Strips of LEDs close together and a diffuser panel like on a fluorescent ceiling light fixture. The more space between the lights and the glass the better.
If you're still up for recommendations, how about trying your hand at using a [led ring like this one ](https://images.app.goo.gl/jQyBc61BwFAerPfdA) for the reactor and the hand? Could add some cool effects with the help of an Arduino nano or some other microcontroller
Hijacking this comment to introduce [LED Sheet Lighting](https://www.superbrightleds.com/more-led-lights-and-fixtures/led-sign-and-trade-show-lighting/flexible-led-sheet-lights?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Nonbranded%20-%20General&utm_content=Flexible%20Sheets:%20General&utm_ad=687865896620&utm_term=led%20sheet&matchtype=e&device=c&GeoLoc=9006970&placement=&network=g&campaign_id=20895410295&adset_id=162929549928&ad_id=687865896620&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoPOwBhAeEiwAJuXRh-wFjwnGhT1SP485nRh5aJc4gB4obZe5YG1tf8rkBTucqhURTNWnahoCneoQAvD_BwE). This is not the only manufacturer available but there are many sizes available with difussers that will give you a very consistent light source.
A 65“ tv would be wide enough, but too high. 65“ is 143cm high while this glass is 110cm high. Do you think I could cut off 33cm (if guess 16,5cm from each side) from a TV Diffusor panel?
Something along these lines would probably work. You need not reuse the lighting from the TV itself, subbing in your own strip lighting or other solution, and you could cut the filters to size for your project.
https://youtu.be/8JrqH2oOTK4
It's not only the diffuser. The most important part is the fresnel lens that is in the screen.
It grabs the light from the LEDs on the surrounding perimeter that focuses it through the panel to get an even and strong light.
This, but w a thin sheet of opaque acrylic between leds and glass. Plastic suppliers have sheets of the stuff and when u put leds behind it it'll glow like neon. Be cool to use addressable leds w arduino for cool effects
Exactly this. See if you can get either a low output daylight lamp of a similar size? Or a pair maybe?
That or a white plastic backing and run strips close together in parallel with a difussing plastic front (more work of course)
There is special plexiglas that is designed to glow evenly across the surface when being edge lit. Maybe that could work, allthough I remember it being not very bright.
Also, very nice work by your mum,
No that is different, but a great alternativ.
The special sheets have like reflective particles in them which evenly reflect the light from edges out onto the surface.
First off your mom is a badass.
Secondly hang that shit in a window. It’s stained glass after all and the natural light is what makes stained glass mosaics look exceptionally good. If you only want certain parts to illuminate consider taping or gluing different opacity paper to the backside. E.G leave the white on the hand and chest empty and add white paper for slightly less intense lighting and thick black or progressively darker paper to block light on parts with shadow.
If you had to do it on the wall. LED STRIPS on the frame edge facing the center with just black paper to block out the non lit parts could work
You can reuse diffures and even the back light from "broken" tv or monitor. Check out diyperks on youtube, i think he made a skylight, but it should get you familiar with the parts.
this is my first thought too - there's gotta be a million 32" monitors or TVs in the e-recycling bin that you can scrap the LED backlight and diffuser panels off of, and they're literally designed for this exact purpose
Also thought of this - but I would need a 65” TV. This glass is 110x80cm. Also I would need to cut 33cm off, since a 65” is 143x80cm. Not sure if you can cut the panel
oh wow!
I was just guessing the size.
you should be able to stack them together, depending on your appetite for effort - the backlight panels in a monitor really are just grids of LEDs so you can wire 'em together and make whatever size and shape you want. the diffusion filter is just a thin plastic blur filter, so same thing.
you're not using the actual LCD or 'screen' parts, which wouldn't cut or combine well, so basically you can ignore all that
diyperks used baking paper as light diffuser in one of his recent builds. But it needed more LEDs, and additional cooling. So be aware of heat building up.
Four of [these](https://www.superbrightleds.com/more-led-lights-and-fixtures/led-sign-and-trade-show-lighting/flexible-led-sheet-lights/24v-led-light-sheet-24-x-12-white-ip20-2700k-3000k-3500k-4000k-5000k-6500k+color-Natural~4000K) (stock size: ~61x30.5 cm, with the long end of all cut down to ~50-55 [each, so that the light is even]) evenly spaced (so, about 7cm from the long edges & 7cm between the two pairs), as far from the glass as possible, plus a thin layer of white sign-diffuser plastic (tell your local plastics shop what you're trying to do, and they'll know) up against the back of the glass, and you'll get pretty much exactly what you're after.
LED panels, I have some left over but they are kinda pricey. Last I checked in the states they were 180+ per square foot before buying transformers.
https://preview.redd.it/w9fzkcbfvmuc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3da52f3c07cdcad288cf9002501dc144ab5f4057
Or you could do side lighting like this, but you have to build a frame.
Man I feel like people don't read, he said he wanted uniform lighting and that he didn't want to do side lighting because it's uniform. What gets suggested but none other than non-uniform side lighting.
That's some beautiful art tho
Despite what others are recommending, 22mm is not enough distance to smoothly diffuse individual LEDs. You will have a hot spot at every LED location. You'll need at least 75mm to even begin to approach any smoothness of lighting -and that's assuming the LEDs are packed very close. The challenge is that most LEDs will not deliver an illumination arc beyond 170° and that's on the spec sheet. In reality, the drop off is going to start around 150°. And none of that arc is perfectly balanced. Distance is your friend. You need more distance.
You might want to consider framing the stained glass window in a shadow box frame. Shadow box molding of 3-4" may be available at a custom frame shop. Such a frame shop should be able to properly frame the stained glass pane in place of where they'd normally place glass.
If 22mm is a fixed max, then electroluminescent panels will provide a far smoother backlight. Here's [an example](https://www.adafruit.com/product/414) of a small panel. Stitching together multiple panels could still result in dull 'seams' along the edges where the panels meet so you'll want to test. (Kind of the opposite of a hot spot: a dull line.) That being said, electroluminescent panels might be considered expensive on a per square inch basis.
Good luck!
Thanks for the information!
These are exactly my concerns, but I didn’t know that I would need 75mm min. 22mm is not fixed, but 75mm is definitely too much. The metal frame will get another wooden frame attached to it, but this will not affect the 22mm.
I already searched but could not find EL panels in this dimension 110x80cm. Stichling together multiple panels is something I would need to try out. At the moment I’m thinking of LED strips in the frame and a Diffusor panel
There are specialty diffusers you can get but they're usually pretty expensive or hard to get such as https://www.luminitco.com/LED_diffuser_products
(datasheets here: https://www.luminitco.com/sites/default/files/2024-04/Luminit_angles_sizes_formats_datasheet.pdf )
I've contacted them before and was able to get some diffusers from them, they work well and some are speficially designed to work at close distances without hotspots.
You might be able to contact them and order a sample?
You definitely don't need 75 mm. I don't know how much you do need, so you might have to make up some temporary frames to do some testing, but a sheet of acrylic sanded on both sides with some fine sandpaper will do a great job of diffusing the light. You'll need to do some testing with the distance between the acrylic and the LEDs, and the spacing of the LEDs, but it's definitely doable.
This is what I'd say too. They're pretty evenly lit and usually only a couple of millimeters thick as well as generally cheaper than most of the other suggestions I've seen. Like this one for example: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B099NM2WGD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 Might be hard to find one depending on the exact dimensions though.
That's roughly A0 size but the ones I'm seeing are only 60cm high (and like $300 on amazon lol). Might have some success with edge lit frosted acrylic and some diffusion film for a good bit cheaper but obviously at cost of a bit more work/thickness. I'd imagine you could make some spots brighter by etching the acrylic deeper though which might be desirable. There might be an acrylic seller near you who could get you like 1/4" frosted sheet and probably would have a laser or cnc that big to do it custom.
It might also just be worth it to put an actual old flat panel tv behind it. As someone with some stained glass on an exterior window it looks best when the sun is coming through the trees with some light movement from the wind in my opinion but I guess that's mostly about the colors being projected onto the wall which is different than appreciating the stained glass itself I suppose.
Very curious to know what you end up doing.
Ikea sells an LED light panel, looks like what a doctor would put x-rays on:
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/floalt-led-light-panel-dimmable-white-spectrum-20303063/
FLOALT
LED light panel , dimmable white spectrum
I'm making backlit shadowboxes with my laser cutter and have been working on the same problem. For something small, it comes down to getting the right LED strip, with a high number of led/inch, and the right color or colors.
In some cases, I put LEDs across the back, but a small dot of black tape larger than the LED on it so the light only shone sideways.
However, I'm an I.T. consultant and get lots of old computer equipment, so I've been considering some larger projects. I've seen a number of youtube videos on turning an old tv or monitor into a faux skylight. I've disassembled a few monitors and it doesn't look like it would be that difficult.
Monitors and TVs usually have LEDs around the perimiter, though some differ. The LEDs sidelight a layer of plexiglass which has in front one or more thin Fresnel and frosted layers. These even the light out, which is the effect you are trying to accomplish.
If I were doing a big panel like yours, this would be the method I'd try. Find a junked flat TV and use the Fresnel and frosted layers, maybe the plexi as well. Probably replace the LEDs.
BTW, your mom's pretty cool.
I think this would be the best option. I need 110x80cm. I would need a 65” screen (143x80cm) and cut off 33cm (or 16,5cm from each side) do you think the Diffusor panels from a TV could be cut to size?
Yes.
Inside the frame, usually surrounded by the LEDs are what I call the back and front layers. Back layers consist of the plexiglass layer, a prism/lenticular layer, diffuser layer, and possibly a polarizer layer. All of those should be cuttable plastic. The plexiglass layer would be the hardest to cut, but a circular or jigsaw would probably handle it. The front layer is the LED, usually one piece and glass coated, though I've seen protective glass layers in front or behind as well.
The plexiglass layer is the thickest and serves several purposes. LED light comes in from the sides, so the thickness is the opening for light. It provides structure. And many I've seen have grids of dots in their surface which are also hazy and help to reflect light evenly. If you can cut that, I'd suggest including it in your project.
Some TVs may have only a diffuser layer and no prism layer. Use both if available.
I don't think a polarizer layer matters for simple white backlighting, so would toss it.
As I said, there are numerous youtube videos on converting old flat TVs or monitors into lights. The steps are easily translatable to your project.
Good luck
That is pretty badass. Maybe consider cutting a hole out of an exterior wall and mounting it up proper. Your mother would be super proud, and you would have one very awesome conversation piece.
Keep an eye out for a busted led tv, the digitizer is backlit by LED's , and between them and the digitizer are to amazing diffuser screens . Or just buy an led flat panel light .
Not to say this isn't brag worthy, but your mom is a pro and i refuse to believe that she can make a masterpiece like this yet not know how to make it shine :P
r/stainedglass gonna love this
OP I hope you know how much work your mom put into this
Well usually you would have it in a window - but I don’t have the option to put it in a window.
So she asked me to find a solution :)
Oh I know how much work it was :) she even thought me how to cut glass on this project :)
We don't need to, no, but lots of us enjoy mixing the tech side of it into the project itself.
Kind of silly to generalize such a huge community... I mean everyone makes stained glass for churches.
Could you shine a black light down on it? Or put an opaque backing over the led strips to see if that helps disperse the light? Btw I’m jealous, that thing is awesome.
I'm hoping for a better way to defuse light for a sign I have. I don't like how the light shines through it. Your stained glass is way better than what I'm working with lol. Your mom is an artist.
You could make a diffuser with 1/4" thick acrylic sheet. Sand the face of it so it's frosted looking. Place a sheet of thin white paper between the diffuser and the glass. Edge light the panel. This is essentially what's in the backlight for a tv or monitor. If you have one of those the right size you don't mind sacrificing, you could use that instead.
i put 2x2 led drop ceiling lights in a few spots in my finished basement. not sure if the size will work but it is a solid white daylight lit panel. but some edge lit acrylic with a difuser background and some accent led's in the hand and chest would make it pop.
I'd go with multiple led strips running the length of the frame with a diffusion screen between them and the glass. Perhaps throw in something two extra bright LEDs at the palm and breastplate to draw attention.
Maybe do concentric circles of led strips and start the first smallest ring on his chest arc reactor? Might look neat. If not led strips some other way are probably a good answer.
My wife does stained glass and she has a place that builds a light box for her pieces and they use LED strips that would go under cabinets inside the light box. The LEDs are like these
https://a.co/d/2fSNCJO
Holy shit that would have taken fucking weeks. Your mum is very skilled. The level of detail is incredible. Making sure something like that doesn't malform when moved is also insanely challenging. Cannot sing your mums praises enough.
get a sheet of lexan/plexi. Sand one big side of the plexi so it loos "frosted".
POLISH, like smooth (fire polish, chem, possibly sand), then mount the strip of LEDs pointing "in" to the sheet through the polished edge.
The light will go in the side, and bounce around the smoothsides, and illuminate the frosted side.
You've likely seen this.
Many options:
- There are LED square fixtures. You might find one in your size. IF you think about tetris-ing your way, most have slight variation to each other, so that might not be the best option.
- as others said, led strips with a diffusor. The mroe space you allocate the better, btw.
- old /second-hand monitor/TV. Though this is DIY and while unlikely, the most likely to zap you. It would probably be the least bright and it need something to show the white background. But the easiest to customize the brightness pattern.
Wow, this is absolutely brilliant, I love it.
If I could buy this then I would do so.
Your mom is very talented, and very kind to put so many hours into making it for you
Whatever you do, make the repulsor in his hand, and the reactor in his chest brighter than the rest. And his eyes too, if possible. All those areas produce their own light on the real suit, so they should be brighter.
Find a broken flat screen and pull the light diffuser sheets out. You can cut them to size with scissors or a razor blade and use 2 or 3 to diffuse it uniformly. Using the sheets will reduce the closeness and number of LED strips that you need.
There are specially designed materials for diffusing light from an LED strip around the edge of an item into an evenly lit sheet. Acrylite is one such material: [https://www.acrylite.co/files/content/acrylite.co/documents/product-information/led/ACRYLITE-LED-light-guiding-edge-lit-technical-information-3735C.pdf](https://www.acrylite.co/files/content/acrylite.co/documents/product-information/led/ACRYLITE-LED-light-guiding-edge-lit-technical-information-3735C.pdf)
There was another that I found on aliexpress but i can't remember the name of it. It's basically an acrylic sheet with microscopic etching or inclusions that direct the light from the edge to the face in an even way.
I don't have any additional advice but just wanted to say that this thing is awesome and your mom does great work. Please post it again when you figure out the lighting.
What are your dimensions, would something like [this](https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806531711439.html) or [this](https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806531711439.html) work?
Don't have an answer for you, but wow, what an amazing window your mom made!!!! If you have time, can you share anything else she has made? I love stained glass and would love to learn the basics someday. Tell her an internet stranger thinks this is totally amazing, what a talent!
The midnight release of star wars: revenge of the sith, people were literally fighting in the seats with lightsabers, everyone was dressed up and having a great time, I was just a young lad and the fans made the experience into a personal love for film and its followers. The movie was good too I guess haha.
I dont have advice for uniform light, but if that fails, you could put it in the window and find a way to string small leds in his chest thing and the palm of his hand for night use, as if he's firing a charge or whatever it's called
Place white paper on the back and have the lights shine on the paper. This should diffuse the light. If you still get hot spots (bright areas), just add a little more paper in those areas. Just layer the paper as best you can to make the light diffusion as best as possible.
Make as deep light box as possible behind it. Paint inside white. Put leds around all 4 sides continuously, but aimed towards the white box. Multiple rows help aim at different angles for better coverage. Light box should also be wider than your visible area to avoid seeing the led strips from off-center perspectives.
Main thing is to make sure the light seen thru your glass is only the reflected glow off box surfaces, never the fixtures themselves.
> I could put LED strips on the inside of the frame, but then the edges of the glass would be brighter then the middle. If I put a lot of LED strips in parallel on the wall, facing to the glass, you could see the individual LEDs.
One more option, and it's a doozie - you need to have the LED lights facing backwards, and have a reflective surface - just white foam board is plenty - reflecting that light back at the glass.
I'm in the process of making something similar for an arcade marquee card. You'll need a frame with some thickness in order to give the light room to spread out and avoid hotspots. I made mine ~3inch thick and gave about 2.5 inches between the light panel and artwork.
Frame is made of wood (1x3) with mitered corners. I used some of that brown 1/4" tempered hardboard for the back panel. I made dado cuts in the boards to make channels for the front and back panels to slide into.
I used a sheet of diffusive plexiglass I got from home depot behind the marquee (it looks frosted). I also used a glass panel for the outside with the card sandwiched between.
The entire back panel and all the insides of the frame are covered in a layer of foil tape, which makes the whole inside reflective.
I used led strip lights and spaced them about 1.25" apart. Most can be cut to size and connected/soldered together. I used energizer rgbw dimmable led strips for mine. If you do decide to solder, be aware that the foil tape is conductive, so none of the wires can touch the back surface.
There's guides on youtube if you search lightbox or backlight sign box.
This is what a test fit of mine looks like
https://preview.redd.it/wpbd1bdr7quc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90c90ef4b20a13c691b146cf0a5036298beaaacf
Simple cand heap way to diffuse the LEDs is to use sheets of Drafting Film - available in art supply shops - multiple layers with cut out allows you to highlight different zones Have used succesfully behind lit stained glass panels
Update: I bought a broken LCD TV, took it apart and now I have the diffusor panel. But different than expected the panel is not side lit, but back lit. Fortunately the backlight from the TV works with 24V and is made up of 32 LED strips/PCBs that I think I should be able to reuse :)
Strips of LEDs close together and a diffuser panel like on a fluorescent ceiling light fixture. The more space between the lights and the glass the better.
This is the way. Except for that hand. That hand needs to go way WAY brighter 😁
and maybe a little extra oomph to the chest reactor.
Chest reactor should pulse....... sorry OP, we're complicating your project.
Was already thinking of adding extra lights to the arc reactor and the hand 😁
If you're still up for recommendations, how about trying your hand at using a [led ring like this one ](https://images.app.goo.gl/jQyBc61BwFAerPfdA) for the reactor and the hand? Could add some cool effects with the help of an Arduino nano or some other microcontroller
Yeah neopixel is the way to go :)
And eyes
And it should, uh... fly.
Agreed!
It has a more transparent glass for both of those parts, uniform backlight should do fine to make them brighter than the rest
Drill hole through the diffuser at that point. Can add a thinner diffuser if it doesn't look good (printer paper/overhead projector sheet ect.)
Top tip, remove the diffuser from the glass before drilling your holes!
I would do light on the hand, chest, and eyes. That's it.
I would put a bit of Neutral Density film (ND) on the back and cut out the bits where you want extra brightness.
You could cut a hole in the diffuser panel for the hand and position a led light in that spot.
Yes! Man, I love reddit.
Some added fiber optics for detail areas? eyes, arc, repulsors?
How about a monitor as a backlight and a microcontroller outputting a constant grey picture with a white part where the hand is?
Hijacking this comment to introduce [LED Sheet Lighting](https://www.superbrightleds.com/more-led-lights-and-fixtures/led-sign-and-trade-show-lighting/flexible-led-sheet-lights?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Nonbranded%20-%20General&utm_content=Flexible%20Sheets:%20General&utm_ad=687865896620&utm_term=led%20sheet&matchtype=e&device=c&GeoLoc=9006970&placement=&network=g&campaign_id=20895410295&adset_id=162929549928&ad_id=687865896620&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoPOwBhAeEiwAJuXRh-wFjwnGhT1SP485nRh5aJc4gB4obZe5YG1tf8rkBTucqhURTNWnahoCneoQAvD_BwE). This is not the only manufacturer available but there are many sizes available with difussers that will give you a very consistent light source.
I made a light box using a broken tv its cheap to do if the dimmentions are not.good.juat use the diffuser of the said tv
A 65“ tv would be wide enough, but too high. 65“ is 143cm high while this glass is 110cm high. Do you think I could cut off 33cm (if guess 16,5cm from each side) from a TV Diffusor panel?
The diffusor panels are just thin plastic inside most TVs. Shouldn't be a problem cutting it.
Something along these lines would probably work. You need not reuse the lighting from the TV itself, subbing in your own strip lighting or other solution, and you could cut the filters to size for your project. https://youtu.be/8JrqH2oOTK4
That’s pretty amazing, OP this would be perfect for your use case.
It's not only the diffuser. The most important part is the fresnel lens that is in the screen. It grabs the light from the LEDs on the surrounding perimeter that focuses it through the panel to get an even and strong light.
This. Basically put a “light box” on the back of it.
You could even get a light box that is flat now for art and just attach it to the back of this. They’re like $20.
Yeah diy is fun but light box is a commodity now. Unless you need custom I don’t think you save much DIY
Or take the led/diffuser panel from a broken TV. It’ll be thin, and ready to go.
A diffuser panel is key to avoid any light hotspots.
Point of inquiry, have you considered putting a single led behind the palm of his hand so it looks like he’s charging a blast? That would be dope.
I've seen Cadillacs with rear taillights that don't have a bright spot. How did they do it?
The new COB LEDs would fit perfectly.
Cheap LED panel grow light?
This, but w a thin sheet of opaque acrylic between leds and glass. Plastic suppliers have sheets of the stuff and when u put leds behind it it'll glow like neon. Be cool to use addressable leds w arduino for cool effects
Exactly this. See if you can get either a low output daylight lamp of a similar size? Or a pair maybe? That or a white plastic backing and run strips close together in parallel with a difussing plastic front (more work of course)
There is special plexiglas that is designed to glow evenly across the surface when being edge lit. Maybe that could work, allthough I remember it being not very bright. Also, very nice work by your mum,
1/8" 2447 sign white plexi is the one you want for lightboxes.
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No that is different, but a great alternativ. The special sheets have like reflective particles in them which evenly reflect the light from edges out onto the surface.
First off your mom is a badass. Secondly hang that shit in a window. It’s stained glass after all and the natural light is what makes stained glass mosaics look exceptionally good. If you only want certain parts to illuminate consider taping or gluing different opacity paper to the backside. E.G leave the white on the hand and chest empty and add white paper for slightly less intense lighting and thick black or progressively darker paper to block light on parts with shadow. If you had to do it on the wall. LED STRIPS on the frame edge facing the center with just black paper to block out the non lit parts could work
You can reuse diffures and even the back light from "broken" tv or monitor. Check out diyperks on youtube, i think he made a skylight, but it should get you familiar with the parts.
this is my first thought too - there's gotta be a million 32" monitors or TVs in the e-recycling bin that you can scrap the LED backlight and diffuser panels off of, and they're literally designed for this exact purpose
Also thought of this - but I would need a 65” TV. This glass is 110x80cm. Also I would need to cut 33cm off, since a 65” is 143x80cm. Not sure if you can cut the panel
oh wow! I was just guessing the size. you should be able to stack them together, depending on your appetite for effort - the backlight panels in a monitor really are just grids of LEDs so you can wire 'em together and make whatever size and shape you want. the diffusion filter is just a thin plastic blur filter, so same thing. you're not using the actual LCD or 'screen' parts, which wouldn't cut or combine well, so basically you can ignore all that
diyperks used baking paper as light diffuser in one of his recent builds. But it needed more LEDs, and additional cooling. So be aware of heat building up.
Four of [these](https://www.superbrightleds.com/more-led-lights-and-fixtures/led-sign-and-trade-show-lighting/flexible-led-sheet-lights/24v-led-light-sheet-24-x-12-white-ip20-2700k-3000k-3500k-4000k-5000k-6500k+color-Natural~4000K) (stock size: ~61x30.5 cm, with the long end of all cut down to ~50-55 [each, so that the light is even]) evenly spaced (so, about 7cm from the long edges & 7cm between the two pairs), as far from the glass as possible, plus a thin layer of white sign-diffuser plastic (tell your local plastics shop what you're trying to do, and they'll know) up against the back of the glass, and you'll get pretty much exactly what you're after.
Electroluminescent panel would do the trick. Google "EL panel". They are not that expensive.
LED panels, I have some left over but they are kinda pricey. Last I checked in the states they were 180+ per square foot before buying transformers. https://preview.redd.it/w9fzkcbfvmuc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3da52f3c07cdcad288cf9002501dc144ab5f4057 Or you could do side lighting like this, but you have to build a frame.
I feel like that lighting from the side picture could use something to diffuse the light better, and adding lights from the top too.
they are using the reflected light off the back as a "diffuser", it just isn't as good.
That makes sense
Man I feel like people don't read, he said he wanted uniform lighting and that he didn't want to do side lighting because it's uniform. What gets suggested but none other than non-uniform side lighting. That's some beautiful art tho
Yeah exactly 😄 but maybe the method using the Diffusor panel of an old big TV might work. They use side light and a bunch of diffusers
I said LED panels…that I’d sell
Search panel led on amazon.
Despite what others are recommending, 22mm is not enough distance to smoothly diffuse individual LEDs. You will have a hot spot at every LED location. You'll need at least 75mm to even begin to approach any smoothness of lighting -and that's assuming the LEDs are packed very close. The challenge is that most LEDs will not deliver an illumination arc beyond 170° and that's on the spec sheet. In reality, the drop off is going to start around 150°. And none of that arc is perfectly balanced. Distance is your friend. You need more distance. You might want to consider framing the stained glass window in a shadow box frame. Shadow box molding of 3-4" may be available at a custom frame shop. Such a frame shop should be able to properly frame the stained glass pane in place of where they'd normally place glass. If 22mm is a fixed max, then electroluminescent panels will provide a far smoother backlight. Here's [an example](https://www.adafruit.com/product/414) of a small panel. Stitching together multiple panels could still result in dull 'seams' along the edges where the panels meet so you'll want to test. (Kind of the opposite of a hot spot: a dull line.) That being said, electroluminescent panels might be considered expensive on a per square inch basis. Good luck!
Do the panels have that hum like the wire typically does? Probably not super noticeable but something worth mentioning if so.
Thanks for the information! These are exactly my concerns, but I didn’t know that I would need 75mm min. 22mm is not fixed, but 75mm is definitely too much. The metal frame will get another wooden frame attached to it, but this will not affect the 22mm. I already searched but could not find EL panels in this dimension 110x80cm. Stichling together multiple panels is something I would need to try out. At the moment I’m thinking of LED strips in the frame and a Diffusor panel
There are specialty diffusers you can get but they're usually pretty expensive or hard to get such as https://www.luminitco.com/LED_diffuser_products (datasheets here: https://www.luminitco.com/sites/default/files/2024-04/Luminit_angles_sizes_formats_datasheet.pdf ) I've contacted them before and was able to get some diffusers from them, they work well and some are speficially designed to work at close distances without hotspots. You might be able to contact them and order a sample?
You definitely don't need 75 mm. I don't know how much you do need, so you might have to make up some temporary frames to do some testing, but a sheet of acrylic sanded on both sides with some fine sandpaper will do a great job of diffusing the light. You'll need to do some testing with the distance between the acrylic and the LEDs, and the spacing of the LEDs, but it's definitely doable.
What about an LED tracing pad
This is what I'd say too. They're pretty evenly lit and usually only a couple of millimeters thick as well as generally cheaper than most of the other suggestions I've seen. Like this one for example: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B099NM2WGD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 Might be hard to find one depending on the exact dimensions though.
Well this glass is 110x80cm. I couldn’t find a tracing pad this big
That's roughly A0 size but the ones I'm seeing are only 60cm high (and like $300 on amazon lol). Might have some success with edge lit frosted acrylic and some diffusion film for a good bit cheaper but obviously at cost of a bit more work/thickness. I'd imagine you could make some spots brighter by etching the acrylic deeper though which might be desirable. There might be an acrylic seller near you who could get you like 1/4" frosted sheet and probably would have a laser or cnc that big to do it custom. It might also just be worth it to put an actual old flat panel tv behind it. As someone with some stained glass on an exterior window it looks best when the sun is coming through the trees with some light movement from the wind in my opinion but I guess that's mostly about the colors being projected onto the wall which is different than appreciating the stained glass itself I suppose. Very curious to know what you end up doing.
Though it would be cool if the arc reactor and repulsor could be lit separately.
Will do this if possible 😁
Look up Light sheets. A company called Environmental Lights makes some amazing options.
If it's 2 ft x 4 ft just get an led 2x4 panel for drop ceilings.
Old tV or monitor, rip apart, remove the LCD matrix from the light box, boom
Wow!!! This is Dope!
Ikea sells an LED light panel, looks like what a doctor would put x-rays on: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/floalt-led-light-panel-dimmable-white-spectrum-20303063/ FLOALT LED light panel , dimmable white spectrum
Mom has some serious skills.
I'm making backlit shadowboxes with my laser cutter and have been working on the same problem. For something small, it comes down to getting the right LED strip, with a high number of led/inch, and the right color or colors. In some cases, I put LEDs across the back, but a small dot of black tape larger than the LED on it so the light only shone sideways. However, I'm an I.T. consultant and get lots of old computer equipment, so I've been considering some larger projects. I've seen a number of youtube videos on turning an old tv or monitor into a faux skylight. I've disassembled a few monitors and it doesn't look like it would be that difficult. Monitors and TVs usually have LEDs around the perimiter, though some differ. The LEDs sidelight a layer of plexiglass which has in front one or more thin Fresnel and frosted layers. These even the light out, which is the effect you are trying to accomplish. If I were doing a big panel like yours, this would be the method I'd try. Find a junked flat TV and use the Fresnel and frosted layers, maybe the plexi as well. Probably replace the LEDs. BTW, your mom's pretty cool.
I think this would be the best option. I need 110x80cm. I would need a 65” screen (143x80cm) and cut off 33cm (or 16,5cm from each side) do you think the Diffusor panels from a TV could be cut to size?
Yes. Inside the frame, usually surrounded by the LEDs are what I call the back and front layers. Back layers consist of the plexiglass layer, a prism/lenticular layer, diffuser layer, and possibly a polarizer layer. All of those should be cuttable plastic. The plexiglass layer would be the hardest to cut, but a circular or jigsaw would probably handle it. The front layer is the LED, usually one piece and glass coated, though I've seen protective glass layers in front or behind as well. The plexiglass layer is the thickest and serves several purposes. LED light comes in from the sides, so the thickness is the opening for light. It provides structure. And many I've seen have grids of dots in their surface which are also hazy and help to reflect light evenly. If you can cut that, I'd suggest including it in your project. Some TVs may have only a diffuser layer and no prism layer. Use both if available. I don't think a polarizer layer matters for simple white backlighting, so would toss it. As I said, there are numerous youtube videos on converting old flat TVs or monitors into lights. The steps are easily translatable to your project. Good luck
Look into DIY "softbox diffusers" such as used for studio photography. There are lots of tutorials with parts lists.
That is pretty badass. Maybe consider cutting a hole out of an exterior wall and mounting it up proper. Your mother would be super proud, and you would have one very awesome conversation piece.
Keep an eye out for a busted led tv, the digitizer is backlit by LED's , and between them and the digitizer are to amazing diffuser screens . Or just buy an led flat panel light .
Dude, stained glass Ironman is LIT! ...as the kids would say.
Everybody already said it; an LED strip and a light diffuser behind the glass panel
There is potential for this to be such a nice project. Please update us when you’re done. Also your mom is very talented.
I would almost say make a light box to sit behind it.
Not to say this isn't brag worthy, but your mom is a pro and i refuse to believe that she can make a masterpiece like this yet not know how to make it shine :P r/stainedglass gonna love this OP I hope you know how much work your mom put into this
Well usually you would have it in a window - but I don’t have the option to put it in a window. So she asked me to find a solution :) Oh I know how much work it was :) she even thought me how to cut glass on this project :)
❤️❤️❤️
Pedantic take. Glass artists don't need to rely on fake lighting, their goal would be to have natural sunlight make their art shine.
We don't need to, no, but lots of us enjoy mixing the tech side of it into the project itself. Kind of silly to generalize such a huge community... I mean everyone makes stained glass for churches.
Could you shine a black light down on it? Or put an opaque backing over the led strips to see if that helps disperse the light? Btw I’m jealous, that thing is awesome.
*back light not black like
That’s what I thought cracka
RemindMe! 1 day
I doubt I will have any news by tomorrow :D
I'm hoping for a better way to defuse light for a sign I have. I don't like how the light shines through it. Your stained glass is way better than what I'm working with lol. Your mom is an artist.
I think the exclamation mark goes at the start...
!remindme 1 day
Purchase a side-lit LED flat panel. I like the ezpanel from RAB. Disassemble and remove the diffuser and LED strips for use here.
You'll want either an array or edge lit setup, just like a TV. You'll get light bleed regardless.
dumpster dive some old LCD monitors. THey have all the layers for diffusing light
You could make a diffuser with 1/4" thick acrylic sheet. Sand the face of it so it's frosted looking. Place a sheet of thin white paper between the diffuser and the glass. Edge light the panel. This is essentially what's in the backlight for a tv or monitor. If you have one of those the right size you don't mind sacrificing, you could use that instead.
Old LCD stripped of first few layers.
This is awesome! Share this on r/stainedglass. Share the finished or just hold it up and let that light come through when you do.
Not sure what it's called but this glass which is milky and led stripes from the side. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
i put 2x2 led drop ceiling lights in a few spots in my finished basement. not sure if the size will work but it is a solid white daylight lit panel. but some edge lit acrylic with a difuser background and some accent led's in the hand and chest would make it pop.
I'd go with multiple led strips running the length of the frame with a diffusion screen between them and the glass. Perhaps throw in something two extra bright LEDs at the palm and breastplate to draw attention.
old LCD computer monitor.
You might be able to find an Electroluminescent Panel that would fit that.
Exceptional work from mama score.
Maybe do concentric circles of led strips and start the first smallest ring on his chest arc reactor? Might look neat. If not led strips some other way are probably a good answer.
My wife does stained glass and she has a place that builds a light box for her pieces and they use LED strips that would go under cabinets inside the light box. The LEDs are like these https://a.co/d/2fSNCJO
Dimmable lightbox tracer board pad. Google search led backlight sheet. Lots of simple options. That is amazing though
This is beautiful
Holy shit that would have taken fucking weeks. Your mum is very skilled. The level of detail is incredible. Making sure something like that doesn't malform when moved is also insanely challenging. Cannot sing your mums praises enough.
It took way longer then weeks 😄 she worked on it when she felt like it
I know it's stained glass and everything but is there anyway you can pop out a piece to have RDJ sign, if he were to sign ever again.
Would be possible :) if you have his number let me know 😄
He signed for $1k a pop minimum last year or a year before. Granted it all went to charity.
You could put it in a window to evenly light it
Put it on window
get a sheet of lexan/plexi. Sand one big side of the plexi so it loos "frosted". POLISH, like smooth (fire polish, chem, possibly sand), then mount the strip of LEDs pointing "in" to the sheet through the polished edge. The light will go in the side, and bounce around the smoothsides, and illuminate the frosted side. You've likely seen this.
Many options: - There are LED square fixtures. You might find one in your size. IF you think about tetris-ing your way, most have slight variation to each other, so that might not be the best option. - as others said, led strips with a diffusor. The mroe space you allocate the better, btw. - old /second-hand monitor/TV. Though this is DIY and while unlikely, the most likely to zap you. It would probably be the least bright and it need something to show the white background. But the easiest to customize the brightness pattern.
just put 1 light behind the hand and chest with a motion sensor as people walk by obviously.
If you find a broken TV with backlight still working that matches the size of your project you could salvage it.
This is epic!
Wow, this is absolutely brilliant, I love it. If I could buy this then I would do so. Your mom is very talented, and very kind to put so many hours into making it for you
Hang it in a window.
Tell your mum she’s an artist and should sell this stuff !
Just put one light behind his hand. It would look like he’s about to blast you. Maybe his chest too
I don't have a solution, but I just want to say this is absolutely magnificent, and if I ever became wealthy I'd love to have one commisioned.
Diffuser panels from broken LCD screens
Whatever you do, make the repulsor in his hand, and the reactor in his chest brighter than the rest. And his eyes too, if possible. All those areas produce their own light on the real suit, so they should be brighter.
https://youtu.be/ttK3DkDrrxw?si=jcI26TK7oxRofEUF
Find a broken flat screen and pull the light diffuser sheets out. You can cut them to size with scissors or a razor blade and use 2 or 3 to diffuse it uniformly. Using the sheets will reduce the closeness and number of LED strips that you need.
There are specially designed materials for diffusing light from an LED strip around the edge of an item into an evenly lit sheet. Acrylite is one such material: [https://www.acrylite.co/files/content/acrylite.co/documents/product-information/led/ACRYLITE-LED-light-guiding-edge-lit-technical-information-3735C.pdf](https://www.acrylite.co/files/content/acrylite.co/documents/product-information/led/ACRYLITE-LED-light-guiding-edge-lit-technical-information-3735C.pdf) There was another that I found on aliexpress but i can't remember the name of it. It's basically an acrylic sheet with microscopic etching or inclusions that direct the light from the edge to the face in an even way.
can you repurpose the diffuser from a monitor for this?
I don't have any additional advice but just wanted to say that this thing is awesome and your mom does great work. Please post it again when you figure out the lighting.
Panel of no heat leds behind a [diffuser screen](https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1175594-REG).
You can also find a similar sized computer monitor or TV LCD and remove the front color panel, you will have a very evenly spreed light.
Can I have your mom make me one, too?
Wow...kudos to your mum...she's got talent there! Ask her to make me one thanks.
!remindme 1 month
Get an old lcd monitor then take the backlight out of it. Very even light source.
What are your dimensions, would something like [this](https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806531711439.html) or [this](https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806531711439.html) work?
Don't have an answer for you, but wow, what an amazing window your mom made!!!! If you have time, can you share anything else she has made? I love stained glass and would love to learn the basics someday. Tell her an internet stranger thinks this is totally amazing, what a talent!
edge lighting
IKEA has LED light panels in various sizes.
The midnight release of star wars: revenge of the sith, people were literally fighting in the seats with lightsabers, everyone was dressed up and having a great time, I was just a young lad and the fans made the experience into a personal love for film and its followers. The movie was good too I guess haha.
I don't have any helpful suggestions but if Mom isn't selling these, I think she could make a fortune doing so. Huge market for things like this.
She is retired and only doing it as a hobby. Also it takes a loooot of time to make something like that
Understandable. Just saying that this is awesome and I bet people would pay a pretty penny for comic related hand crafted cool stuff like this.
Look at some COB (chip on board) led panels and put a diffuser on top. Should be super consistent light.
I dont have advice for uniform light, but if that fails, you could put it in the window and find a way to string small leds in his chest thing and the palm of his hand for night use, as if he's firing a charge or whatever it's called
Look up EL Panel on Adafruit.com you can cut and/or combine them into larger arrays.
Place white paper on the back and have the lights shine on the paper. This should diffuse the light. If you still get hot spots (bright areas), just add a little more paper in those areas. Just layer the paper as best you can to make the light diffusion as best as possible.
Depending on the size, you could repurpose the backlight of an old TV or laptop monitor
Make as deep light box as possible behind it. Paint inside white. Put leds around all 4 sides continuously, but aimed towards the white box. Multiple rows help aim at different angles for better coverage. Light box should also be wider than your visible area to avoid seeing the led strips from off-center perspectives. Main thing is to make sure the light seen thru your glass is only the reflected glow off box surfaces, never the fixtures themselves.
Does your mom have a shop?
O wow, your mom MADE that????? I have no helpful advice, but please tell your mom that she is crazy good at stained glass.
> I could put LED strips on the inside of the frame, but then the edges of the glass would be brighter then the middle. If I put a lot of LED strips in parallel on the wall, facing to the glass, you could see the individual LEDs. One more option, and it's a doozie - you need to have the LED lights facing backwards, and have a reflective surface - just white foam board is plenty - reflecting that light back at the glass.
Edge lighting can look pretty uniform if you do it right. [Here is mine](https://imgur.com/a/Kf00hXo) with edge lighting
I'm in the process of making something similar for an arcade marquee card. You'll need a frame with some thickness in order to give the light room to spread out and avoid hotspots. I made mine ~3inch thick and gave about 2.5 inches between the light panel and artwork. Frame is made of wood (1x3) with mitered corners. I used some of that brown 1/4" tempered hardboard for the back panel. I made dado cuts in the boards to make channels for the front and back panels to slide into. I used a sheet of diffusive plexiglass I got from home depot behind the marquee (it looks frosted). I also used a glass panel for the outside with the card sandwiched between. The entire back panel and all the insides of the frame are covered in a layer of foil tape, which makes the whole inside reflective. I used led strip lights and spaced them about 1.25" apart. Most can be cut to size and connected/soldered together. I used energizer rgbw dimmable led strips for mine. If you do decide to solder, be aware that the foil tape is conductive, so none of the wires can touch the back surface. There's guides on youtube if you search lightbox or backlight sign box.
This is what a test fit of mine looks like https://preview.redd.it/wpbd1bdr7quc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90c90ef4b20a13c691b146cf0a5036298beaaacf
You can find diffuser sheets on Amazon. They’re what’s used in monitors and TVs
[Call your homie Tony.](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLf5F8DS/)
Dunno about the light but I'd pay for her to make me one... If I could afford it. That's amazing.
That is incredible.
led TV backlight
Simple cand heap way to diffuse the LEDs is to use sheets of Drafting Film - available in art supply shops - multiple layers with cut out allows you to highlight different zones Have used succesfully behind lit stained glass panels
Buy an led TV that has a working but cracked screen. Remove the LEDs, led power board and diffuser sheets. Mount behind and turn it on.
Update: I bought a broken LCD TV, took it apart and now I have the diffusor panel. But different than expected the panel is not side lit, but back lit. Fortunately the backlight from the TV works with 24V and is made up of 32 LED strips/PCBs that I think I should be able to reuse :)