitry in it.

Thank you.

I guess now my other question is what would you typically space them out as?  One every 1/2" (on center) maybe? Or is that too close?

[twooly]

Yeah I used 1/2 for my nodes I put into piping.  1/2 may be a little close, I would say 1 inch should be fine.

[tbone321]

Why would you double the size of the bit for "a little close"?

[jwilliams31]

Not using a bigger bit, I was asking about the separation.

node --1/2"-- node --1/2" -- node

or

node --1"-- node --1" -- node

Or something in between.

Thanks.

[tbone321]

LOL, I didn't read it correctly, my mistake.   

[duane.mosley]

I spaced mine at 3'' on my mega tree and they look great. my roof line, windows, doors, and siding outline are all factory spaced at 3 3/4-4'' and they look fine. I used a uni-bit to drill all my holes into 1/2'' pvc for my mega tree, it cut threw a lot easier than a drill bit. if your doing a matrix, I would probably space them a little closer.

[JonB256]

I drilled 1/2" holes thru PVC pipe for my matrix. Regular bit. Don't use one with a "funky" tip, just the basic shape. Recommend a drill press for consistency. Some of the pixels had to be wiggled and pushed to get thru the hole on the back side. The whole pixel is actually inside the tube except for the tip sticking out the front. Very protected.

I made a horizontal Matrix from 24 tubes. The tubes are wired in sets of three; each tube had 40 TM1804 pixels, spaced 3" apart horizontally (so the SSC was configured for 120 pixels). The tubes are painted black.

I used spacers cut from 1/2" sched 40 PVC and 1/4" all-thread to get the 3" vertical spacing between tubes.

For storage purposes, I made this 40x24 matrix in two 40x12 sections. They will "nest" face to face within each other to protect the pixels.

This matrix is now 8 months old and has warped a little in storage, but that is only noticeable up close and in daylight.

[jwilliams31]

What I'm making now is technically a matrix, but not as big.  It's only about 2' x 2'.  I'm drilling an inch apart and alternating rows, so technically the lights will (almost) be about a half inch apart.

It might be too dense, but I guess there's only one way to find out...

Worst case is that it sucks and I wasted $5 on a piece of plywood.

Thanks everyone.

[arw01]

Pictures please gents, I have some spare flex strips to play with and these are interesting ideas.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[njKeever]

Here's the template I created to make my "smart star."

[chrisatpsu]

12mm if you want a tight fit. 

 12.7mm is about 1/2".

[jwilliams31]

Here is what I was working on.  As I said, it's just basic LEDs this year in plywood.  I made 1/2 holes because I would like to transition it to RGBs next year, but after all that, I may have to re-do it anyway because the plywood chipped quite a bit from all the drilling.

Maybe I'll re-do it in coro...

Anyway, enjoy.

 

[zwiller]

Seeing that the node is designed to be inserted into sheet metal and we are mounting on pipes and whatnot, does the node stay in place in a pipe or is a fastener necessary?