How to Add LED Lights to Your 3D Printer or Enclosure

Adding lights to your 3D printer can help to improve visibility in your working area so you can monitor the printing process. You can either purchase a light bar kit and install it or add LED strip lights to your 3D printing setup. But how do you do it? I will take you through the step-by-step process.

To add lights to your 3D printer, gather the necessary materials and tools and determine the LED light placement. After that, measure and cut the LED light strips and connect them to your Power Supply Unit using wires. Once you’re done, route and secure all the wires correctly. Finally, test your setup.

This is a basic explanation of what you need to do. I will go into more detail in this article, so stick around to learn more.

How to Add Lights to Your 3D Printer or Enclosure

Before you can add lights to your 3D printer or enclosure, it is important to ensure that your 3D printer is switched off and unplugged from the power source. After that, you can follow this step–by–step process:

1. Gather the necessary materials and tools
2. Figure out the LED strip light placement
3. Measure and cut the LED light strips
4. Determine the length of wire needed to connect the LED strip lights to the PSU
5. Solder one end of the wires to your LED strip lights
6. Crimp the other end of the wires
7. Fit the LED light strips onto your 3D printer
8. Connect your LED strip lights to your Power Supply Unit
9. Route the wires and secure all the connections

1. Gather the Necessary Materials and Tools

In terms of the lights, you have two main options:

• An LED Light Bar Kit
• LED Light Strips

LED Light Bar Kit

If you don’t want too much work, you should go for LED light bar kits, which only require some simple installation, and you’re good to go. One example is the Gulfcoast Robotics 24V Premium White LED Light.

Creality also developed a 3D Printer LED Light Bar Kit. This light bar kit is pretty simple to install. You can follow this video by 3D Rundown.

Another great product is the UniTak3D 24V LED Light Bar Strip available on Amazon. Here is a complete video on how to install it.

LED Strip Lights

However, if you’re a handy person with some LED strip lights lying around, solder some wires to them and connect them to the Power Supply Unit of your 3D printer.

The key is picking the right LED strip lights for your 3D printer. This is because they come in different voltages, mainly 5V, 12V, and 24V.

You want to ensure that the voltage of the LED strip light you have picked matches the output voltage of your 3D printer’s Power Supply Unit (PSU). For instance, if your 3D printer’s PSU outputs 12V, choose a 12V LED strip.

To know the output of your Power Supply Unit, you’ll need to go to the product page of your printer manufacturer’s website. Alternatively, you can check your User manual.

You can go for the CT Capetronix 24 Volt LED Light Strip, which has already taken care of the wiring to avoid soldering.

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Depending on what light you choose, you’ll need some tools for installation such as:

• Wires and connectors – needed to link the LED strips lights to the PSU. You can use flexible, insulated wires like this 10ft Red and Black 16 AWG Copper Wires. For connectors, you can go for the GooChan 2-Pin LED solderless connector.
• Cable ties – these are good for securing and organizing wires and cables after connecting the LED strip lights to the PSU. I’d recommend this Pack of 12-Inch Zip Ties that contains 1,000 pieces.
• Screwdriver – you’ll need a screwdriver for the installation process to open up components. You can get the KURUI Magnetic Screwdriver Set on Amazon.
• Allen wrench – For some 3D printers, you’ll want an Allen wrench to remove some of the screws. Something like the SEDY 32-Piece Hex Key Wrench Set available on Amazon will come in handy.
• Diagonal cutters – These are to cut the LED strip lights and cut any cable ties used. You can go with these IGAN P6 Side Cutters.
• Wire strippers – These are for removing the insulation from the wires ends so you can solder them to your LED strip lights or use a connection between LED strips and PSU. You can use this Vanjoin 7-inch Wire Stipping Cutting Hand Tool as a wire stripper and cutter.
• Soldering kit – If you’re going to solder connections between the wires and LED strip lights, check out the 90W 110V LCD Soldering Iron Kit on Amazon.
• Heat shrink tubing – Important for protecting exposed wires and soldered joints on your LED light strips. I’d recommend this Heat Shrink Tubing Kit from Amazon.
• Heat gun – The heat gun is used to shrink the heat shrink tubing around wires so thy can be insulated and protected. I recommend the 1800W SEEKONE Heat Gun, which you can purchase on Amazon.

2. Figure Out the LED Strip Light Placement

If you decide to install LED strip lights and have picked the right ones for your 3D printer, you’ll need to decide where exactly to place them. This can either be on your enclosure or the 3D printer itself.

One Ender 3 user with an enclosure decided to add the LED strip lights inside the rails of the whole frame. He cut the LED lights into three short strips, two to go on both sides of the Z-axis channels and one to run across the crossbar.

He then connected them using flexible wires so that they would fit around the corners.

Added some white LED strips inside the frame; powered using the Ender’s 24v connector. Lights up the entire enclosure! Going to make an IR on/off remote for them next.
byu/lukematthew in3Dprinting

Other people prefer to place only a single strip of LED lights on the underside of the top bar of their 3D printer (between the pair of Z-axis bars). It all depends on your preference and lighting requirements.

3. Measure and Cut the LED Strip Lights

After deciding where to place the LED strips, you must measure and cut them. The best way to know the exact length of LED strips you’ll require is to measure using an Amazon Basics Tape Measure.

Another simple way to do it is to hold up your LED strip against your 3D printer’s frame and mark the point you’ll need to cut to fit in your 3D printer’s frame. You can do it as shown toward the end of this video.

Ensure that you only cut the LED strip along the cut lines. These points are usually indicated using a scissor icon and have exposed copper pads.

These IGAN P6 Side Cutters found on Amazon would be ideal for cutting.

4. Determine the Length of Wire Needed to Connect the LED Strip Lights to the PSU

Next, you’ll need wires to connect your LED strip lights to your PSU. This 10ft Red and Black 16 AWG Electrical Copper Wires would do just fine.

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Determining what length would be sufficient to connect your LED strips to the Power Supply Unit is important. I recommend running the wire along the printer from where you plan to place the LED strip lights to the Power Supply Unit to determine the required length.

Remember to leave some extra length of wire so they don’t end up being too short after mounting everything in place and routing them. This video from Crazy Will Tech Show explains how to do that.

5. Solder One End of the Wires to Your LED Strip Lights

Once you’ve got the right length of wires, you will need to solder one end of your two connecting wires to your light strip (that is, if you bought strip lights that don’t have a connection already).

• First, strip off small sections of insulation from the ends of the wire to expose about 6mm of the inner wire on both ends.

You can use this Haisstronica Wire Stripper Kit that you can find on Amazon.

• After that, get this MEAKEST Digital Display Soldering Iron Kit from Amazon and use it to solder the red and black wires to the positive and negative terminals of your LED light strips, respectively.
• Finally, cover the exposed solder joints to insulate them. To do this, slide a heat shrink tubing over that section and heat it with a hot air gun.
• This will cause it to shrink and snug the exposed joint tightly.

Check out the Sopoby Heat Shrink Tubing Kit and 1800W SEEKONE Heat Gun, perfect for covering exposed solder joints.

Maker Max Corbett shares a YouTube video demonstrating how to do this.

However, if you’re a beginner or want to avoid soldering, you can use this GooChan 2-Pin LED Solderless Connector you can find on Amazon to connect your wires to your LED strip lights.

6. Crimp the Other End of the Wires

Using the wire stripper kit I linked above, strip off the insulating cover from the other free end of your red and black wires and crimp ring or fork connectors onto them.

This is because this is the part that will go into your PSU terminals. Some people prefer to connect the wires directly to the terminals without crimping them. However, it is not advisable since you may get shorts or loose connections.

Here is how you can crimp ring connectors to the ends of your red and black wire.

7. Fit the LED Lights on Your 3D Printer

Now, to fit the LED light strip onto your 3D printer, you’ll need to slide it into the channels of your 3D printer’s frame.

• First, remove the four bolts of the top crossbar using the hex key that came with your machine. If you need a new one, you can get a SEDY 32-Piece Hex Key Set for future use.
• Gently feed the LED strip into the sidebar channel, into and across the top bar, and then down the other bar.
• Ensure you slide it until it fits into your 3D printer’s frame channels nicely. Just leave enough wire to go into your PSU.

In some printers, the LED light strip can fit into the channels around the corners without any hassle. However, in others, it might not. In that case, it might be best to cut the light strip into different pieces that you can join at the corners by soldering some wires.

One user said he had to cut the strip and solder it back with small wires to conform to the angles. There were no LED strips at the right angles, just wires connecting two different strips.

In this video by Flash Hobbies, you can learn how to connect light strips by soldering them at the corners.

You can follow the video below to install your LED light strips without soldering any wires at the corners.

8. Connect Your LED Strip Light to Your Power Supply Unit

To power your LED strip light, you’ll need to connect the crimped ends of your wires to the terminals of your power supply unit. Most 3D printers typically have AC input and DC output terminals.

The AC input terminals are normally labeled L, N, and G and should not be tampered with. On the other hand, DC output terminals are normally indicated using + and – symbols, which stand for the positive and negative terminals, respectively.

• First, consult your user manual to know where your Power Supply Unit is located, remove it (if necessary), and then remove the plastic cover to expose the terminals.
• Loosen the screw of the positive terminal and negative terminals. Connect the red wire to the positive terminal and the black one to the negative terminal and tighten the screw.
• After that, screw your plastic PSU cover back into place, and you’re good to go.

Check out the video below to see how to connect your LED strips to your Power Supply Unit.

9. Route the Wires and Secure All Connections

Finally, carefully route all the wires from the LED strips to the PSU to avoid contact with moving printer parts and to minimize clutter.

Use cable clips or cable ties to secure the wires and prevent them from moving around during printing. Here are some Reusable Fastening Cable Ties for wire management available on Amazon.

Also, double-check that all connections are properly secured, free from exposed wires, and adequately insulated. After that, your 3D printer lights should be ready for use.