diffuser materials - anyone here tried any?

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tetsuo

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I'd like to diffuse my WS2812b strip lighting somewhat, but I still want to be able to distinguish one "pixel" from another. Essentially, I want them to blend/overlap somewhat at the edges, so if you put red next to blue, you'd see a red diffuse spot, a blue diffuse spot, and a red-purple-blue gradient between them. I believe that this should be tune-able with a good diffuser material by varying the distance between the LED and the diffuser. Anyway, I'm looking at:

http://www.professionalplastics.com/MakrolonLumenXT

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/300m...t-White-Light-Transmission-72/1254222381.html

Anyone have experience with either of those or suggestions for other materials to consider? This will end up covering about 5000 LEDs over a roughly 8' by 15' area. ( Project thread here:
http://forum.pjrc.com/threads/24370...ng-for-a-quot-sanity-check-quot-and-a-answers )
 
I'd try it out.
Usually companies that sell these materials have a little sampler with a variety of their materials so you can pick the one that suits your application best.
 
Thanks for the replies and advice. I've asked for samples from the two links in my OP, and have ordered a sheet of the .007" material from the Inventables link provided by potatotron. I'll post some comparisons back here once I get some samples. I'm not sure how easy it will be to get a sample from the aliexpress shop, but I guess we'll see :)
 
Update:

I've tested the materials from the aliexpress vendor as well as the film from inventibles (no pictures yet - sorry). I suspect they're both using the same basic compound as they have very similar characteristics. The material from aliexpress is much thicker and able to diffuse very effectively even from a couple millimeters away. Of course at that distance, there's still a significant hotspot, but a very complete-looking diffusion effect can be achieved at only around 3cm away.

In short, I'm very happy with this one:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/300m...t-White-Light-Transmission-72/1254222381.html
 
Thanks for posting what worked!
Of course we expect some nice imagery or video when your project approches a certain level of functionality and completion ;-)
 
I've been using old Fuji slide film canisters that I still had laying around. I believe it's polypropylene, I use it for my LED staffs as they fit nicely around the whole construct. I then tape them together using Scotch tape, and cover it with transparant shrink-wrap for a strong finish. You can sometimes find these old film canisters on Ebay.
 
Well, it turns out that trying to take pictures of LEDs with a point-and-shoot in an otherwise pitch-black room is VERY DIFFICULT! :p I'll try to set up some test samples in different light and see if that helps.

I tried "milky" or "frosted" looking plastic, but that blocks a lot of light and doesn't have the impressive diffusion characteristics of some of these newer materials. At 5cm distance from the 30leds/meter strip, the light appears completely uniform. With the diffusing material in direct contact with the strip, it accomplishes my goal of making the Red, green, and blue "sub pixels" invisible while also reducing the hot-spot effect. If you want to diffuse as much as possible in as little room as possible, these materials are hard to beat!
 
I'd like to revive this thread a bit since I'm preparing for a new LED project. What I've been using so far as diffuser material on another LED project are these old slide film canisters which are great for that purpose, but now I need something that is bendable and more or less flat at the same time. In particular I want to be able to make "wearable" segments of addressable LED strips, each Teensy controlled.

Anyone have any ideas on diffuser material that may be suitable for that?
 
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Materials (untested!) that come to mind are
  • reusable silicone baking "paper", I've seen brands that are white and almost clear
  • 2-component silicone that you can use to pour a thin sheet or any shape you like (maybe add glass bubbles that are usually used to stretch epoxy resin)
 
This material has great diffusion properties for its thickness. The thinner of the two is obviously more flexible, but will provide less diffusion:
https://www.inventables.com/technologies/light-diffuser-film-rolls

However, this isn't something you'd want to feel in direct contact w/ the skin.. if that's part of your design, I like where christoph was headed w/ 2-part silicone.... you could even create a mold if you needed reproducability, and you might be able to use the powdered diffuser additive sold @ the above link (same material they mix with polyethylene or other plastics to make diffuser sheets)
 
Thanks for the tips and the links. I think something like the rolls is probably best to start with. Easy to just cut into the size I need without much work. I'm going to see if I can get this shipped to Europe. Not sure how I am going to have this connect to the body yet. I may put something underneath so as to not have direct contact with the skin.
 
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