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Surfboard LED Fins

instructables Surfboard LED Fins Installation guide

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Surfboard LED Fins
by mosivers
A while ago I decided to combine two of my favorite hobbies river surng and electronics, which resulted in motion-
reactive LED strips for my surfboard. Since it is impossible to have too many LEDs on any project, I recently added
glowing LED ns.
The ns are 3D printed from transparent lament and include a space in the center for a coin cell battery and a 5mm LED.
The ns consist of two halves held together by screws and sealed with a gasket printed from ex lament.
UPDATE:UPDATE:
Version 2 with an improved seal is now available on Version 2 with an improved seal is now available on Thingiverse..
Supplies:
For each n you will need
CR2032 coin cell battery
5mm LED (color of your choice)
small piece of packaging foam
transparent 3D printer lament (e.g. Fillamentum Crystal Clear)
ex lament (e.g. Polymaker PolyFlex)
6pcs M2.2 x 6mm plastic screws
Surfboard LED Fins: Page 1
Step 1: CAD Design
The parts were designed in Fusion360 based on these
existing Thingiverse models. The ns are designed for
the FCS system. I made a large n and a small center n
as commonly used in rapid surng.
As already mentioned, each n consists of two halves.
The space where the LED and coin cell ts is surrounded
by an elliptical groove into which a gasket is inserted.
The gasket is squished together by a ridge on the top
part with a triangular cross-section.
All stl les are attached below.
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FS5/SQZC/KRJ7NET0/FS5SQZCKRJ7NET0.stl
DownloadView in 3D
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FL0/YXXI/KRJ7NET1/FL0YXXIKRJ7NET1.stl
DownloadView in 3D
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FRZ/JGU6/KRJ7NET2/FRZJGU6KRJ7NET2.stl
DownloadView in 3D
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FAQ/XJLF/KRJ7NET3/FAQXJLFKRJ7NET3.stl
DownloadView in 3D
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FVS/QDC4/KRJ7NET4/FVSQDC4KRJ7NET4.stl
DownloadView in 3D
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/F0P/UNPT/KRJ7NET5/F0PUNPTKRJ7NET5.stl
DownloadView in 3D
Surfboard LED Fins: Page 2
Step 2: 3D Printing
I tried out dierent types of transparent lament
Filamentworld transparent PLA: very good print quality but lowest transparency
XVICO transparent PETG: worst print quality, medium transparency
Fillamentum Crystal Clear: good print quality, best transparency
As you can see I got the best results with Fillamentum Crystal Clear, however, it took me a while to get there as this
lament can easily clog the nozzle of Prusa printers (see e.g. here, or here). As suggested in one of the forum posts the
problem was mostly solved by replacing the heat break. I still sometimes experience the typical clocking noise on my
extruder but the prints do not fail entirely.
Regarding the print settings, there are many tutorials on getting transparent prints (see e.g. here) and making 3D printed
objects watertight (e.g. here). Luckily, the requirements are somewhat similar so it is not impossible to achieve both.
After some experimenting I found the following adjustments to be useful
inll: 100%
nozzle temperature: 220°C
inll/perimeters overlap: 5%
cooling fans: o
print speed: 70%
ow rate: 110%
The gaskets were printed from Polymaker PolyFlex lament with 100% inll and 0.1mm layer height.
I did not do any post-processing except for some mild sanding. Coating the parts with epoxy might be a nice addition in
order to improve transparency and waterproofness.
1. Fillamentum Crystal Clear
2. XVICO transparent PETG
3. Filamentworld transparent PLA
12
3
Surfboard LED Fins: Page 3
Step 3: Assembly
First, you have to shorten the leads of the LED a bit so
that they t inside the 3D print. The coin cell battery is
simply placed in between the LED leads. The gasket is
inserted into the bottom part of the n and the top part
is xed with M2.2 x 6mm plastic screws. I also placed a
small piece of packaging foam on top of the coin cell to
hold it in place after the n is sealed.
You can of course use whichever LED color you prefer.
Most LEDs work ne when supplied 3V directly from a
coin cell battery. For the center n, I used an RGB LED
with an integrated controller that cycles through the
rainbow. I also printed ns from Fillamentum Iceland
Blue lament that are used with a white LED.
Surfboard LED Fins: Page 4
Step 4: Testing Waterproofness
Step 5: Final Remarks
I immersed the sealed n completely in water for several minutes to test if it is waterproof. At rst, I tried this without the
electronics. Only after I checked that no water entered I tested it with the LED and the coin cell inside.
Surfboard LED Fins: Page 5
The disadvantage of the simple design is that there is no
switch to turn the LEDs on and o. In order to do so, you
have to unscrew the top part and remove the battery
but I was unable to nd a watertight switch that is
suciently small. With a switch installed one could also
think about permanently sealing the 3D print with epoxy
but then you would not be able to replace the battery.
With a typical capacity of 220mAh for a CR2032 cell and
a typical LED current of 10mA, the battery should last
22h.
Unfortunately, I was not able to try out the ns yet.
When I do, I will post a video so that you can see them in
action. I hope the ns will turn out to be as watertight in
real-life conditions as in my tests.
Surfboard LED Fins: Page 6
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