🎄 BEST Christmas 2024 DEALS (updated daily): amzn.to/41ffvu6 ☑ Check out my sponsor to begin your FREE 14 day trial to Aura: aura.com/chrismaher LED Lights I used: amzn.to/2VEUh5U Acrylic Panels: (make sure to select the white Acrylic panel): amzn.to/2MndvvQ Gorilla Wood Glue: amzn.to/3o3KfqG Painters Tape: amzn.to/3pUMyh1 Wood: Any 1inch x 4inch lumber will work. Try getting wood that is straight as possible. Hinges I Used: www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-in-Zinc-Plated-Non-Removable-Pin-Narrow-Utility-Hinges-2-Pack-15161/202034166 Links to a few of my other complete how-to projects: RGB Baseboard Trim: th-cam.com/video/Ik8HnGxfQq0/w-d-xo.html DIY Customizable Images: th-cam.com/video/2q_zrEcbXHE/w-d-xo.html RGB LIGHT PROJECT: th-cam.com/video/rIbTzUD2E4k/w-d-xo.html LED Strip Diffuser Ideas: th-cam.com/video/09-fiWjP42Y/w-d-xo.html DIY Hexagon Project: th-cam.com/video/t9xGyB4ahyY/w-d-xo.html DIY Corner Project: th-cam.com/video/ZB5HqWhMXNo/w-d-xo.html DIY Edge Lit Designs: th-cam.com/video/0_TtHkBB3vA/w-d-xo.html DIY Govee Glide: th-cam.com/video/n9LsiQARFas/w-d-xo.html DIY Black Acrylic Floating Shelves: th-cam.com/video/6csSMtV_op0/w-d-xo.html Shop Tools: Sliding Compound Miter Saw: amzn.to/303kopD Portable Table Saw (my brothers-in-laws. Maybe someday I will be able to afford this on my own): amzn.to/3qCLVsX Music Used in this Video: I used 2 songs from Kalax in this video. His music just makes me want to drive down the California coast as the sun sets with the windows down. Crazy talented. Please support his music any way you can! Kalax - Out of Time (feat. Pyxis, Jay Diggs) [Official Music Video] th-cam.com/video/em1Ar8iq3d8/w-d-xo.html Kalax - Fight for Us th-cam.com/video/qvIbL6dAiy8/w-d-xo.html Link to his Website: www.iamkalax.com/?fbclid=IwAR2jLdRYabWAX7tJnaDVo3BCbpdcM5qCWYZvXigUW6ppzirERvzFA28ldds Song: Jarico - Landscape (Vlog No Copyright Music) Music promoted by Vlog No Copyright Music. Video Link: th-cam.com/video/EwRdKJURDHw/w-d-xo.html #NoCopyrightMusic #VlogMusic #VlogNoCopyrightMusic Song: Niwel - Bad Love (Vocal Edit) (Vlog No Copyright Music) Music provided by Vlog No Copyright Music. Video Link: th-cam.com/video/jzhShZYA4Tw/w-d-xo.html #NoCopyrightMusic #VlogMusic #VlogNoCopyrightMusic Song: Thomas Gresen - Last Dance Music provided by Vlog No Copyright Music. Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported Video Link: th-cam.com/video/JDnjRe_cckg/w-d-xo.html #NoCopyrightMusic #VlogMusic #VlogNoCopyrightMusic Song: INOSSI - Sunset Eyes Music by: @INOSSI th-cam.com/users/INOSSI Music provided by Vlog No Copyright Music. Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported Video Link: th-cam.com/video/a9OmMXS1P-M/w-d-xo.html #NoCopyrightMusic #VlogMusic #vlognocopyrightmusic The best way to help support my channel is to like, comment, make sure your subscribed and share my videos with as many people as you can. The other way is to use my links above as I get a small % at no extra cost to you if you buy something. Thank you all for the support!
I want you to know that I made these following your tutorial and they turned out great! I made two of them, 8 squares each, and hung them up in my business, a skating rink. I used Govee RGBIc lights and they work beautifully. If I could post a photo I would. I get lots of compliments on them! Thanks for this greatvideo!
That's so awesome and thanks so much for sharing! I love hearing stuff like this! I'd love to see them as well! If you have time feel free to send me an email. outrunprojects@gmail.com thanks again!
Love your optimizations from the previous video. You're spot on that the white paint promotes reflection. Light really has 2 fundamentals to consider: the emission (from the LED, in this case), and the reflection (or lack thereof -- spreads or isolates the light). As for backing, one could either make it opaque as you describe, or leave it open for bias against the wall (much like your projector screen -- nice touch, by the way!).
Thanks so much! I did learn from my first one! I'm trying some ws2812b led strips in my new one and having fun learning more about the individual addressable LEDs. Thanks for the support!
Thanks so much! Took a while to find the material and then a little more time to realize i had to move the lights a little further away from the diffuser. (initially i was trying to make these using 1 x 2 inch wood and i could see the individual LED's. I ended up using 1 x 4 inch wood and that made all the difference)
Man all of the stuff your release is so good! I’m so happy I found your channel. Just a quick tip that I’ve seen a lot of people for assembling boxes - lay out the 4 pieces with the insides facing down. But the edges up and tape at each joint. Flip, glue joints and assemble.
Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to comment! You are far more advanced than I was when I made this video. That's the exact technique I think i used in future videos after seeing someone use that approach! It works so much better lol. Thanks again for the great tip!
Thanks for watching! They really did a nice job. I love your channel. You are so much more advanced than I am. I'm going to have to reach back out to you when I finally get the courage to try using some Individual Addressable led strips.
i'm floored at how uniform the colours in the boxes stay. I want to do a similar project my self, and i was so worried that it would be a minshmash of colours in each unit. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for watching! I appreciate it! You could definitely make a triangle one of these. Same idea but you would need to cut the acrylic a little bit which can be done with a table saw very easily! Maybe my next video I'll try!
Do you think building these boxes like a ladder instead of making a bunch of squares and gluing them together would take anything away from the look? Seems like it would be a lot easier. Btw, I’ve binged your channel completely today. Great stuff… well, except for the Vikings. GPG!
Thanks so much for watching and glad your liking the videos! That's a really good idea! I don't think it would take anything away and for sure would be a fun project to try! Let me know if you give it a go! Lol let me enjoy the Vikings for now because they will always let us down come playoffs lol.
You can make something like this far thinner if you use Light Guide Acrylic, where the LEDs are on the edge of the material, and it lights evenly. That's how they make LCD screens and thin signage.
That's a really good idea! I wonder if it would be hard to assemble something like that using wood? Do you know if you would have to use a different kind of LEDs or world any strip work with that light guide acrylic?
Hi Chris! This design is amazing! We'd like to use this design at our church but we have a few questions. With what you know now about Ws2812b strips and Wled, do you think it's possible to use one led strip per tower going all around instead of the 2 used here, segment it in wled as though it were 2 strips and mirror it? That way, a chase effect, for example, both sides will start from the bottom and everything will look even as you said in the video?
Thanks so much for watching and that's so cool! You can for sure use one strip and do it all around. WLED lets you choose what leds you want to assign to a segment. So lets say you have 500 leds total. You can have the first 250 in segment 1 and then the next 250 part of segment 2. You can then choose if you want the animations to start at the beginning or end of each segment. Segment 1 you would have them start at the beginning and segment 2 you would have it start at the ending. Now even though theoretically this will work, in my experience the animations are never perfectly in sync. They are usually from what I've seen 1 led off. Now my guess is you would not be able to tell the difference when you have everything set up but something to keep in mind. In this video: th-cam.com/video/rIbTzUD2E4k/w-d-xo.html I wired 2 strips in parallels and the animations were then exactly the same. (I split the data signal to go into 2 different strips) Hope that makes some sense but let me know if you have any questions!
Thanks for the watching! It looks like the first link in my description for acrylic does not have the white option available. I reached out to the seller and said that Amazon should get the white in stock soon that I used. I did put another link right below that for another seller that sells the white acrylic and is currently in stock. It's actually a little less expensive too.
You can for sure use tin foil instead of paint. You could also skip the paint or foil all together. It just gets a little brighter if you use something that is more reflective than just normal wood. You if I were to do this project over again, I would use ws2812b individually addressable led lights and wire them up vs using the led strips that are just 1 long strip. Thanks for watching!
Thanks so much for watching! The acrylic I used was 1/8 inch thick and worked great. I'm not 100% sure what the light transmission was but you want to get a good mix of letting enough light through without being able to see the individual hotspots. The ones I link to in the description worked great (unless they have changed the design of them since I made this project)
Hi im trying to do something similar with a kallax ikea furniture with 8 cases to make a dj booth. I've bought a panel of plexyglass white special for leds. Which model of light stripes do you recommend? I want something like you ( but plug & play with fade-rainbow, moving from left to right, colourful, wich can be controled with an app on the phone. Do you think a have to make a box like you to light the kallax-8 cases stand?
Hey I love this content! I was curious about how you controlled the LEDs on the 5M strips - was it straightforward on the controller to set the specific LEDs to a specific color within the boxes? In my head it seemed difficult to figure out how to set up two different LED strips on opposite sides of the boxes to set the colors to sync up like that.
Thanks for watching and great question! Basically each led strip running up either side is an exact mirror of the other side. So whatever 1 side is doing, the other will also be doing. It still looked great and the different animations allowed for cool effects and colors but if I were to do it again I would use ws2822b lights so that I could actually have complete control of each individual box if I wanted to.
@@ChrisMaherDIY Ahhh thank you, my bad! You answered it at 12:40 in the video and it went in one ear and out the other. I loved the photos with the gradient in the boxes and didn't realize that was just the lights shifting color along the strip and not actually set inside those boxes as a specific color. I'm really impressed with how great it looks on such a budget.
Yay! I'm so happy that you were able to get this video up in time for me to make these before Christmas! 🥰 I watched once already and I'll be watching this probably a million more times but I may have missed if you said but did you use two 32 ft packs of lights? one for each of the 5 panel towers?
Looks awesome and neat! Might try making these. May I ask what's the specific name of the wood that was used? The home depot links provided are restricted on my end. Will try to look for it in our local hardware. Thank you.
Thanks so much!! Here is what is called: 1 in. x 4 in. x 8 ft. Select Kiln-Dried square edge. Any 1 in. x 4 in. wood would work. Just try to find wood that is as straight and flat as possible.
Just watched this video and a lot more of your others. I am looking to start my own DIY project like this and your Hexagons, im looking for the best sort of LED lights to use for this. From your experience, what are the best ones to use? Trying not to make things too expensive either. Dont really want to be soldering either, I dont have any experience at this / wiring / electronics
Thanks so much for watching and that's so cool! I would go with Govee RGBIC Wifi lights as they seem to be the most recognizable brand and they have always worked well when I used them. You wouldn't have to solder and I feel like the majority of people who watch these videos are looking for things they can actually make themselves and as soon as they see soldering or programming, it might reduce the chances of them trying it. Let me know if you have any other questions! Here is the link to the lights. They come in 16 or 32 feet. amzn.to/2XLpbha
@@ChrisMaherDIY Cheers man! Also thanks for your reply, you're super helpful and extremely inspiring! Your creations are absolutely insane! Thanks for the lights recommendations and the link too :) I saw that you had a video using some E colour Lights but I wasn't able to find those lights anywhere in the UK (the ones that synced to music); but I can see that these Govee ones have that ability too anyway :D Thanks for your help dude. I also really enjoyed your video where you made the Tube lighting, what sheets would you recommend for that sort of diffusion for the cylinder style lighting to diffuse the LED's?
@@smp4308 Your too kind. I appreciate it! The tube lighting is tough because the best material i found was at a local craft store. I found a lot of similar things on Amazon but none of them worked quite as well. the ones from my local store only required me to double up the material to get the perfect diffusion while the ones I found on Amazon required like 5 layers. One thing you can try doing that I did a lot was to go to whatever craft/hobby store you have in the UK and what I would do is take a flashlight up and down the isle and look for different materials to see if it let light through. I would then buy it and test it at home to see how it looked. Here is one you could try off amazon. I dont know about the UK but here in the states its free returns and if it doesn't work, you can just return it. amzn.to/3vePE3L
@@ChrisMaherDIY Ahh okay thanks man! those ones are sold out on amazon in the UK but will have a look for some :) How thick do you reckon the sheets need to be or do you reckon its not the thickness but more so how frosted / coloured they are. Thanks for all your replies man! Keep up the awesome work, eagerly awaiting your next video!
@@smp4308 I just saw these that look similar. I just ordered it for myself lol. amzn.to/3FyJSP0 I'll see how it compares to the local ones i found! But i think it has more to do with how frosted it is rather than thickness. The next video I'm working on is going to be for the people that have no tools! It will be a fun one. Thanks again!
No I have not. Are you thinking that would be more reflective to put on the inside of the boxes so it got brighter? That would be something I would love to try! Thanks for the comment!
@@ChrisMaherDIY I do think that it will be more reflective. but if you can get a white super gloss from autozone or a place like that. I have been 3d printing and went from standard spray paints to auto paints and what a difference.
Hey, I saw your Hexagonal panels and really love that idea. Do you think using the plates with the hexagons is still the way to go? Or would it be better to use these acrylic sheets instead of the plates for the hexagons?
If you have the money, and tools to cut the acrylic (you can use just a regular table saw), i would use the acrylic over the plates. The only thing then that you would want to change is use 1 inch by 4 inch pieces of wood for the hexagons. I tried using the acrylic on the 1 inch by 2 inch wood and you could see a little bit of the led lights shining through the acrylic. Getting the 4 inch deep wood will allow you to put the led lights a little further away from the acrylic and it should then be perfect so that you can see any of the LED lights and there will be a perfect uniform glow! If i were to do it again, i would do it this way! Thanks for the comment and for watching!
Thanks for the comment! I'm sure there is. My suggestion would be finding some cheap clear plastic that is somewhat rigid and then putting some type of paper on top of that and see how that looks. Parchment paper works decent so you could try that on top of the clear plastic!
@@ChrisMaherDIY you can just buy clear see through plastic then using around 320 grit sandpaper scuff up the surface in a circular motion. This makes a diffused look
I got the same lights you linked on here and I can't find instructions for where to cut them Also, people on amazon said you can't cut them. Are they just referring to the fact that you cant use the leftover strip if you cut them or will it mess the whole strip up? Are those lights the exact ones you got?
Thanks for the comment! Yeah those are the exact same ones I got. You can definitely cut them. Just make the cut in the middle of the copper connector's where you need. The leftover strip that you cut off, I'm not sure then if that is able to be used again. From other comments, people are pretty convinced you can get a different connector/power supply and be able to use the leftover strips! Hope that helps!
The link to the Acrylic Panels are only for Clear, Frosted or Mirrored Acrylic only. Can you give me the exact brand and model that you used? And what Percentage of Translucent it has?
I contacted the seller via amazon to see if they are out. I did find something else that looks exactly the same and is the same thickness. I ordered them just now and they will be arriving tomorrow so i can test them out. Here is the link to them. amzn.to/385o3ru I'll also let you know tomorrow when i get them if they are the exact same! Thanks again for letting me know!
The seller said they sent another shipment to amazon and should be ready to order via amazon in 4 or 5 days they thought. I received the ones i ordered today and they are the same size and thickness. They will definitely work. They block a tiny bit more of the light but still looks great.
@@ChrisMaherDIY Thanks Chris for your quick responses. I ordered the alternative and will also order the original ones the come back into stock. Thank you for all your time and effort, for it is greatly appriciated
Thats a great idea! Those boxes look nice. just checked them out. Any idea how to fit the acrylic in them without having to take them apart to cut the groove? Or do you think just laying the acrylic on top would be easiest?
Bro, Please don't use your table saw in flipflops. You'd be better off going barefoot than using a footwear that could easily cause you misstep. A little sawdust on the floor and while you're feeding stock.....whoooooops....bad things can happen man. We like to use a sand additive paint to put a "rug" in front of the machines, and use good boots or shoes with GRIP , so when you're feeding some stock that requires a little more Oomph, you don't go headways into your table. It happens man, and it happens so quick you never see it coming. Godspeed! Great work on the project. Guess I need a Raspberry Pi after all.
Thanks for watching and for the advice! You are 100% right. Good shoes with good grip from here on out for me. It's just not worth it. Thanks for looking out and I appreciate the comment!
My guess is you could use a circular saw like this one to make the cuts. You would have to do a little more work as far as setting up some guides to make the cuts but probably a little cheaper than a table saw. www.amazon.com/Ryobi-Lithium-Cordless-Circular-Included/dp/B01GUM6YQU/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=circular+saw&qid=1609257155&sr=8-10
The size of each acrylic is 12 inches by 12 inches. When factoring in the wood, each square is about 13 inches by 13 inches. I made a total of 10 squares for the project. Thanks for watching and let me know if you have any other questions!
Thanks for the question! I didn't use anything for this one. Just kept the natural wood color. I know the wood looks dark in some of the final pictures/videos but that's just what happens when you take pictures at night with the LEDS on.
@@ChrisMaherDIY Well then could you kind sir please tell me the brand/color of stain that is showing at the beginning of this video where you are outside and on a table there is a completed dark unit that is next to a piece of natural wood?
@@markroles7304 My apologies! I completely forgot I did stain 1 extra square after the project was done just to see how it would look. I used some Varathane Premium Wood Stain Kona color. Here is the link but much cheaper at hardware store vs amazon. amzn.to/39l0WKt
Hey Chris, where can I find your email address? For I would like to send you my experiences that I have done in the past on you subjects that you are doing now. And then would love for you to then create new creative projects from them in your own brilliant creative imagination. Like a $4 wifi cell phone LED controller to interactive with your awesome LED boxes, to using you router ( because of you I bought one) Hint, make a chanel in each of your boxes, using your router to flush mount them into
Thanks!! I'm always looking for advice and trying to learn from people who have much more experience and know how than I do! Email is: ledxmaher@gmail.com
🎄 BEST Christmas 2024 DEALS (updated daily): amzn.to/41ffvu6
☑ Check out my sponsor to begin your FREE 14 day trial to Aura: aura.com/chrismaher
LED Lights I used: amzn.to/2VEUh5U
Acrylic Panels: (make sure to select the white Acrylic panel): amzn.to/2MndvvQ
Gorilla Wood Glue: amzn.to/3o3KfqG
Painters Tape: amzn.to/3pUMyh1
Wood: Any 1inch x 4inch lumber will work. Try getting wood that is straight as possible.
Hinges I Used: www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-in-Zinc-Plated-Non-Removable-Pin-Narrow-Utility-Hinges-2-Pack-15161/202034166
Links to a few of my other complete how-to projects:
RGB Baseboard Trim: th-cam.com/video/Ik8HnGxfQq0/w-d-xo.html
DIY Customizable Images: th-cam.com/video/2q_zrEcbXHE/w-d-xo.html
RGB LIGHT PROJECT: th-cam.com/video/rIbTzUD2E4k/w-d-xo.html
LED Strip Diffuser Ideas: th-cam.com/video/09-fiWjP42Y/w-d-xo.html
DIY Hexagon Project: th-cam.com/video/t9xGyB4ahyY/w-d-xo.html
DIY Corner Project: th-cam.com/video/ZB5HqWhMXNo/w-d-xo.html
DIY Edge Lit Designs: th-cam.com/video/0_TtHkBB3vA/w-d-xo.html
DIY Govee Glide: th-cam.com/video/n9LsiQARFas/w-d-xo.html
DIY Black Acrylic Floating Shelves: th-cam.com/video/6csSMtV_op0/w-d-xo.html
Shop Tools:
Sliding Compound Miter Saw: amzn.to/303kopD
Portable Table Saw (my brothers-in-laws. Maybe someday I will be able to afford this on my own): amzn.to/3qCLVsX
Music Used in this Video:
I used 2 songs from Kalax in this video. His music just makes me want to drive down the California coast as the sun sets with the windows down. Crazy talented. Please support his music any way you can!
Kalax - Out of Time (feat. Pyxis, Jay Diggs) [Official Music Video] th-cam.com/video/em1Ar8iq3d8/w-d-xo.html
Kalax - Fight for Us th-cam.com/video/qvIbL6dAiy8/w-d-xo.html
Link to his Website: www.iamkalax.com/?fbclid=IwAR2jLdRYabWAX7tJnaDVo3BCbpdcM5qCWYZvXigUW6ppzirERvzFA28ldds
Song: Jarico - Landscape (Vlog No Copyright Music)
Music promoted by Vlog No Copyright Music.
Video Link: th-cam.com/video/EwRdKJURDHw/w-d-xo.html
#NoCopyrightMusic #VlogMusic #VlogNoCopyrightMusic
Song: Niwel - Bad Love (Vocal Edit) (Vlog No Copyright Music)
Music provided by Vlog No Copyright Music.
Video Link: th-cam.com/video/jzhShZYA4Tw/w-d-xo.html
#NoCopyrightMusic #VlogMusic #VlogNoCopyrightMusic
Song: Thomas Gresen - Last Dance
Music provided by Vlog No Copyright Music.
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported
Video Link: th-cam.com/video/JDnjRe_cckg/w-d-xo.html
#NoCopyrightMusic #VlogMusic #VlogNoCopyrightMusic
Song: INOSSI - Sunset Eyes
Music by: @INOSSI th-cam.com/users/INOSSI
Music provided by Vlog No Copyright Music.
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported
Video Link: th-cam.com/video/a9OmMXS1P-M/w-d-xo.html
#NoCopyrightMusic #VlogMusic #vlognocopyrightmusic
The best way to help support my channel is to like, comment, make sure your subscribed and share my videos with as many people as you can. The other way is to use my links above as I get a small % at no extra cost to you if you buy something. Thank you all for the support!
Can you please try using mirror film on them
It will look like mirror untill u switch it on
Please try and upload
@@shubhamverma2954 That sounds like a great Idea! I might have to try that sometime. Thanks for the suggestion!!
You are quickly becoming the GOAT when it comes to DIY Nanos! Let’s get this guy to a million subs so he can retire and make more videos all day.
Lol thanks Dustin! Appreciate the support!
I love it that you crawl around on your living room floor assembling boxes...I end up on my carpet stringing leds together too!
lol great minds think alike! Thanks for watching!
I want you to know that I made these following your tutorial and they turned out great! I made two of them, 8 squares each, and hung them up in my business, a skating rink. I used Govee RGBIc lights and they work beautifully. If I could post a photo I would. I get lots of compliments on them! Thanks for this greatvideo!
That's so awesome and thanks so much for sharing! I love hearing stuff like this! I'd love to see them as well! If you have time feel free to send me an email. outrunprojects@gmail.com thanks again!
Love your optimizations from the previous video. You're spot on that the white paint promotes reflection. Light really has 2 fundamentals to consider: the emission (from the LED, in this case), and the reflection (or lack thereof -- spreads or isolates the light). As for backing, one could either make it opaque as you describe, or leave it open for bias against the wall (much like your projector screen -- nice touch, by the way!).
Thanks so much! I did learn from my first one! I'm trying some ws2812b led strips in my new one and having fun learning more about the individual addressable LEDs. Thanks for the support!
this is by far the best diffuser I've seen in the diy lights
Thanks so much! Took a while to find the material and then a little more time to realize i had to move the lights a little further away from the diffuser. (initially i was trying to make these using 1 x 2 inch wood and i could see the individual LED's. I ended up using 1 x 4 inch wood and that made all the difference)
Man all of the stuff your release is so good! I’m so happy I found your channel. Just a quick tip that I’ve seen a lot of people for assembling boxes - lay out the 4 pieces with the insides facing down. But the edges up and tape at each joint. Flip, glue joints and assemble.
Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to comment! You are far more advanced than I was when I made this video. That's the exact technique I think i used in future videos after seeing someone use that approach! It works so much better lol. Thanks again for the great tip!
Great job man! By far the best tutorials for these things out there.
Thank you!! I appreciate it!
The white acrylic defuses the light so well! I'm going to try it for my next LED project.
Thanks for watching! They really did a nice job. I love your channel. You are so much more advanced than I am. I'm going to have to reach back out to you when I finally get the courage to try using some Individual Addressable led strips.
Great video fair play. And looks simple enough to do just rinse and repeat mostly.
Thanks for the upload :)
Thank you!! I appreciate it! Thanks for watching!
i'm floored at how uniform the colours in the boxes stay. I want to do a similar project my self, and i was so worried that it would be a minshmash of colours in each unit. Keep up the good work!
Thanks!! Let me know how they turn out for you or if you have any questions when making them!
Another great how-to for the books!
Thanks so much for watching! I appreciate the support!
Best one I’ve seen 👌🏾
Appreciate the kind words! Glad you liked the project!
I demand a video that's just a supercut of all the time-lapse construction montages set to those sick beats.
Hahaha I'll see what I can do!
Great job, the room looks awesome!
Thanks so much for watching and the comment! I appreciate the support!
Dude- thank you- your Vids are awesome.
Thanks so much!! Glad you are enjoying the videos. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Make a triangle one! These are amazing man!
Thanks for watching! I appreciate it! You could definitely make a triangle one of these. Same idea but you would need to cut the acrylic a little bit which can be done with a table saw very easily! Maybe my next video I'll try!
Amazing video! Great project. Can’t wait to work on this. You definitely deserve many more subscribers 👍
Thanks so much! I'd love to see how it turns out or what you did to make it better!
Chris They have premade wood boxes at Michaels in different sizes that would probably be easier to alter than all that cutting.
That's a great idea! I'll have to check it out! I even have a couple Michaels stores within 20 min from where i live. Thanks!
@@ChrisMaherDIY Also there's coupons
nice vids man, love it. Everything is very clear
Thanks so much! Appreciate it!
Do you think building these boxes like a ladder instead of making a bunch of squares and gluing them together would take anything away from the look? Seems like it would be a lot easier. Btw, I’ve binged your channel completely today. Great stuff… well, except for the Vikings. GPG!
Thanks so much for watching and glad your liking the videos! That's a really good idea! I don't think it would take anything away and for sure would be a fun project to try! Let me know if you give it a go! Lol let me enjoy the Vikings for now because they will always let us down come playoffs lol.
You can make something like this far thinner if you use Light Guide Acrylic, where the LEDs are on the edge of the material, and it lights evenly. That's how they make LCD screens and thin signage.
That's a really good idea! I wonder if it would be hard to assemble something like that using wood? Do you know if you would have to use a different kind of LEDs or world any strip work with that light guide acrylic?
Hi Chris! This design is amazing! We'd like to use this design at our church but we have a few questions. With what you know now about Ws2812b strips and Wled, do you think it's possible to use one led strip per tower going all around instead of the 2 used here, segment it in wled as though it were 2 strips and mirror it? That way, a chase effect, for example, both sides will start from the bottom and everything will look even as you said in the video?
Thanks so much for watching and that's so cool! You can for sure use one strip and do it all around. WLED lets you choose what leds you want to assign to a segment. So lets say you have 500 leds total. You can have the first 250 in segment 1 and then the next 250 part of segment 2. You can then choose if you want the animations to start at the beginning or end of each segment. Segment 1 you would have them start at the beginning and segment 2 you would have it start at the ending. Now even though theoretically this will work, in my experience the animations are never perfectly in sync. They are usually from what I've seen 1 led off. Now my guess is you would not be able to tell the difference when you have everything set up but something to keep in mind. In this video: th-cam.com/video/rIbTzUD2E4k/w-d-xo.html I wired 2 strips in parallels and the animations were then exactly the same. (I split the data signal to go into 2 different strips) Hope that makes some sense but let me know if you have any questions!
these are badass
Thanks buddy!! Glad you like the project!
Thank you and I appreciate you. Please tell me how did you frost the acrylic because I believe they come in clear. Thank you
Thanks for the watching! It looks like the first link in my description for acrylic does not have the white option available. I reached out to the seller and said that Amazon should get the white in stock soon that I used. I did put another link right below that for another seller that sells the white acrylic and is currently in stock. It's actually a little less expensive too.
Thx once again man
you can use tinfoil instead of that white paint. Also, ca I cut and wire the led strips
You can for sure use tin foil instead of paint. You could also skip the paint or foil all together. It just gets a little brighter if you use something that is more reflective than just normal wood. You if I were to do this project over again, I would use ws2812b individually addressable led lights and wire them up vs using the led strips that are just 1 long strip. Thanks for watching!
what profession includes these type of thing idk to be honest i wanna do the same so yeah love it so much
lol if you can think of a profession let me know!
@@ChrisMaherDIY lol dont mind dude but keep it up like ur all videos u r awesome
what percentage of light transmission do you recommend for the acrylic sheets?
and what thickness?
Thanks so much for watching! The acrylic I used was 1/8 inch thick and worked great. I'm not 100% sure what the light transmission was but you want to get a good mix of letting enough light through without being able to see the individual hotspots. The ones I link to in the description worked great (unless they have changed the design of them since I made this project)
Amazing Dude!
Thanks so much! Thanks for watching!
What LED lights did you use for this project? I know you included a amazon link but that link is now dead ... Thank you
I was wondering as well and how many meters 🤔
Thanks 🙏🏽 🔥
Glad you liked! Thanks for watching!
Epic video!!
Thank you for watching!! I appreciate your comment!
Hi im trying to do something similar with a kallax ikea furniture with 8 cases to make a dj booth. I've bought a panel of plexyglass white special for leds. Which model of light stripes do you recommend? I want something like you ( but plug & play with fade-rainbow, moving from left to right, colourful, wich can be controled with an app on the phone. Do you think a have to make a box like you to light the kallax-8 cases stand?
Hey I love this content! I was curious about how you controlled the LEDs on the 5M strips - was it straightforward on the controller to set the specific LEDs to a specific color within the boxes? In my head it seemed difficult to figure out how to set up two different LED strips on opposite sides of the boxes to set the colors to sync up like that.
Thanks for watching and great question! Basically each led strip running up either side is an exact mirror of the other side. So whatever 1 side is doing, the other will also be doing. It still looked great and the different animations allowed for cool effects and colors but if I were to do it again I would use ws2822b lights so that I could actually have complete control of each individual box if I wanted to.
@@ChrisMaherDIY Ahhh thank you, my bad! You answered it at 12:40 in the video and it went in one ear and out the other. I loved the photos with the gradient in the boxes and didn't realize that was just the lights shifting color along the strip and not actually set inside those boxes as a specific color. I'm really impressed with how great it looks on such a budget.
Yay! I'm so happy that you were able to get this video up in time for me to make these before Christmas! 🥰 I watched once already and I'll be watching this probably a million more times but I may have missed if you said but did you use two 32 ft packs of lights? one for each of the 5 panel towers?
Ahh thanks so much!! Let me know if you have any questions at all! And yes, 2 packs of 32 ft.
Looks awesome and neat! Might try making these.
May I ask what's the specific name of the wood that was used? The home depot links provided are restricted on my end.
Will try to look for it in our local hardware.
Thank you.
Thanks so much!! Here is what is called: 1 in. x 4 in. x 8 ft. Select Kiln-Dried square edge. Any 1 in. x 4 in. wood would work. Just try to find wood that is as straight and flat as possible.
Great! Thanks, Chris.
Looking forward for more DIY vids!
Just watched this video and a lot more of your others. I am looking to start my own DIY project like this and your Hexagons, im looking for the best sort of LED lights to use for this. From your experience, what are the best ones to use? Trying not to make things too expensive either. Dont really want to be soldering either, I dont have any experience at this / wiring / electronics
Thanks so much for watching and that's so cool! I would go with Govee RGBIC Wifi lights as they seem to be the most recognizable brand and they have always worked well when I used them. You wouldn't have to solder and I feel like the majority of people who watch these videos are looking for things they can actually make themselves and as soon as they see soldering or programming, it might reduce the chances of them trying it. Let me know if you have any other questions! Here is the link to the lights. They come in 16 or 32 feet. amzn.to/2XLpbha
@@ChrisMaherDIY Cheers man! Also thanks for your reply, you're super helpful and extremely inspiring! Your creations are absolutely insane! Thanks for the lights recommendations and the link too :) I saw that you had a video using some E colour Lights but I wasn't able to find those lights anywhere in the UK (the ones that synced to music); but I can see that these Govee ones have that ability too anyway :D Thanks for your help dude. I also really enjoyed your video where you made the Tube lighting, what sheets would you recommend for that sort of diffusion for the cylinder style lighting to diffuse the LED's?
@@smp4308 Your too kind. I appreciate it! The tube lighting is tough because the best material i found was at a local craft store. I found a lot of similar things on Amazon but none of them worked quite as well. the ones from my local store only required me to double up the material to get the perfect diffusion while the ones I found on Amazon required like 5 layers. One thing you can try doing that I did a lot was to go to whatever craft/hobby store you have in the UK and what I would do is take a flashlight up and down the isle and look for different materials to see if it let light through. I would then buy it and test it at home to see how it looked. Here is one you could try off amazon. I dont know about the UK but here in the states its free returns and if it doesn't work, you can just return it. amzn.to/3vePE3L
@@ChrisMaherDIY Ahh okay thanks man! those ones are sold out on amazon in the UK but will have a look for some :) How thick do you reckon the sheets need to be or do you reckon its not the thickness but more so how frosted / coloured they are. Thanks for all your replies man! Keep up the awesome work, eagerly awaiting your next video!
@@smp4308 I just saw these that look similar. I just ordered it for myself lol. amzn.to/3FyJSP0 I'll see how it compares to the local ones i found! But i think it has more to do with how frosted it is rather than thickness. The next video I'm working on is going to be for the people that have no tools! It will be a fun one. Thanks again!
Chris you killed it! Awesome video! Now I feel like just making these lol! What are you using for a tv? Projector?
Thanks! Yeah i have a projector with i believe a 100 inch screen. Nothing fancy but it does the job!
@@ChrisMaherDIY im a simple guy who likes simple things the projector looks great nice setup
Have you tried using a white super gloss paint?
No I have not. Are you thinking that would be more reflective to put on the inside of the boxes so it got brighter? That would be something I would love to try! Thanks for the comment!
@@ChrisMaherDIY I do think that it will be more reflective. but if you can get a white super gloss from autozone or a place like that. I have been 3d printing and went from standard spray paints to auto paints and what a difference.
this is probably a dumb question, but the 13" length is that the "short" side or "long" side of the board?
Not a dumb question at all! 13 inches would be the long side. Thanks for watching!
@@ChrisMaherDIY Hey man thank you for replying!!! This will be a first project for my daughter at our new house!!!!
@@oreoninja918 So fun! Perfect project and depending on how old, she could also help you a little!
Hey, I saw your Hexagonal panels and really love that idea. Do you think using the plates with the hexagons is still the way to go? Or would it be better to use these acrylic sheets instead of the plates for the hexagons?
If you have the money, and tools to cut the acrylic (you can use just a regular table saw), i would use the acrylic over the plates. The only thing then that you would want to change is use 1 inch by 4 inch pieces of wood for the hexagons. I tried using the acrylic on the 1 inch by 2 inch wood and you could see a little bit of the led lights shining through the acrylic. Getting the 4 inch deep wood will allow you to put the led lights a little further away from the acrylic and it should then be perfect so that you can see any of the LED lights and there will be a perfect uniform glow! If i were to do it again, i would do it this way! Thanks for the comment and for watching!
You say cut the boards to 13 inch lengths. Since they are 45 degree cuts, Is that 13 inches on the long side or short side?
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! The 13 inches would be on the long side.
@@ChrisMaherDIY thanks for the reply! Looking forward to making these and putting them in my business!
is there a cheaper method for the light defusers?
Thanks for the comment! I'm sure there is. My suggestion would be finding some cheap clear plastic that is somewhat rigid and then putting some type of paper on top of that and see how that looks. Parchment paper works decent so you could try that on top of the clear plastic!
@@ChrisMaherDIY you can just buy clear see through plastic then using around 320 grit sandpaper scuff up the surface in a circular motion. This makes a diffused look
I got the same lights you linked on here and I can't find instructions for where to cut them Also, people on amazon said you can't cut them. Are they just referring to the fact that you cant use the leftover strip if you cut them or will it mess the whole strip up? Are those lights the exact ones you got?
Thanks for the comment! Yeah those are the exact same ones I got. You can definitely cut them. Just make the cut in the middle of the copper connector's where you need. The leftover strip that you cut off, I'm not sure then if that is able to be used again. From other comments, people are pretty convinced you can get a different connector/power supply and be able to use the leftover strips! Hope that helps!
@@ChrisMaherDIYAwesome, thank you for responding. I am almost finished and I LOVE them!!!
@@ashleyparrett3397 you are very welcome! i would love to see a picture of it!
@@ChrisMaherDIY not the best video ever but here it is... th-cam.com/video/FVmJJp-oLU4/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/users/shortsasB8eaQPuO8
The link to the Acrylic Panels are only for Clear, Frosted or Mirrored Acrylic only. Can you give me the exact brand and model that you used? And what Percentage of Translucent it has?
Oh wow yeah your right! Thanks for letting me know. The white one is no longer listed there. Let me see if I can find something similar.
I contacted the seller via amazon to see if they are out. I did find something else that looks exactly the same and is the same thickness. I ordered them just now and they will be arriving tomorrow so i can test them out. Here is the link to them. amzn.to/385o3ru
I'll also let you know tomorrow when i get them if they are the exact same! Thanks again for letting me know!
The seller said they sent another shipment to amazon and should be ready to order via amazon in 4 or 5 days they thought. I received the ones i ordered today and they are the same size and thickness. They will definitely work. They block a tiny bit more of the light but still looks great.
@@ChrisMaherDIY Thanks Chris for your quick responses. I ordered the alternative and will also order the original ones the come back into stock. Thank you for all your time and effort, for it is greatly appriciated
Pro tip just simply buy SANNAHED from ikea (25cmx25cm) and add milky acrilic. Any way Good Work!
Thats a great idea! Those boxes look nice. just checked them out. Any idea how to fit the acrylic in them without having to take them apart to cut the groove? Or do you think just laying the acrylic on top would be easiest?
Bro, Please don't use your table saw in flipflops. You'd be better off going barefoot than using a footwear that could easily cause you misstep. A little sawdust on the floor and while you're feeding stock.....whoooooops....bad things can happen man. We like to use a sand additive paint to put a "rug" in front of the machines, and use good boots or shoes with GRIP , so when you're feeding some stock that requires a little more Oomph, you don't go headways into your table. It happens man, and it happens so quick you never see it coming. Godspeed!
Great work on the project. Guess I need a Raspberry Pi after all.
Thanks for watching and for the advice! You are 100% right. Good shoes with good grip from here on out for me. It's just not worth it. Thanks for looking out and I appreciate the comment!
Can u provide wood cutting machine that we can buy on low budget amzon link please ...
My guess is you could use a circular saw like this one to make the cuts. You would have to do a little more work as far as setting up some guides to make the cuts but probably a little cheaper than a table saw. www.amazon.com/Ryobi-Lithium-Cordless-Circular-Included/dp/B01GUM6YQU/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=circular+saw&qid=1609257155&sr=8-10
Hi, what is the size of the squares?
The size of each acrylic is 12 inches by 12 inches. When factoring in the wood, each square is about 13 inches by 13 inches. I made a total of 10 squares for the project. Thanks for watching and let me know if you have any other questions!
Chris Maher what is the depth of the squares?)
@@nickmorry9723 4 inches.
good
Thanks!!
What brand/color of stain did you use for this project?
Thanks for the question! I didn't use anything for this one. Just kept the natural wood color. I know the wood looks dark in some of the final pictures/videos but that's just what happens when you take pictures at night with the LEDS on.
@@ChrisMaherDIY Well then could you kind sir please tell me the brand/color of stain that is showing at the beginning of this video where you are outside and on a table there is a completed dark unit that is next to a piece of natural wood?
@@markroles7304 My apologies! I completely forgot I did stain 1 extra square after the project was done just to see how it would look. I used some Varathane Premium Wood Stain Kona color. Here is the link but much cheaper at hardware store vs amazon. amzn.to/39l0WKt
I'm confused what did you stain?
muy bueno
Thank you so much!
Wouldn't it have been less cuts and use less material to make a rectangle and then fit dividers? Only 8 mitres instead of 40 per panel!
That is a good idea! Would you use wood for dividers or would you try something else?
@@ChrisMaherDIY
Perhaps heavy card as light barriers and anchor then fewer larger pieces of diffuser panel topped with dowel to finish.
10 bucks per acrylic, plus the labor and wood....cheaper to spend 200 on a nanoleaf 9 pack.
Very true! Not to mention people might not have access to the tools to make this either. But regardless, it was a fun project! Thanks for watching!
Great focus on safety - pity your not using closed in shoes or actual ear muffs 🤔
Hey Chris, where can I find your email address? For I would like to send you my experiences that I have done in the past on you subjects that you are doing now. And then would love for you to then create new creative projects from them in your own brilliant creative imagination. Like a $4 wifi cell phone LED controller to interactive with your awesome LED boxes, to using you router ( because of you I bought one) Hint, make a chanel in each of your boxes, using your router to flush mount them into
Thanks!! I'm always looking for advice and trying to learn from people who have much more experience and know how than I do! Email is: ledxmaher@gmail.com
goggggg
Thanks for watching!