Newt Tech

LED Glass Tiles - DIY

A lot of people have been posting projects about ambient orbs or LED night lights.  I wanted to try something a bit different with LED lights.  I’ve been doing some renovations in our ensuite bathroom and decided to test out an LED strip behind the glass tiles.

Tiling instructions

Some people may ask why… I’ve asked myself that a number of times.  Bottom line is because I wanted to see what it would look like.  Like a proof of concept, in case I wanted to do something like this when I start renovations on the main bathroom.

To sum it up, if you have to ask why then I don’t have a reason that would make sense to you! 

Step 1 - Prepare the area

• Finish tiling up to where you want the glass tiles to go

• Punch a small hole in the wall for the LED strip to come through
• Use a metal coat hanger to pull LED strip from under the sink.  I used the hole where the water drains as the access hole below.

• Put your tile adhesive on the wall

Step 2 - Place the LED Strip

• Place the LED strip (remember to center it!!)
• I actually put more adhesive over the LED strip, just wiping the area where the individual LED lights are located.  This would likely help in keeping the tiles glued in place.

 

Step 3 - Place Glass Tiles over LED strip

• Place glass tiles as you normally would, ensuring it’s pressed firmly into the adhesive to ensure a solid grip.

Step 4 - Check out the bathroom bling!

The glass tiles should now look completely normal, you shouldn’t be able to see the LED strip unless your glass tiles are quite transparent.  In my case there’s really no way of telling once the grout goes in.

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3 comments May 5th, 2008

Where to buy linear actuators online

If you do a search for linear actuators you will probably find a lot of industrial and very heavy duty actuators.  These might be good if you’re running a large industrial manufacturing plant, but for light industry, custom cars and trucks, TV Lifts, and the weekend DIY warior check out Firgelli Automations where you can buy linear actuators online.

Linear actuators can be used in a variety of applications.  Here are some of the most popular projects making use of linear actuators:

 

In the house

 

• TV Lift - using a linear actuator to make a custom TV Lift.
  • This is usually done by lifting a plasma or LCD TV out of a cabinet with a linear actuator.  You can have it connected to a remote control or a rocker switch, either way is pretty simple to control.
  • It can also be done by raising and lowering a panel on the wall with a pocket behind it.  This is a great way to hide a TV.
  • Either way you should have good guide rails to ensure there’s no side load or twisting on the actuator.
  • This one is great for the boat or motorhome.
• Automated home theater component rack - using a linear actuator to push out or raise a rack of home theater equipment.
• Powered plasma/LCD TV movement - using a linear actuator to twist a flat panel TV that is hanging on a movable wall mount.
  • This can be just tilting the screen up or down, or if the TV is mounted on an arm you can rotate the TV to point in different directions.
• Hidden Door - using an actuator to push our or rotate a bookshelf or large panel in the wall to reveal a hidden room.  You could even hide a safe or other sensitive item behind the panel.
• Powered Chair or Bed - tilting or adjusting with one or more actuators.

 

Custom Cars, Trucks, and Hot Rods

 

• Powered Tonneau Cover - one or two linear actuators to lift the tonneau cover. 
• Powered Hood lift - again, one or two linear actuators to lift the hood at the push of a button. 
• Powered Trunk lift - one or two linear actuators to lift the trunk.  Either a rocker switch or a remote control unit to control the actuators.
• Flip down TV / Flip up TV - pop a TV out of a custom fit pocket.  If you’ve been to SEMA, the custom car show, then you know that everyone and their dog puts LCD TVs in the vehicles… almost by the dozen.  They are all through virtually every car or truck.  What really stands out is having them motorized.  This truly adds the WOW factor.

 

Industrial automation

 

• Why push, pull, or dump widgets when you can get an actuator to do the repetitive action for you?

 

Accessibility for people with disabilities

 

• Lift Table - one or two linear actuators to raise and lower a table or workstation.
• Trunk/Hatch Lift - essentially the same as the custom car trunk lift, except with a focus on independence and functionality.
• Wheelchair lift - to lift a wheelchair into a van or truck.  I spoke with a fellow once that took this concept and built a lift for his cycle.  He would go on long vigorous rides and be able to use the lift to get his bike into his truck.  Great application!

As I mentioned in the best source for linear actuators, the place to get linear actuators is Firgelli Automations.  They have a wide range of actuators and the accessories to get them mounted and to control them.

 

Add comment January 27th, 2007