DIY LED Tower/Bar Light

Someone I know was looking for cheap way to light up their background while they stream.They wanted a light bar and while local stores are selling 56" LED RGB light bars for around $50, it was still too much. As I don't have a lot of experience soldering or programing with Arduino, I created an 82" tower/bar using a store bought LED RGB light strip. I don't have access to a 3D printer, so I used corrugate refill from the local hardware store to make the "enclosure/case".

The corrugate was $24 and the lights $11.

Note: This is the second one I made and has been made with left over materials from the first one.

Supplies Used

1. Hot Glue Gun
2. T-Square
3. 8 - 1/8 x48" Dowels Rods
4. 1 - 24x36" White Corrugate Refill
5. 16' LED RGB Strip
6. Razor Knife or something sharp to cut with
7. A pen or pencil for marking

I used gloves while making this because of the razor knife and hot glue gun. Accidents happen, so be careful.

The shape you will be making will resemble a "U" shape. Measure out how wide you will want your enclosure to be. This includes the two outer walls and the back. I used 1 cm for the outer walls and 2cm for the back, for an overall width of roughly 4cm. I didn't cut off any height, I cut 3 strips and one 20cm strip to add extra height.

When you've cut out your strips, you'll want to score a cut on one side of the corrugate. You do this so you can bend the the corrugate to create the U shape. Where you do this is up to you and largely depends on the width you chose to cut.

I used scrap from the previous one I made, luckily these were already cut. The size of these will depend on how big you make your U shape channel.

I used two pieces of corrugate with one being smaller than the other.

Find the center of the of the smaller piece and create holes for the dowel rods. Place on the larger piece to help mark where you'll need to make another set of holes, so the dowels can sit in the larger piece as well.

Corrugate has open areas where you can place the dowels. Push the dowels through the channels in the corrugate of one of the strips you cut and push the dowels into the top of the smaller piece of the base and through it.

Hot glue the dowels into the larger piece of corrugate, adding extra glue and press the other piece of corrugate on to it.

Here you are just stacking the rest of the strips you cut and scored to extend height, while hot gluing them in place.

After this we can place the light strip, pretty simple. I created a small square, to help keep the square shape and hold the cords flat. I haven't cut the LED strip yet, as I'm not sure if I want to add something to the bottom for weight.

You can paint this whatever color you want, but I do suggest adding something to the base as a way to add weight so it doesn't lean. Be creative!

You're done!

The first photo is the newest version, while the second larger light is the first one I made. The first one a little wider creating a more directed light.