I have chemicals that can patina quickly, although as noted in the Nighthawks build I didn't use it for the flashing since I couldn't use it after the flashing was installed. I may use copper again on this build, but this time, I'll pre-treat the flashing.
At noon I had my first physical therapy session to see if we could improve my sciatica. My son in law orthopod suggested trying PT first since he didn't think I had spinal damage. I believe he was right… he usually is. I have two more appointments next week and exercises to do to strengthen my core and limber up so very tight muscles. So I got to work at 3:00 again today. But… got some stuff done.
I put on the gallery name. I had made these decals when I did the interior lettering. I had three different sizes not knowing which would fit best. I put a bit of gloss clear on the white paint first to give the decals a better surface to which to adhere.
The last store front item was the goose neck light that would illuminate the sign board. Again, I made it with the Scale University white metal industrial lamp shade and a piece of 1/16" aluminum tubing. I also used the surface mount LED with 30 gauge magnet wire to power it. To hold the soldered light into the shade AND insulate it at the same time, I put in a liberal amount of Bondic UV curing material, pulled the LED into it and cured it. Then added more to surround the LED and cured it again. The results were terrific. Not only did it completely stabilize the LED, but it also pretty much glued the aluminum tube in place also. I had to just add a bit of thin CA down the joint to solidly hold the shade.
I machined a little base piece to finish it off and primed the assembly after masking the LED area. Then I brush-painted the shade and base piece with semi-gloss black. I drilled a hole in the wall, which miraculously, was just above where the 1st floor ceiling was. Dumb luck. It was so close that the drill actually made a little divot in the ceiling MDF. I made that divot bigger so it would bind the wires.
I used a piece of 3" shrink tubing to stabilize the magnet wire and then prepared the connection to the building's power grid. I soldered heavier gauge wire to the negative lead and shrink tubed it. I then soldered the CL2N3 LED driver chip to the positive lead since my tie in to building power was before the other driver. I insulated this also with shrink tubing. I tested it and got just what I wanted.
In real life, you can read the lettering under the light. Our eyes have a significantly higher dynamic range than the iPhone's. When I tied all the wiring in to the junction block I was Concerned that it was to visible from the outside in the little door, so I popped the junction block off the side servo tape and then added some new tape and fastened to the 2nd floor and tested it all again. It worked.
But, as luck would have it, where I put the junction block now completely interfered with the 2nd floor vision blocks.
And this kept the assembly from seating properly. So… I moved it back to where it was originally and buttoned the building up including screwing it together. That all happened after I re-glued to people to the gallery floor. The last one, I wised up and used hot glue instead of CA. Hot glue is flexible and more forgiving. I should have used it for all the people.
The front light was very bright… and that was after deliberately letting some black paint to obscure some of the LED.
I put a piece of masking tape over the LED to see what it would do.
It reduced the light by half, but was very yellow (the Tamiya tape's color). So it does work to attenuate the glare. I will experiment with various forms of blocks to get the color right. What I need is a strong neutral density filter. The nice thing is that the LED basically produces no heat. You couldn't do this to an incandescent bulb. I really like how even the lighting is inside the gallery. It looks like a really building's lighting.
