How Do I Insert Lights Into Coro?

[ladder017]

I know this sounds stupid, but I had no problem programing my first controller, but I am trying to build a talking face and I'm having trouble with inserting the lights into coro and having them stay in place. I already read the posts about distance between holes, but can someone suggest the best way to:

1. Drill the holes - what diameter for M5 bulbs?

2. Inserting the bulbs. Just push them through?

3. anchoring lights. Should they be glued in place? Hot glue?

4. What should be done with unused lights at the end of the string?

 

Thanks,

John

[Dale W]

I know this sounds stupid, but I had no problem programing my first controller, but I am trying to build a talking face and I'm having trouble with inserting the lights into coro and having them stay in place. I already read the posts about distance between holes, but can someone suggest the best way to:

1. Drill the holes - what diameter for M5 bulbs?  Get a fat nail and use it to punch your holes.  I used an awl simply because it was easier on the fingers.

2. Inserting the bulbs. Just push them through? yes and if your hole size is correct, the they should be held snuggly

3. anchoring lights. Should they be glued in place? Hot glue?  No need to anchor if they have a snug fit

4. What should be done with unused lights at the end of the string?  wrap in electrical tape and let it rip

 

Thanks,

John

[reitan_family]

I used a scratch awl

[Andy Anderson]

I drill the holes and then just push the bulbs through.  You will probably need to drill a few test holes with different size bits to get the right size.

[Orville]

Drill the hole just a hair smaller than the bulb you're pushing through, the coro should be able to hold the bulb snugly in place without any additional help, and you definitely DO NOT want to hot glue your lights in, unelss you're using sealed LED, but if you're using any type of replaceable LED or incandescents, you will need to be able to remove the bulb from the coro and take it out of the socket and replace, so Hot Glue would become your own worst enemy here.

[Shawnlo]

For myself I just finished building an 8 foot snowman using Coro.

 

I used a 3/8th Drill bit for C6 lights, first marked all my holes from the backside of the Coro. Drilled and then cleaned the hole up a little bit.  The 3/8th hole was a few mm smaller than the light holder without a bulb.  I then mostly pushed through each bulb holder with my fingers.  Eventually I switched to a pair of vice grips as I don't think I have feeling in the end of my thumb anymore.  Once that was done, I put the bulbs back in straightened them out and then hot glued them with a dab of glue from the back so I could still change the bulbs.

[Shawnlo]

Hmm not sure how to edit.

 

Wanted to add for unused lights someone had recommended heat shrink.  You can cover the lights up and still use them later if need be by just cutting off the heat shrink.  I liked this idea better than just using electrical tape, as you should be able to slice off the heatshrink and still use that lamp in the future.

 

Now if I could just find affordable heat shrink our automotive store here wants an outrageous price for a small bag of it.  I might try something like digikey.