Fiber Optic Lighting

[Jay61076]

Hi I've been looking over many forums for inspiration on lighting for my Tamiya box trailer and the winner so far has been LED's but while watching TV this evening I had one of those eureka moments when I spotted the Christmas tree is lit with one lamp supplying thousands of little fibre optic strands.

So I know one stand wouldn't be noticed but if they were fitted in groups of say 10 or so they should work.

So my question would be is this just pie in the sky or has someone already done this?

Thanks

Jay

[yamita]

I thought about this when trying to make some realistic bmw headlights with 'angel eyes'. I dont even have a decent set of headlights, so this is still on my 'to do' list.

[Tamiya1/10]

Hi I've been looking over many forums for inspiration on lighting for my Tamiya box trailer and the winner so far has been LED's but while watching TV this evening I had one of those eureka moments when I spotted the Christmas tree is lit with one lamp supplying thousands of little fibre optic strands.

So I know one stand wouldn't be noticed but if they were fitted in groups of say 10 or so they should work.

So my question would be is this just pie in the sky or has someone already done this?

Thanks

Jay

Hi Jay, I think you should give it a try. It may work given the amount of room available from the box trailer and it could lead to other applications under different situations. This hobby is to have fun and the other benefits are learning something new and challenges by using other products not designed.

for RC purpose.

Cheers and have a great holiday.

[Rusty2903]

I thought about this when trying to make some realistic bmw headlights with 'angel eyes'. I dont even have a decent set of headlights, so this is still on my 'to do' list.

Have you thought of this for an angel eyes effect?....... Like in the back of an instrument panel (heater etc) in a car, they have one, maybe two lights lighting up 3/4 instrument panels......

Sorry, but my art work is not that good lol

[blakeatron]

Sorry to be a bummer but i dont think fibre optics would work to well. From my understanding the strands used to be glass but are now some kind of plastic, and the lighting works by being 'bounced' down the strand and exiting from the end. To make this work on a box you would ideally need to put a bend on the end of the strand - which i dont think you can do, especially when you have a bunch together.

What about drilling loads of holes where you want the lights, sealing up the rest of the box and then put a really bright light inside - the light would only come out the holes. But i think this would probably look rubbish!

Led's are the easiest way to go, and it means you wont have hundreds of wires cluttering up your trailer.

Remember more lights the better

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

So my question would be is this just pie in the sky or has someone already done this?

Someone's already done it.... Me

King blackfoot with Fibre Optic rear lights!

No bends are needed, the light simply exits the end of the strands. The strands are from a cheapo UFO bedroom light and are stuck into a slice of a biro pen, which has a red LED on the other side. It took about 5 minuets to make! The tailgate was already drilled for leds, but leds poking out the shell didn't look realistic, so i cut out the whole rear light cluster and replaced it with some clear plastic. The fibre optic strands are just taped up inside the shell. Easy

[DeeMiller]

You can use an optic cable of a Playstation or simular (like TOSLINK Optical Audio Lead).

They come in 1m length.

It works fine when you want to make 1mm lights.

Use a wide angle super bright LED if you want multiple light points.

Good luck.

Grtz Dee.