Streams of Silver - Box and Electrical

 

Completed Booknook!

The final developments for this nook (and my other booknooks) involves building the wooden case and adding lights.

A Free Standing Case

Because the skulls on sting are kind of delicate, I constructed the case separately such that the scene could be installed once completed. This represents a large improvement in my construction method.

The empty wooden box

I cut a few scraps of foam to match the interior size of the book nook. Then I fitted the foam core outer shell of the nook around it and hot glued the pieces together at the corners. The interior core is not glued to anything and although tightly fit, can be slid out at any time.

To create the box, thin sheets of bass wood were glued to the foam core (and each other) with wood glue. The wood sheets are over-sized / cut to approximate dimensions only, and once the glue is dry, the extended edges are trimmed and sanded flush.

This method worked well, and I labeled and saved the interior foam blocks for use in later projects.

Lights

5V USB charging power is used in all of my booknooks. To get started, I setup a sample circuit with a charger as the power supply and found that my white LEDs pull 6mA when connected in series with a 360 Ohm resistor. (the voltage drop across the resistor was 2.12V). With 6 lights, the nook will pull 36mA at 5Vm, less than 0.2 Watts.

I created a lighted top panel and test fit it in the nook several times. The curved part is designed to support and mount the background.

White LEDs poked through the foam core light panel

Then I wired the circuit with one resistor per LED as shown. This configuration prevents the variation in LED manufacture from routing too much current to any single LED.

And testing the system looks good!

Lastly I glued parchment paper over the top to diffuse the light so as not to cast harsh shadows.

Parchment paper diffuser attached

Then I carved wiring channels on the side of the nook to mount two low lights on the front. If we don't add these lights low and in front, then the miniature will be in shadow.

Channels for the recessed lights and wiring 

Front LED lights

With the lights installed (with the backdrop), the three wires were soldered to an old USB cable I cut the end off of.

Final wiring with strain relief (bottom left).

I also added a strain relief on the cable by building up a small pile of scrap bass wood and pinching / gluing the wire in place. Strain relief prevents accidental tugs on the cord from ripping apart the wiring inside the nook.

And in a final step (not shown), a back plate of foam core was added to the nook. The front and back plate are required for structural stability of the box.