Whether its a circuit bent monstrosity or a simple oscillator, nothing brings a project to life quite like a couple LEDs. Today I wanted to show you an easy trick I picked up from a friend to give the LEDs you add to your projects a clean and professional look without having to spring for fancy lights or sleeves. All you need is some hot glue, a shallow nut or washer and some electric tape.
Start out by drilling a hole where you want the LED to be, This hole should be bigger than the LED itself and around the same size or slightly larger than the hole in your nut or washer. Once the hole is drilled line the washer or nut up with it and place a piece of electric tape over it. Take a moment to ensure the electric tape is taught and smooth over the hole in the nut and that it did not move when you were taping it down (It should still be lined up with the hole in your project).
Next we want to turn over or open up the device and pour a generous amount of hot glue into the hole from the back, allow it to heap up a bit on the inside of your device, before the glue has a chance to solidify push the LED into the hot glue, do your best to stop it just shy of pressing into the tape on the other side so there is still some glue between it and the tape. Once it is in place allow the glue to dry for a few moments, If you would like you can take this opportunity to wire the LED to the circuit (If you haven’t already)
Once the glue has completely dried gently remove the tape, You may need to use an Exacto knife to remove any excess glue leaving a smooth surface filling the hole in the nut. Since the glue is translucent when the light is turned on the entire hot glue plug will glow giving the appearance of a large flat bulb.