Building The IR Rails

To hold the IR LED's in place I need to build rails. I bought all four of the 'L' shaped aluminium rails at Home Depot for about $15. These rails will hold the IR LEDs right against the acrylic plexi glass and shine the IR into them.

I started off by measuring and cutting the rails into three foot lengths.

When cutting, I recommend you but a block of wood behind the saw to guide it. I cut every single piece at a three foot length, and I intend to angle the edges to fit together on the glass. After I finished cutting the rails, I measured every 2 inches, after the first inch, and placed a black dot with sharpie. When I finished there were a total of 18 black dots on the aluminum. After the dots were placed, I went through each rail and put a hole where the dots were using a drill press. I used a 3/8 inch drill bit, the size of the LED.

The drill left the holes a bit rough, so I smoothed them out using a filer.

The holes were a tiny bit small for the LEDs so using the drill bit, I carved them out just a little bit. When I was sure the led was going to fit tightly, I started to put them in with white silicone caulk. I used white because I accidentally bought that instead of clear, for the vellum. I applied a little bit of caulk to the LED and put it in the hole. I made sure all of the LEDs were facing the same direction, the long wire on top.

This was my finished product for every single rail:

In the future, if I could find the right size, I would use 'H' shaped rails. Those rails would hold onto the glass better. I would also be sure to use clear silicone caulk, so none gets on the tip of the LED and block light. I washed all of the LEDs after the caulk had dried.