Those 7 segment LED displays - a small one with 9.5mm (approx) characters. Has a grey face and I'd like matt black. The sort of thing that would be easy to do for a miniatures artist. ;-)
Any thoughts on how clumsy me could paint it?
I've tried pretty well every supplier I can think of to get them in black, with no success. They need to be common cathode green LED.
Marker pen. Many of them have the surrounds injection moulded, then the translucent part is a resin that's filled afterwards and ends up slightly lower. If you use a firm pen, rather than a flexible brush, you can wipe across the top.
Personally I usually mount them behind some sort of neutral density filter. Hides the off segments even better.
Dave Plowman (News) formulated the question :
Should not be too difficult, with a steady hand.
Usually they are designed to have a suitable coloured filter panel in front of them, so that only the LED's light shows through. Is there a reason why you cannot fit a filter?
My hands are steady enough - but the only way I can draw a straight line is on the computer...
Yes. They have to be flush with the panel they fit to.
Mask it and spray paint? I'd reckon that it is easier to trim masking tape and stick it over the segments than it is to paint with a brush.
You might be able to get vinyl cut to shape on a plotter or possibly a laser cutter.
Is this any help? Someone seems to have solved the problem using a green filter and black foil.
I'm not sure masking tape would give a fine enough edge. And would take ages to apply.
Light pipes? I've seen various printers with surface mount LEDs on the motherboard and bits of clear plastic to channel the light up to the case. Might be a bit fiddly to construct, but you could set 7 segments worth of light pipes in a black matrix. Would make the display thicker though.
Theo
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