Experiments with Lighting

About a week ago, during our sump pump failure*, I started my experiments with lighting the brick building that I have been working on for the fruit and produce company. 

As I mentioned in my last post, I planned to have interior lighting on one side of the building. I found a photograph from a Google search for warehouse interior images to use. I decided to cut and paste parts of two print outs of the photo to form a collaged image without the people in the original image. I  resized, photocopied, and colored the resulting black and white image with colored pencils. 

I created the shadowbox by hot glueing some black foam core sides and a top together. One cutting trick that I learned from this experiment involves the surface on which it is best to cut foam core. My tempered glass base on the workbench is much superior to using the self healing cutting mat. The hard glass provides for a smooth cut on the bottom paper surface, while the softer cutting mat allows the bottom paper layer to tear. I found the difference to be remarkable. After the shadowbox joints were set, I glued the paper image to the top of the back of the box, leaving it loose to roll into place. 

The next step was to mount the two LEDs. I had decided to order the Pico Z mini lights from Evan Design and try them. I drilled a hole through the wall above the window between the garage doors on the right hand side of the building. Then I glued the LED in place on the underside of the dock roof with canopy glue. For the shadowbox, I poked a hole in the roof of the box and reamed it out so a straw would fit. After placing the straw through the hole and extending into the shadowbox about a quarter of an inch, I snipped it off flush with the top of the foam core roof. Next, I glued the LED wires to the roof with canopy glue, with the LED chip in the straw but not exposed below it. 

Today, I checked the two LEDs and they worked, so I went ahead and started figuring out the wiring. It is not that tricky at all, but I don't have much experience. The LEDs come with resistors wired in on red and black wires. My plan is to wire the two LEDs in parallel and extend the length with some 28 gauge twisted red and black wire. I have a scrap piece of wood on my workbench, and I have it set up so that I can tape the wire in place for soldering. I stripped the end of the extension wire and slipped some shrink tubing over it. I have the first connection in place, so in my next session I can get out the soldering equipment and make some connections. 

*Wet Basement Issues

We have had a really wet May here in the Poconos and our infrastructure failed. While the French drain and associated "dry well(?)" that it flows into have worked, the sump pump burned out with water spreading into the basement/train room on the opposite end of the basement last week. Luckily, we found a company that came out the next day to replace the pump, and most of that flood has since dried up. We do, however, have two apparent artesian well or heightened water table "faucets" from the base of the wall into the exposed French drain . They are both still flowing steadily, and along one section of "French Drain Canal  (FDC)" we need to fashion some kind of levee once this situation dries out. The flow of water is greater than the depth of FDC there creating a floodplain on one section of the basement floor. This is located where TOMA phase two of the railroad will be located.  The Nooksack or TOMA phase one section and my workbench area floors have remained dry. Having managed water flowing around the edge of the basement in FDC is one thing, accepting a potential floodplain is problematic. Theme song for the last week or so: Levee's Gonna Break