Any ideas on how to make ditch light holders for Kato SD-45?

[woodone]

Thanks Rick.
I just posted on the N forum with a description of how I am doing mine.
I also ordered some housings from Shapeways. I will not see them until just before Xmas.
So I thought I would give a go at building them. 

[woodone]

well I thought that I knew how to post photos, Seems like I have forgotten?
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[RBrodzinsky]

Look Great!

[woodone]

just a note. on the first photo I showed the parts used to make this ditch light.
Don't know it you saw the small lens in the left side of the photo?. Lens is first, bezel is second, third is the strip, forth is the bezel turned down and last is the completed lamp.

[RBrodzinsky]

I started playing with the Sunrise ditch light housing, which is cast white metal (courtesy of @ryan_wilkerson ).  As can be seen in the photo, these do not have any hole through them.  From the front, I used a #63 bit to drill through the housing, and then from the back, I "counter sunk" the opening using a 3/64" bit (just held between thumb and forefinger) to give a bit of extra room for the 0402 LED to fit.

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After painting the housing, I cut it to size, then carefully mounted the LED (warm white) on the back, using a small amount of CA around the counter-sunk rim. Once dried, I applied a coating of Bondic to hold everything in place and provide strain relief for the magnet wires. I then painted over the Bondic, to provide a light block to the rear of the housing.  I then put a bit of Aileen's Clear Gel Tacky Glue into the housing to act as a lens.

[RBrodzinsky]

I went ahead and mounted these two on my SD45 shell

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The hardest part was getting the light on the right (of the photo) seated, as the MU hatch cover sticks out a bit. A little filing of the excess plastic was all that was needed.

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I thought about adding red marker lights into those nubs on the shell, but as seen at the top of thread, the prototype doesn't have them.

Using 38 awg magnet wire, the wires crossing the front platform and under the lip of the hood are barely noticeable

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Oh yeah, and they work, too! Unfortunately, for me, have to wait a few more days before my next batch of LokSound Select Micros arrive for this install

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[woodone]

Rick, I received my shapeway housings today. They look very nice. Look more like yours after you cut them down.
Will post a (\photo later. I too had a problem fitting the ditch light because of the red warning light on the left side of the GP38-2. I almost removed it so I could have more room.
The only problem now is to mount the 402 LEDs into the new housings I received. I started using clear epoxy for mounting and making lens. The Bondic was looking too yellow. Without a lens you can see the 402 LED and it is yellow too.

[RBrodzinsky]

Jerry,

My Shapeways order came yesterday, too. I thought the packaging was amazing, for what was inside

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The large box (8” x 6” x 4.5”), an air pillow (not shown), 2 ziplock bags an internal shipping label and a “first order” post card (for possibly my 20th order). Oh, I circled the ditch light holders.

The one thing I noticed immediately was that these have less of a foot below the lens. The 0402 LEDs fit into the opening perfectly. As with the Sunrise ones, I was thinking that after painting a couple of small dabs of CA on the backs, to press the LED onto, then a thin layer of Bondic to seal and strain relief the back. Paint the Bondic surface.

The LED element clearly shows in this shallower holder, so was considering a few drops of Krystal Klear with one drop of diluted white acrylic was, to “fog” the lens a bit.

[JanesCustomTrain]

problem fitting the ditch light because of the red warning light on the left side of the GP38-2

This is not a red warning light, it's the lid of the MU hose connector painted red.

Jane

[dmidkiff]

Thread drift....

Karl, what part did you use for the sand filler on the top of the nose?

Doug

I used Reese's regular ditch lights and sanded the tops to get the profile that matched what you are looking for (they have a little more material up top than the round tops. I look forward to seeing your wire routing, maybe I'll finish this project yet.

[peteski]

The only problem now is to mount the 402 LEDs into the new housings I received. I started using clear epoxy for mounting and making lens. The Bondic was looking too yellow. Without a lens you can see the 402 LED and it is yellow too.

White LEDs have yellow cases because a white LED is actually a blue LED encased in resin filled with yellow phosphor.  The blue light from the LED dia inside gets converted by the phosphor into yellowish light. That blended with some of the blue light which passes through the phosphor blends into what we perceive as white light.

Bondic resin does turn slightly yellow when set.  But many epoxies (especially the 5-minute variety) have slightly yellow tint too, and after few years will in few turn even darker yellow.  At least in my experience with various epoxy brands over the last 30 years.  However this might actually be beneficial in this application.  I often find the light emitted by many warm-white LEDs (especially smaller ones like 0603 and 0402) still too bluish (cool white). They don't look  like incandescent headlights.  The yellowish tint of the clear resin lenses you are making will IMO make them look more like incandescent lights.

[mu26aeh]

Jerry,

My Shapeways order came yesterday, too. I thought the packaging was amazing, for what was inside

(Attachment Link)

I had similar experience with last order. 

Big box
20161219_154356 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

Bubble Wrap
20161219_154454 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

Items in baggie, in center of bubble wrap
20161219_154933 by Adam Henry, on Flickr
20161219_154916 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

[jpwisc]

Thread drift....

Karl, what part did you use for the sand filler on the top of the nose?

Doug

Doug, that is an Atlas part. It is the sand filler hatch off an MP15.

[MK]

They can save a lot of their shipping and material cost if they use the appropriate sized packaging.

[peteski]

They can save a lot of their shipping and material cost if they use the appropriate sized packaging.

They probably just want to make absolutely positively sure that the parts do net get damaged in shipping.