DIY 3D printed recessed LED fixtures

opiesche · 12-22-13, 10:17 PM

[EDIT] sorry, some of the pictures are upside down.

So, the original 1980s light fixtures in our upstairs hallway have always bothered me a bit. They just look... well, so 1980s. Since I've built fixtures out of LED modules and strips for both my office and kitchen, I figured why not replace those too. For the hallway though, after talking it over with the wife, we wanted recessed lights.
I did a little shopping and found several different options - all of them outrageously expensive, $30 and up. Since we wanted two rows of 5 each along the hall, that could have gotten expensive real quick.

Back in September, I got a 3D printer for my birthday. So, earlier today I set out to design my own simple recessed LED fixture, and about an hour ago I installed the first two!

The fixture itself consists of two parts, top and bottom. The bottom is sized so that it exactly fits into the hole my 65mm hole saw makes into the drywall, tight enough to not need any adhesive.

The top is designed to thread the wires of one of my go-to LED modules (4 5050 type SMD LEDs in one small module), through and glue the module itself to the center strip:

There's a 1mm lip around the inside of the bottom half, designed to catch a piece of acrylic cut to size with the same hole saw. It fits in perfectly and lays on top of the lip, again without needing any adhesive.

Then the top just slots into the bottom piece.

So, I just cut a hole in the drywall from below, push the bottom part in. Then wire the modules from above, and just drop them into the fixtures from the attic. It takes about 10 minutes to wire and install two of these. They're extremely low profile (only about 16mm tall), and since the LED modules run on about 0.8W each, heat is negligible.

Here's a shot of the bottom half of one being printed:

12-22-13, 10:17 PM	#1
opiesche Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Rohnert Park, CA Posts: 99 Thanks: 4 Thanked 14 Times in 9 Posts	DIY 3D printed recessed LED fixtures [EDIT] sorry, some of the pictures are upside down. So, the original 1980s light fixtures in our upstairs hallway have always bothered me a bit. They just look... well, so 1980s. Since I've built fixtures out of LED modules and strips for both my office and kitchen, I figured why not replace those too. For the hallway though, after talking it over with the wife, we wanted recessed lights. I did a little shopping and found several different options - all of them outrageously expensive, $30 and up. Since we wanted two rows of 5 each along the hall, that could have gotten expensive real quick. Back in September, I got a 3D printer for my birthday. So, earlier today I set out to design my own simple recessed LED fixture, and about an hour ago I installed the first two! The fixture itself consists of two parts, top and bottom. The bottom is sized so that it exactly fits into the hole my 65mm hole saw makes into the drywall, tight enough to not need any adhesive. The top is designed to thread the wires of one of my go-to LED modules (4 5050 type SMD LEDs in one small module), through and glue the module itself to the center strip: There's a 1mm lip around the inside of the bottom half, designed to catch a piece of acrylic cut to size with the same hole saw. It fits in perfectly and lays on top of the lip, again without needing any adhesive. Then the top just slots into the bottom piece. So, I just cut a hole in the drywall from below, push the bottom part in. Then wire the modules from above, and just drop them into the fixtures from the attic. It takes about 10 minutes to wire and install two of these. They're extremely low profile (only about 16mm tall), and since the LED modules run on about 0.8W each, heat is negligible. Here's a shot of the bottom half of one being printed: Attached Thumbnails Last edited by opiesche; 12-23-13 at 01:31 AM..