Do it yourself leaklight

I made the following page for a clinic I am doing in February on repair tips and techniques for band directors. I thought that some of the readers of this forum might be interested. They are very easy to make although the plan requires some basic electrical soldering skills.

http://jbtsaxmusic.homestead.com/Leaklight.html
 
Interesting...however, as a former electrician, I am somewhat uneasy when I see the combination of high-voltage gear (the ballast unit) combined with low-voltage gear (phone outlet), without clear markings and without a fuse anywhere in between. One's operating near metal gear with this contraption, and the use of a FI circuit breaker is strongly advised.

I'd probably take a fluorescent lantern and simply attach the fl tube with some cables.
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Or I'd abuse an LED table lamp.

Edit: Forgot to say that your instructions with pictures are clear and concise - very well made!
 
what's wrong with getting some LED rope lights and using that? works just fine for me... Not small enough for flutes and clarinets, but how many band directors can adequately repair flutes and clarinets? You can always just find smaller diameter rope lights, but if you go to WalMart or Target or whatever the week after Christmas they're dirt cheap
 
saxplayer1004 said:
what's wrong with getting some LED rope lights and using that? works just fine for me... Not small enough for flutes and clarinets, but how many band directors can adequately repair flutes and clarinets? You can always just find smaller diameter rope lights, but if you go to WalMart or Target or whatever the week after Christmas they're dirt cheap
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The inexpensive rope lights readily available in stores are incandescent---not LED. They are not nearly as bright and must be used in a darkened room to be effective. Leak lights are rarely used on flutes and clarinets because of the white bladder pads. A feeler gauge is much more effective in detecting leaks on these instruments. I do often use a leak light on bass clarinet work in conjunction with a feeler gauge to save time.
 
tictactux said:
Interesting...however, as a former electrician, I am somewhat uneasy when I see the combination of high-voltage gear (the ballast unit) combined with low-voltage gear (phone outlet), without clear markings and without a fuse anywhere in between. One's operating near metal gear with this contraption, and the use of a FI circuit breaker is strongly advised.
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Thanks for that feedback. Where in the circuit would you put the FI? My thinking is that the output of the ballast does not exceed .12 amps and there is no heat generated and the female connectors provide excellent insulation at the top of the bulb going into metal saxophones. Heat shrink could be added there as well for an extra layer of protection I suppose.

I like your idea as well and will provide a link to that page in the clinic as an alternate idea. Battery powered LED lights are fine. However, I would be concerned with the heat generated by LEDs operating at line voltage.
 
jbtsax said:
Thanks for that feedback. Where in the circuit would you put the FI? My thinking is that the output of the ballast does not exceed .12 amps and there is no heat generated and the female connectors provide excellent insulation at the top of the bulb going into metal saxophones. Heat shrink could be added there as well for an extra layer of protection I suppose.
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The main issue IMO is that there is no (foolproof) galvanic separation between mains and the tube. And the current rating alone (.12 amps) is meaningless as it doesn't say how persistent it is - does it collapse when you touch it (typical for a transformer-based "wall wart") or would it try to be persistent (eg when you use a switched AC adaptor)?
I'd buy an FI breaker that connects between wall outlet and cable (in much the same way you'd use a timer switch) or one that is already integrated in the cable. Better safe than sorry...
fi_plug.jpg

But again - a battery-operated FL tube doesn't cost more than yours, and you could still use it with an AC adapter in order to save on batteries.
 
Merged a thread with the same topic. See alsottp://www.woodwindforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=842.
 
I've got a blue LED rope light that we got for like $8 in a post Christmas sale... Works fine for that. I don't use bladder pads in clarinets, and my bass clarinets have sax pads in them, so I guess it's a little different.
 
I know the twisted fluoro bulb isn't used in the leak light but just in case it's worth mentioning that these are a lot more dangerous to use close and generally need to be at least 30cm away i.e. ok for a room light but not a desk light.

Re leak lights, I know the subject is an inexpensive DIY light, but in general I guess it's a matter of how much you are willing to spend for what you want. A leak light is one of the most important tools and considering how much use it gets even the most expensive ones are not that expensive, comparing with other tools that cost a lot more and get a lot less use.

I never liked the fluoroscent lights. They feel bulky to me, they are fragile and they give a lot of light from where I don't want any (i.e. other tone holes). OTOH I really like the LED leak light sold by some suppliers like Kraus Music and Boehm Tools. They are expensive, but worth it to me for the reasons mentioned earlier. For some reason my one doesn't bother me with the 'too long' problem I have with the fluoros.

It has LEDs on two sides and they are very close together. It is nearly unbreakable and I can use it on clarinets and flutes too (in addition to feeler) and detachable neck sopranos from the top. Some cheap LEDs I've seen have only a few bulbs very far apart from each other. For me this means too much playing with it until it's right. Some are also very long, another issue with all the rope lights really not to mention most are not that bright really. Same problem for the one-sided light. But without spending more, I guess you can just accept it. I would definitely prefer a cheaper less convinient light than no light at all!

Except those good LED lights, my preferance is a very bright localised light, usually a xenon bulb. It's very cheap to make yourself, only need a basic PS (though the voltage is important to match the bulb) and the bulb is relatively cheap too (more than a regular one though).
 
I like my blue LED's, I feel like the blue cuts through better than the white for me providing very noticable contrast against the finish of the horn. Most of my horns are silver and the white light just doesn't stick out to me like the bright blue LED's do. That being said, my LED rope is 10 feet long so not adequate for much of anything. Although it does make it really easy to repad a bari or contrabass clarinet without having to move the light at all...
 
saxplayer1004 said:
I like my blue LED's, I feel like the blue cuts through better than the white for me providing very noticable contrast against the finish of the horn. Most of my horns are silver and the white light just doesn't stick out to me like the bright blue LED's do. That being said, my LED rope is 10 feet long so not adequate for much of anything. Although it does make it really easy to repad a bari or contrabass clarinet without having to move the light at all...
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interestingly enough, I recall watching a tour of the Yamaha factory and they use blue lightening too for the pad leveling process.

could always use it for christmas lightening too :)
 
After some good advice on this forum, I decided that showing a bunch of band directors how to make a 110 Volt fluorescent light to insert into metal instruments wasn't such a good idea after all with liability issues and such.

So . . . . . . . . . . I looked around for an alternative idea for my music teacher friends and came up with this:

http://www.woodwindforum.com/forums/album.php?albumid=59


The 12 Volt LED strips can be purchased from "XESPIDERX" on EBay and they cost a whopping $1.00 each! Shipping by airmail from Hong Kong is $1.56 per light and they must be shipped separately for weight considerations.

The 12 Volt transformer was on I found lying around the house. In fact I found 3 that used to go to something and are no longer being used---there may be more if I clean my drawers and closets.

The strips were glued together using "gap filling" super glue. Some of the great advantages of this light besides being only 12 Volts is that it is waterproof, it generates very little heat, it is flexible to go around bell bows and through bari sax "pigtails", and will not break when dropped. As you can see in the comparison photo, it is much brighter than the incandescent rope leak light that Music Medic sells for $17.00.

Should you want to use one on bari saxes, you might want to install a stiffer cord than the one that comes on the transformer so you can "push" the light up into the body through the low C or Eb tonehole.

This should be much safer for my band director friends than the 110 Volt version---especially since most of them are such good conductors. : )
 
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If I weren't such a well grounded individual I might take offense at all of this resistance to my attempts to add a bit of humor to my posts. However, to make sure I don't blow a fuse, I am going to insulate myself from all this negative current feedback and retreat to my room and chant "OHM" to recharge my self esteem. :)
 
jbtsax said:
If I weren't such a well grounded individual I might take offense at all of this resistance to my attempts to add a bit of humor to my posts. However, to make sure I don't blow a fuse, I am going to insulate myself from all this negative current feedback and retreat to my room and chant "OHM" to recharge my self esteem. :)
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this is ..... ahhhh .. never mind ... touché !!
 
jbtsax said:
If I weren't such a well grounded individual I might take offense at all of this resistance to my attempts to add a bit of humor to my posts. However, to make sure I don't blow a fuse, I am going to insulate myself from all this negative current feedback and retreat to my room and chant "OHM" to recharge my self esteem. :)
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Actually, I loved the pun. :)

(but I reportedly have a wicked sense of humour)
 
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