LEDs fo the Platforms (Part 1)

Started working on the LED lighting.  Here is how I did the laser cannons in the original Control Center Platform.  

I used the BAR (30359x) as the Laser cannon barrel.  The hole in the back end will fit a 5mm LED just perfectly.  The only issue is the tube in the 1x2 portion prevents the LED from seating fully.  So I use a 5mm drill bit (0.196") to create a counter sink in the tube.  It doesn't take much and I want to keep the tube for strength of the connection.  While the final result is ruffed up and not as clear as it started, the degradation in light transmitted seems to be minimal.  When I first tried this, I completely removed the tube, but the difference was barely noticeable, so I decided to keep the tubes.  Also I am using very bright LEDs, >6000 mcd.

  

This picture shows the two LEDs mounted.

From a pure engineering point of view, it is not a good idea to parallel up LEDs directly.  Not every LED is created equally and the difference in voltage drop across one can lead to excessive current in the others.  With that said, I have found that if doing this with only two LEDs and if the display is not running permanently, there is little chance of a problem  Plus I tend to buy these LEDs in lots, which generally gives almost identical characteristics. 

This picture shows the completed installation.  The dropping resistor is picked to maintain 15-20mA per LED from a USB power source, about 120 ohm.

And here it is with the LEDs on.  The light is overwhelming the camera sensor, so it is not very good.

Generally I use red LEDs.  But I have used blue in translucent neon orange part before with interesting effects.   Unfortunately the camera cannot capture this.

Final detailing will be a red cone on the end probably as seen here in the original control center platform.  Since these are further apart, the cross plate will not be used.