B&L SZ4 3D Printed LED Ring Light

[dazz]

Hi

I have recently purchased an e-bay Bausch & Lomb Stereo Zoom 4. I am going to use it for electronics.
It included a 0.3X auxiliary lens, which is just ideal for my application.

The LED ring is intended for use as automotive angel eyes but I have used them for various applications, including a LED ring light for my very old Watson stereo zoom. The LEDs are covered with a white difuzer which avoids spot reflections. It is a pleasant light source.

The ring light is held in place with the aux lens. There are no screws etc. I have designed it to look good as well as be 100% functional.

There is no brightness control because the distance between the LEDs and the work is far enough to make over-brightness a non-issue. It would not be difficult to include control, but it is not needed.

The ring light is powered by a 12V wall wart power adapter. The adapter plugs straight into the rear of the ring light. There is no on/off switch but it would be easy to add. There is enough space.

I will print it on my 3D printer. It is a 9 hour job. I will probably need to make minor modifications before I reach a final design.

[smollerthings]

Impressive. Which software do you use for design? Which 3d printer do you have? Thinking about jumping onto the 3d printing wagon too

[dazz]

Hi
I use Design Spark Mechanical. It is free and good enough for what I do. There are a range of 3D CAD programs out there. Pick the one that does the job.

I purchased a Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ kit. It is not the cheapest, biggest or fastest printer but it may be the most reliable.
I print at night after I go to bed. There are good technical reasons for doing that but it requires a printer you can trust to leave unattended.

[dazz]

Hi
I have finished my ring light.

The final version has a slightly deeper shroud to reduce direct visibility of the LED ring light from the side.
I also fitted a light switch to the rear of the light enclosure.
The ring light slides over, and is held firmly by, the aux lens. No nasty screws to adjust.

All of the wiring fits inside the shroud.

The LED ring light looks a lot like a miniature fluorescent tube. The individual LEDs are not distinguishable. It is difficult to show how bright the source is.

I'd like to think that if a factory made B&L ring light was available, it would look like this.

[smollerthings]

Beautiful work. Very impressive. Unfortunately I don't have that kind of CAD skills...

[apochronaut]

Nice and compact, a feature many commercially available units do not have.

[Gatorengineer64]

Very nicely done. hopefully you will publish to Thingiverse....

[dazz]

Hi

This ring light was made just for a B&L SZ$ and aux lens. It was made to fit specific parts in specific ways. For example the:

• power socket is held in place with a captive nut that fits into a pocket,

• LED ring light clips in place. Only this particular brand/model will fit in this way and,

• LED includes a separate driver that has a printed-in clip-in mount.

So if I posted the 3D print file, chances are that no one would be able to build it. Given the small count of views this thread has received, I doubt there would be a market to make/sell them.