1/17/2026 7 PM - Project Research

I’m going to get some Hack Club posters framed, and I thought it would be good to draw some attention to them by designing a 3D part that can illuminate them and give my bedroom a bit more originality.

I didn’t really have a clear idea of what I wanted, but I knew that the goal was to lightly illuminate the posters somehow. My original idea was to design something that would allow me to slot or screw one of these kitchen/wardrobe lights into a 3D-printed part mounted on each frame.

Example kitchen/wardrobe lights: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0CGDS5VZM/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?pd_rd_i=undefined&th=1

But after thinking it over, I realized this would overcomplicate the 3D part, making it more like a full enclosure. It would also make it quite thick and heavy to mount on a wall or frame, and it would need to be recharged over USB-C, meaning the battery wouldn’t last long, and I’d constantly have to remove it to charge.

So, I decided to use LEDs, as I could easily stick them to a much thinner 3D part and make the final weight much lower. However, LEDs had one problem: they need a constant power connection. This would mean that each light bar would have a cable coming off it and running down to a plug. Since I want around 10 posters in my bedroom, this would look messy.

I needed to find another solution.

My next idea was to connect all the LEDs on one wall using an expander, so they could be powered with only one connection to electricity per wall. The problem was that connecting them to one another would still require cables running along the wall from one poster to the next. In addition, I planned to place the posters at different heights, so the cable wouldn’t even be straight.

On top of all of this, having a light bar for every poster would be quite expensive, as I would need to buy around 10 LED strips and connectors for all of them. Still, I did a lot of research and looked everywhere for something I could use.

Eventually, the solution I found best was to create a long strip, one for each wall, that could illuminate all the posters on every wall. It would be made up of 2 or 3 3D-printed parts that connect together. It would give the posters a nice glow and, if done correctly, could look really good.

I say 2 or 3 3D-printed parts because I have a smaller wall where I only want a 0.66 m light bar; on the rest of the walls, it will be a 1 m light bar. After some back-and-forth with ChatGPT, I also found that the ideal angle for the LED on the 3D part is 30 degrees upward from the horizontal. This should reach high enough because it isn’t too steep, while still giving the posters a nice glow.

After searching for a while, I found these LEDs that look good and are quite bright. I also found a wireless plug kit with four plugs (one for each light bar) and a remote control, so I can connect the LEDs to the plugs and control them all with a single remote.

Example LEDs: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0F29BYFXH/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?pd_rd_i=B0F29BYFXH&pd_rd_w=undefined&th=1
Wireless plug kit: https://www.amazon.es/-/en/Brennenstuhl-Comfort-Line-Wireless-Sockets-Control/dp/B073W52CS8

I also made some sketches to show what I had in mind.

Project view:

Project parts:

1/17/2026 10 PM - Designed Part 1

I began by creating a base sketch and then extruding it by 3 mm to create a rectangular block of 33 mm × 3 mm × 3 mm (length × width × height).

Base block:

From this, I created a sketch on the right side of the block. I made the side where the LEDs will go 12 mm wide (the LEDs are 8 mm wide, so there is enough clearance to mount them). I also gave this face the 30-degree angle that I mentioned in the last journal.

After pocketing this sketch, I saw the first version of part one of the LED light bar.

After debating a few different options, I found that if I used this 3D design, the LEDs would be too close to the wall and create a strong wall wash effect. To fix this, I decided to move the LED platform a bit further away from the wall.

At this point, I had a conversation with ChatGPT to make sure that the 30-degree angle for the LED platform was correct and would illuminate the top of the posters. ChatGPT confirmed it was correct, and I moved on to the final detail for this part.

The final detail is an extruded rectangle that I will use to connect the second part to this one. I placed it on the right side of the block and positioned it so that the pocket on the second part can be slightly bigger than this rectangle.

The idea is to apply glue to these connecting rectangles and then slot them into the pocket on the second part. This is what it looks like:

I also pushed all the changes to GitHub: https://github.com/adrirubio/posters-led-light-bar

1/20/2026 - Designed Part 2

I followed the same steps as in part one, and it didn't take long to get to the same point. The only difference with this part is that it also has a pocket on the left side, which is where the extruded section from part one connects.

Part 2 at the same design stage as Part 1:

After reaching this point, I created a new sketch on the left side of the light bar and drew a rectangle, but this time the dimensions were 0.5 mm larger on all sides. I also made the pocket 11 mm instead of 10 mm, unlike the extruded section.

I did this so the extruded portion of part one could have glue applied and then be slotted neatly into the pocket without any fitting issues.

This is what the finished part two looks like:

1/21/2026 - Designed Part 3 and Assembled the Models

Part three only has a pocket on the left side, and because I already had the steps figured out from parts one and two, it didn’t take long to complete. Here’s what it looks like:

Now that I had finished all three parts, I downloaded the STEP files for each of them so I could assemble two new designs: one for a 1 m LED strip and another for a 0.66 m LED strip.

The process was simple and not very time-consuming. For the 1 m LED strip, I imported the STEP files for all three parts and arranged them in order. For the 0.66 m LED strip, I imported only the STEP files for parts one and three and arranged them accordingly.

From this, I was able to see that the designs looked good and had no flaws. All three parts are now ready to be 3D printed.

This is what the assembled models look like:

1 m Light Bar:

0.66 m light bar: