My Office Showroom Build (Display, Lighting, Mod Tips & Service)

[Pixelpiper]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

The latest spy shot:



What else has been going on the past couple of days: I've done an energy audit of the display lighting, trying to measure the Watt consumption for every circuit segment that has its own plug. Since starting to set up the diorama based displays I've been wanting to reduce the light output of my first vintage display case, and after taking the measurements, I made up my mind to try and cut consumption by at least 30%.

The Klinsbo-based cabinets, the first in this thread, were using under 13 watts for their LED strips. By cutting the resistors on the middle strip, I knocked out half its LEDs to bring it down to 10W or so. I'll be evaluating the "look" when the sun goes down to decide if I'll likewise cut some LEDs from the other two strips. I also cut every other group of three LEDs from the front-most strip on the Hoth Diorama for another approximate 3.5W savings. As well as cutting down on overall energy consumption, which is good for the wallet, I'm also trying to make sure I don't overload the power supply feeding that half of the room. I've still got some shelves to finish and these savings should give me the head room I need for those LEDs.

 

[Pixelpiper]

Update on the Tumbler repairs

To remove the Tumbler LEDs

Front: The LED housing pops right off when pushed with your index finger. Gently pull away from vehicle body and the wire and connector should be visible. If glue is holding the wire back you might have to wiggle to release it.

Top/Rear: Using one or two fingers from the front and another one or two from the back, just lift the module straight up and it will pull out from the body. Unplug on the inside of the cabin to feed the connector through the hole for complete removal.

Mid-section/Canopy lights: It's easiest to remove the canopy which is held in place by some screws toward the back on the underside. Then you can pop the LED lenses which will come off with the body section they're attached to. (photo)

The arrows show the clips that hold it in place (the middle one is hidden because it's on the underside of the piece. Tthere might be spilled/over-glue so be careful removing - you might have to cut away some glue. The green circle is a fragile spot to watch out for it should be slid off the canopy at this point.



All Tumbler LEDs are 3mm bright white. None are protected by resistor (bad news!) If your batteries lack sufficient internal resistance, you're going to burn out one or more LEDs. It's a crap shoot based on brand/age of batteries, IMO.


I got tired of searching for images and instructions for disassembly so I just started removing screws myself.



Time to repair the intakes... Here you can see them removed:



And here's a view of the inside with the interior fittings removed. You have to remove the canopy first for easier access - there are only 4 screws for this and they're visible from the outside - look at the back of the canopy from underneath. The seats each have three screws on the bottom arranged in a triangle. The center console is held by 4 screws visible from the top. The steering column is held by 2 screws in front of the three for the driver's seat.

Next the side panels/bolsters have four screw which are easily accessed from the inside now that the interior is removed. Then with some wiggling the interior side panels come off. This reveals all kinds of screws that will allow you to take apart the exterior side panels. I'm only interested in the air intakes which you can see has four screws highlighted below.



While I'm in here I'm going to install a DC power jack to simplify my battery elimination and wire in some additional LEDs to the stock wiring for cabin illumination.

 

[Pixelpiper]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

Finished the temple ceiling - mostly.



Real hanging vines coming next.

 

[jimmie_dimmick]

Awesome! Can't wait to see the final product.

 

[Destroyous]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

Whats the best LED lighting besides Inreda? I want something that I dont have to plug in and not real bright and not in strips

 

[Pixelpiper]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

I don't pick/name "best" for most things in life because there are often so many options and flavors that will hit or miss different tastes.

That said, I'm not using any finished lighting products in any of my displays, it's all do-it-yourself from parts. Anything electrical has to be "plugged in" at some point to a power source, whether it be direct mains power, via an adapter, or battery. LED sources can be powered by battery, but depending on the voltage required (because of the way they're wired and paired with resistors), this could get cumbersome and equally repetitive when you have to switch out batteries.

Maybe we can find you something best suited to your requirements though.

"not bright" means less and/or smaller LEDs, plus power limiting for dimming if desired.

"not in strips" means individual domed LEDs for easy DIY or a finished lighting product/lamp/fixture.

There are battery-powered puck-shaped/sized LED fixtures available that each take a couple of batteries and can be controlled from one central wireless remote. They're often sold at Costco in US/Canada, but I'm sure you can also find them online. Lots and lots of batteries going this route.

Here you go, at [ame]https://www.amazon.com/Lightmates-Wireless-Lights-Remote-Batteries/dp/B007SRJME8[/ame]

 

[Destroyous]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

ok thanks. well I wouldnt leave them on overnight or anything anyway. I have the Inreda ones already but just think I'd prefer cordless

 

[tommiegary13]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

Love the Besta on the wall! I love to have a few of those around my place!

 

[Solo_bones]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

Insane...this is the sweetest Batman Dio I have ever seen. Love the electrical work....LOVE it.

 

[Pixelpiper]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

Insane...this is the sweetest Batman Dio I have ever seen. Love the electrical work....LOVE it.

Thanks again! I'm just waiting on some micro-sized wire connectors so that I can finish the install and close everything back up again. I'm using the same connectors elsewhere, so I'll be able to finish off a few things when they arrive.

I picked up some of that Elmer's wood filler locally as I found it at the store even though it wasn't listed on the web. In fact I just used it for the ground/stone layer on my Indy shelf here:

 

[Ninjaknight]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

Great job! Could you please provide a link to the detolf locks?


Thanks!

 

[Pixelpiper]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

This is an auction from the same person I bought the locks from in China: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cabinet-Sh...160?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e7169cd70

eBay user send_to_shanghai, search for glass cabinet door lock

 

[Pixelpiper]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

The shelf for Indy's dad is going to get some attention soon. Here are some of its accessories: The chair and carpet were ebay purchases, the typewriter is an old pencil sharpener I found in one of my toy boxes.



I'm still really hunting for a suitable desk and table lamp, but I think I've already found a good phone.

 

[NastyNick]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

I don't see the pictures anymore

 

[Pixelpiper]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

They'll be hidden until Monday because I've blown past the 10GB bandwidth limit at Photobucket - all of which is used only for images posted only to this site. At the moment I'm deliberating on whether to subscribe to their pro account for $30/year. It's a tough decision because while I really like all the features, there are also a lot of problems with the site and I don't think it will be very useful for my general photography. I'm also looking at Everpix, but it doesn't have the features of Photobucket for forum posting...

EDIT: Scratch Everpix. I'm not sure I'd pay $20 per year for what it offers, let alone $50. It's a pretty chronological photo viewer and that's about it. It modifies every photo you upload, sometimes tripling the file size, you can only view images by date, and there are a handful (half a dozen) built in filtering criteria that it automatically determines. No tagging, no searching of any kind, cumbersome UI (though it's animated), sync between mobile and web takes a long time to reflect changes, no direct integration with any third-party desktop software yet (it can import JPG files it finds on disk or via Mac's Spotlight).

In summary, the best way to describe Everpix is this: Photo Calendar That's exactly what it is at its core and most basic. You will see the primary way things are displayed is one year to a page, divided by months, with a rectangle for each day. Only dates with photos get rectangles/sections.

EDIT 2014 - sure enough, lots of people felt the way I did about Everpix and the service has had to shut down. It just didn't do enough to attract the critical mass of customers it needed to offers its services and maintain positive cash-flow.

Now I'm looking at Flickr, which I've used in the past, but have always thought was rather useless until their relaunch in May.

 

[Pixelpiper]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

[blah blah blah - some now-irrelevant text removed from here]

All the images should be back on Tuesday, July 2nd. With a little bit of time I'm going to move everything over to a new service starting later this week and will also start the process of relinking all my posts here, starting with these dedicated threads.

All images are now on Flickr - let me know (by PM preferably) if any image links ever break please.

 

[Solo_bones]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

Thanks again! I'm just waiting on some micro-sized wire connectors so that I can finish the install and close everything back up again. I'm using the same connectors elsewhere, so I'll be able to finish off a few things when they arrive.

I picked up some of that Elmer's wood filler locally as I found it at the store even though it wasn't listed on the web. In fact I just used it for the ground/stone layer on my Indy shelf here:

Sweet, but the pictures aren't available. Would love to see your work.

 

[Pixelpiper]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

I've switched over most of the images to Flickr already. Soon there won't be anything linked to Photobucket at all.

 

[Pixelpiper]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

You can watch my Flickr photostream grow in real time as I send up all the source images that will be linked here in the forum. Kind of neat.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/98257757@N06/

 

[Pixelpiper]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out. (Detolf, Klingsbo, Expedit, custom cabinets & lig

Yikes, I found a serious limitation in hosting images at Flickr - republishing any image causes a new static image to be created, which invalidates the one previously used in the BB code. Causing a big "missing image" graphic to appear on any forum/site where that image is displayed. I understand why this might be the case - it prevents people from putting up safe images and then later changing them to something objectionable. IMO, the drawbacks to this "feature" outweigh the benefits. Being able to publish from photo management/editing software directly to Flickr, including updating current images, is enormously important, and this renders that pretty much useless except for local Flickr browsing.

Ugh. I have to remember never to re-edit any of the images I've linked.