Magnetic Light Bar - Core One L / 290mm edition

What

A size (~290mm of LED) of the light bar for the Core One L to accommodate some common addons and LED COB connectors. Has a paired diffuser as well.

Why

The original's 350mm strip for the Core One L works great on the right side of the printer, but the other sides can have difficulties:

• the rear is shorter, and interrupted by the swing arm

• the left side has the buddycam in the corner

• the front is shorter, and has the buddycam in the corner

• each of the corners lose some space to the corner-fillers if you use them

The next smallest size in the original is designed to fit a 250mm strip, which works but is smaller than it could be. This is a happy medium.

Using press fit COB LED connectors interfered with the diffuser, so this also adds a little relief ramp on either end to allow for the connectors to fit under the diffuser.

The original suggested using these PAUTIX 6.1mm LED strips, which I used as well: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XBDLGWV

and which have a nominal 41.5mm cutting unit. At first I was soldering wires to them, which is just silly. Later I used the COB connectors, which are much simpler and I would recommend. Specifically, these:

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CBV62FJK “BTF-LIGHTING FCOB COB 50pcs 8mm 0.31in Transparent Connector Support FCOB 8mm Width 2 pin v+ v- Single Color LED Strip Corner Connection Adapted for 20AWG or 22AWG Wire(No Wires in The Packaging)”

Both the existing WLED and the one linked above are 8mm wide strips. For reference these connectors are about 11.6mm long along the strip, 9.9mm across, and 4.3mm tall to check if yours are similar.

These bars fit without any fiddling for me. For the front you may be able to make a size with one extra cut length (41.5mm) but I didn't bother to try. 

Wiring Notes

If you are running:

• 1x 350mm on the right side (from the original)

• 3x 290mm on the other sides

• 1x 205mm angled on the vertical (from the original)

You have 1425mm total of LEDs. The linked LED strip specifies 6.1m with a max draw of 35W, so I thiiiink you end up with an extra 8.4W. I personally connected this to the existing white LED strip for ease of wiring, and also so that they will auto dim along with the original. So far there have not been issues and I've been running it for a few weeks. There is overcurrent protection in the firmware if the buddy board draws too much..

The end of the existing white LED has some heatshrink on the end you can remove, and if you're me solder some wires in place (not recommended, goofy) or use those press in connectors (recommended) without needing to disturb the strip too much. It is just attached with some adhesive backing. I then routed the wires down and up to the right corner, in between the cross bar frame for the LED and the door. Going straight up and to the corner risks getting in the way of homing.

In my case the existing WLED strip did not have its polarity labeled, but you can either use a multimeter to confirm, or look at which side is coming from the nearest resistor or LED to confirm. In my case the positive side was on the top.

Photo of my WLED pre-installation for reference:

Just to save other people time who may be new to running their own LED wiring:

In the case of the Core One L, the chamber is designed to handle 55C, with 60C turning on the fans and 65C getting pretty upset. For this load and temperature, my understanding is that 22AWG silicone insulated wires are the sweet spot. I used molex microfit 3.0 connectors on either end to be able to move them. If you are more confident in your installation you could skip that, but I was not sure I'd need to take an individual one out or if there would be issues.

I had used other itty bitty connectors but never these, but they were pretty simple to install. I bought a kit on amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GCCZ9R34 ) but you can almost certainly get a comparable one cheaper elsewhere.

The wiring tactic I decided upon was having a short female microfit stub that just clears the end of the “far” end of the LED strip, and starting with a longer wire run at the “front” of the LED strip with a male micro fit. That way, you are only paying for the wire slack when you are actually using the strip, rather than always having a length of wire that is hanging around. You can see a photo of this in the uploads.

To connect the vertical angled strip and the front strip to the left strip, I used two 3 wire wago connectors that I had on hand. There is likely a smarter way to do it, but it worked.

I used these magnetic wire holders to hold up the slack and like them:

Printing

I printed in Atomic Filament PCTG on my Core One L. Arranged diagonally you can fit multiple on a single Core One L print bed. The internet tells me PETG can safely exist at a consistent 60C, so this shooooould be fine? These have the heat from the LED and are at the top, so theoretically may be hotter than the rest of the chamber. But there are magnets to keep them in place. I imagine the main risk is of the diffuser (if used) popping out and ruining a print. If I was smarter I would use a more heat tolerant filament.

For the diffuser I used some some basic white PETG (I think Overture?) with Hilbert in case the design would be fun. I'm not sure it made a difference.

Is This Worth?

Having all 4 sides lit up from the top was an improvement, I would recommend doing it. I did not find any improvement from using the vertical LED to illuminate below the bed though – it just did not seem to make a noticeable improvement. I couldn't see that well under the bed before, and I couldn't see that well under the bed after. Maybe this is due to me tapping the original WLED strip and being limited in some way, and having a separate power supply would perform better. It's almost tempting to integrate an LED into the waste bins that go across the front. 

License

The original is licensed under OCL v1 but Printables is not letting me select that for some reason for this remix (maybe because OCL v1 bolt ons?). The original disallows commercial reselling so this one is listed as non-commercial as well.

AI Use

AI was used in the creation of it, as well as me, potentially a real human bean. There were clankers involved though. If that bothers you the adjustments made are not that significant so you could make this yourself – I would just pay attention to the connector clearance and magnet spacing.