Creality Ender3 V2 Concealed Lights

My First Instructable :)

I wanted to add lighting to my Ender 3v2 but my search results for how others have lit the same printer left me with a feeling of much to be desired because Im not a fan of the externally attached led kitchen style lights or the visible wiring/switches ...so heres my shot at making it as clean as possible for as cheap as possible.

I used all scavenged parts and pieces I had laying around aside from the switch (amazon link below)

Wiring diagram for switch available in product pictures on amazon but Ive also attached it here.

**I have intentionally left out specifics for my power supply because it may not apply for the led strips you would choose to use in your project. If your LEDS and power supply are matching inputs&outputs you will be fine. I included a photo of something similar to what I used.

This lighting setup could easily be made to work with any printer, laser, router...or anything thats using 1"extrusion framing or any extrusion that can accept the 10mm width led strip.

Hope you Enjoy!

• 12mm lighted latching switch
• 20ga or similar wire
• 10mm width led strip (I used rigid pcb style but flexi led strips may work)
• 12vdcOutput power supply w/ male connector
• Power connector. **female. corresponding fit to male connector
• Drlll, 6mm metal bit & 13mm drill bit
• Soldering iron & solder
• Heatshrink tubing & heat (heatgun, lighter, etc)
• Electric tape
• Ruler or tape measure

• Remove Filament spool & spool holder
• Remove both right side top bolts
• Remove one of the left top bolts and slightly loosen the remaining top bolt but don't remove it.
  
  • This allows you to swing the top piece of extrusion without fully disassembling
• Remove the front and rear 40mm extrusion caps from the right side of the printer
• From the underside, remove the two bolts holding the upright extrusion on the right side of the printer and remove the upright.

See photo for locations

• With the right side upright removed, drill a 6 to 8mm hole. Center the hole within the extrusion and the existing holes. Smooth hole edges after drilled.
  • This will allow a path for wires to run internally
• Measure and mark the center of the 40mm end caps
  • Make a 13mm hole in one cap and mount switch in hole.
  • Make hole in second cap that accommodates your male & female power connectors (mine was 8mm) Mount female connector to rear cap. I used CA / standard superglue with several small applications over a couple hours to build it up for strength.

• At this point I soldered a 30" length of red/black wiring to one end the led strip. I Covered the exposed white board areas of the led strip with black electric tape (aesthetic) and then taped the area just soldered(necessary) to prevent shorting on the extrusion.
• Feed the Led strip into the downward facing gap of the top extrusion with the diodes facing down and run the wiring down the center hole of the upright extrusion***
  • There is one tricky part here and I was unable to get a picture of it. ***When running the wire from the led down the upright extrusion- the left of the two bolts blocks the wire path. To compensate for this I separated the red and black wires a couple inches back from the led strip and ran the bolt between the two wires. Take care not to smash or pinch the wires here. Message me if any questions regarding this.
• Take the wire coming out the bottom of the the upright and feed it into the 8mm hole drilled in the base, feed as much wire as you can into the hole to make fishing it out easier. It will be easier to fish those wires at this point as opposed to after the upright is installed.
• Reinstall the upright extrusion and reinstall the 2 bolts from the underside
• Reinstall the 2 bolts holding the top of the upright

At this point the printer should be reassembled with the exception of the two 40mm caps and the spool holder.

The switch I used allows for the switch's internal LED to be constant on or switched. In the attached wiring diagram I used the layout number 2 to have the switch light lit at all times but its not exact to how I ran the wires.

The tabs on the back of the switch are small and I worried I would break the NEG terminal with multiple wires attached to it so I ran both grounds to the small PCB at the power input and soldered them there. You will need to run a few lengths of wire from front to back inside the extrusion to go from the power input to the switch.

Ive also attached a hand drawn diagram of exactly how my wires are run for a little more guidance.

The small PCB piece that has the female power connector was hacksawed off of the mainboard of a clock radio thats been unused for years, There are no components on the side of the board you can't see in pics. This piece was used solely because it had the correct size female connector and easy to access solder points for the + and - wires.

Once the wiring is completed the 40mm caps are ready to be reinstalled and the power cord plugged in. This should be the end and I hope you enjoy my lighting upgrade. Thanks for reading!