[sdiy] LEDs protruding through front panels

[Stewart Pye]

Hi David,

I agree that LED's look best when going through the panel without a 
bezel. (unless you have a fancy bezel and that can take up lots of room )

For 3mm LED's I use a 3mm drillbit, and a 5mm drillbit for 5mm LED's. 
It's a nice tight fit so you can just push the LED through then glue 
from the back. I'm not sure how easy it is to get metric drillbits in 
the US though....

Regards,
Stewart.

David G. Dixon wrote:
> I think I've got a handle on power distribution issues now.  Here is my last
> dumb design question for today (promise):
>
> I'm making my first panel with LEDs on it (a triple LFO), and I just want to
> press-fit the LED into the 1/8" aluminum panel, with no bezel or anything.
> (Note: my panels are bare aluminum with black graphics.)  If I drill a 3/16"
> hole, the LED will only go in about half way, and only a small bit of the
> tip will protrude from the front of the panel.  If I drill a 13/64" hole, I
> believe the LED will go in clear to the hilt, in which case it will protrude
> by about 4 or 5 mm, or about half of its length.
>
> So, again, is there a "typical" degree of protrusion for LEDs?  I think I
> prefer the "barely sticking out" option for aesthetic reasons, but I prefer
> the "stuck in clear to the hilt" option for practical reasons.
>
> Or, is just pushing the bare LED through the aluminum a bad idea for some
> reason?  I don't believe they are particularly fragile...
>
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