LED Lighting for Dremel Tool

I designed this a few years ago for a friend who was doing fine inlays in a guitar. The other day I was using one I made for myself, and thought it would be a good instructable. You will need access to a 3D printer and a small CNC router, but these are common items in a makerspace. The case is threaded to fit the Dremel, and just screws on the front of the tool.

The light is powered from a 12V source. This could be a power supply, wall wart, or battery.

The circuit board uses six white SMT 1210 LEDs and two 240 Ohm 0805 SMT resistors. You will also need a little wire to connect it to a power source.

The circuit layout is supplied in a DXF file. The lines in the DXF are color coded to show what procedures should be used to cut them.

I use a vacuum platen to cut the PCB. See the instructable "Vacuum Platen for CNC Router" for information.

The RED lines are cut with a 60 degree V cutter made by Think and Tinker. Their part number is EM2E8-0625-60V. It is an excellent rugged tool for making fine cuts in copper clad material. Cut the RED lines using an outside profile with a depth of 0.005"

The BLACK lines are cut with the same tool and depth. They are single open lines, so just etch or center cut those.

The GREEN circle is cut through with router bit, the Think and Tinker RCC08-0630-032D works well. Cut this as an inside profile.

The BLUE outer profile is cut through with the router bit above as an outside profile. You may want to use tabs.

After milling the board, wet sand it lightly with water and a small amount of dish washing detergent. I dipped my board in a product called Liquid Tin. This is an electroless tin plating solution from MG Chemicals. You can get it from Mouser and Amazon. It puts a very nice tin plate on the copper which makes soldering much easier.

Look at the board through a magnifier to make sure there are no shorts.

Solder the 1210 LEDs and 0805 resistors. It's a good idea to check for shorts after each solder connection. Make sure you place the LEDs in the correct polarity.

Test the LEDs to make sure all are working.

Print the case with a 3D printer. Both STL and STP file formats are included. You can use the STP file with Fusion 360. Notice that the case has screw threads that match those used on the Dremel. A nice test for your 3D printer.

At this point you should have your PCB built and tested. Test the case to make sure it fits the Dremel and the circuit board.

Use a little E6000 or similar adhesive to glue the board in the case. Clamp with small clamps or clothespins until the adhesive has cured.

Unscrew the nose cap at the front of you Dremel and screw the lamp assembly in place. The lamp assembly is quite thin, so you may want to screw the Dremel nose cap on to keep from loosing it.

Connect 12V to the lamp and give it a try. I've found it to be quite handy and it does not seem to get in the way.

Keep Make'n