LED ID badge holder

tl;dr

I’ve been wanting to make more LED based projects. I seen people using the “LED noodles/LED filament” and ordered some to play with. I noticed that 2 of the 130mm strips would fit the outside of an ID badge holder. This got me thinking, Could I make a light up LED ID holder to go on my LED lanyard….

Hardware

• LED filament 130mm x2
• CR2032 Battery
• Solid core wire
• 3 pin switch 3mm handle

3D print and wiring

I had already been playing around with ID badge holders so I had a good basic to work off. My idea was to have everything drop in under the ID badge and use the ID badge as a cover. My idea was to have the battery in the centre of the ID badge and have the positive end of filament strip at the top connecting to the switch and the negative ends at the bottom. To save space I was going without using a battery holder and just use solid cord wire, One wire would sit under the battery (Negative) and one would sit onto of the battery (Positive) and the ID badge would push them onto the battery and make contact that way.

I modelled a channel for the LED filament to fit into that went around the edge of the ID badge holder, The length of the channel just so happened to work perfectly first time. I also had a gap in the top for the switch to fit into and some space for the wiring too. I hid the switch under the lanyard loop that can be switched with the lanyard itself.

I positioned the LED so they shine out to the sides because these strips do have a direction because they are made up of lots of SMD LED’s. It felt like I was making a circuit sculpture using the solid core wire.

The badge holder turned out to 7.5mm thick which is thicker then a standard badge holder but I don’t think its much of a compromise considering its self illuminating. I printed it in clear filament with white LED filament strips but it could be printed in other colours and also using different colour LED filament strips too, They sky’s the limits. I would love some UV LED filament strips and prints it in glow in the dark filament so it would glow when the LED’s are off.

Files

https://www.printables.com/model/428093

Video