Side Lighting Fibre Optic Cable

DP44491 · Post by **DP44491** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:57 am

Hi all! my first post on here I have done modelling before but mostly as a kid and now Im 26 and have gone and bought the voyager model from revell and I want to light it.

I am looking at using the side lighting Fibre Optic Cable and have a couple of questions realting to how I am intending on using it.

Firstly I am wondering if I heat shrink wrapped an LED at either end of a small strip of say 5mm fibre optic whether or not it would work fine for lighting my voyager model nacelles and also as main lighting inside the model, to prevent hot spots as it were, in the same fashion as attaching a straw to the LED's to diffuse the light?

Secondly if I were to round the end of the fibre optic cable into a dome would it emit light all the way around so it doesnt matter what angle you look at it? I ask this as I am thinking of using this for my nav lighting in a way that I would shrink wrap enough 2mm fibre optic cable to (for example) a green LED for all my starboard nav lighting and shrink wrap the optic cables up as far as the hull of the ship so the only bit emitting light is the part meant as the nav light?
I just thought this would be easier for someone with limited to non existant electronic experience and look nicer than poking larger LED's through the model that look out of scale.

DLMatthys · Post by **DLMatthys** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 8:00 pm

This is fun stuff to learn and experiment with.
Flaring the end of a Fiber Optic (FO) gives a wide lens effect.
I use a hot soldering iron or the glow at the end of my cigi (cough)

An effective way to interface a FO from a LED is to drill a hole into the top of the LED about half way into it above the diode internal guts. I use a CA glue to bind it.

Useing heat shrink tube for this can be dicey. If the heat is to much the FO will bend out of shape quicley and irreversable.

If you want to block light emitting from that LED and FO assembly, paint it with a black paint. Or use a electronics specific insulating compound or black goop that can be brushed on. Some time I luck out to have a tube of wire insulation that the FO can fit though.

Here is a FO and LED assembly example:
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2657/4032 ... a73d_o.jpg
Viewed from the bottom of the clear cast bridge... The strobe is ON flash cycle, so all the light is contained. Not much of a leak.
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2433/4032 ... aae3_o.jpg

It will be a strobe light with a .020 FO on top of a Entrprise D conversion.

rayra · Post by **rayra** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:03 am

If you're referring to shining a light source on the side of a strand of fiber, or counting on light spreading / shining out from it, that's kind of the opposite from how fiber is meant to work. It's generally meant to carry light from one end to the other with minimal transmission thru the sides of the fiber.
There is some fiber available which bleeds sidelight, but it's a specialty item.

swhite228 · Post by **swhite228** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 10:19 am

I think he is talking about the side lighting fiber optics.

If so you would need to have a light source at each end of the fiber to get it bright enough to use as a light (it would be better than a straw with a led at each end).

You could round the end and get light shining out the end but the side glow would be way less than you would want.

Think of the soaker hose the gardners use. It is made to leak water along it's length like the fiber optics you are talking about.

It comes with a cap on the end (the 2nd led) to force water out the sides. If you remove the cap the water will flow out the end of the hose with little water going through the side.

The straw idea suffers from a hot spot around the led then a quick drop off of light the farther away from the led you go even with leds at each end.

You could also use clear plastic rods with leds glued to each end and lightly sanded to give the same effect as side glow fibers to light the body of the ship.

Scott Hasty · Post by **Scott Hasty** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 3:16 pm

My understanding is side lit fiber requires higher power LED's like Luxeon Star. I'm told they do need to be heat sunk for heat dissipation. If so, probably not the best for the interior of a model...

rayra · Post by **rayra** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 6:08 pm

I've found and watched that sidelight fiber video, interesting stuff. I can think of a lot of model and diorama uses, 'power conduits' and the like. But I'd be surprised if it put out enough light to sufficiently light something like a warp nacelle. I'd like to see the end product from anybody who's done it, in a lit room.

swhite228 · Post by **swhite228** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 2:36 am

Scott Hasty wrote:My understanding is side lit fiber requires higher power LED's like Luxeon Star. I'm told they do need to be heat sunk for heat dissipation. If so, probably not the best for the interior of a model...

True if your lighting long lengths or using the fiber to replace neon tube in signs.

For short model lengths you can use ultra bright leds for the light source.
You do really need to light each end of the strand as I have been told there is a fall off of brightness the farther away from the light source you go.

This is another idea that could be done instead of the side light fibers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JSMQk61 ... re=related
While the video shows a person making Angel eyes for a car the same can be used in a model.

Tchail · Post by **Tchail** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 6:04 am

I bought a short length (5-feet) of Sideglow cable from Fiberopticproducts.com to experiment with.

http://www.fiberopticproducts.com/Sideglow.htm

And my one observation is that it requires a "lot" of light in order to be even visible along the sides of the cable - a standard 5mm led simply won't cut it.

Best of luck,

-Tchail

opal_1970 · Post by **opal_1970** » Wed May 16, 2012 4:26 am

DLMatthys wrote:
An effective way to interface a FO from a LED is to drill a hole into the top of the LED about half way into it above the diode internal guts. I use a CA glue to bind it.

Are you serious Don? I always considered CA to be the Angel of death for FO. aside from potentially reducing the amount of light they can carry, they become brittle and can very easily break. I have always used good old elmers glue.

I did do some expirimenting with Resin though, and surprised even myself that it worked.

3-min Resin
0.25 FO

FO embedded in Resin

I was very uncertain if it would destroy the fiber optic or its lighting capabilities. Needless to say, after about 6 hours later and it works like a charm. I also bent the strand back and forth and did not noticed any brittleness.

but I really do recommend that anyone wanting to try this to do a few tests first, as resins can be different etc.

Agent Orange · Post by **Agent Orange** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 6:24 pm

Would it give off more light with a standard LED if the strand was given a milky coat of paint?

steve

karim · Post by **karim** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 6:30 pm

Agent Orange wrote:Would it give off more light with a standard LED if the strand was given a milky coat of paint?

steve

Considering that the paint would block some of the light... no.