Virtue Board LED and grip fun

[Spider]

Here's something that worked out well for me on a virtue boarded alias. My son wanted empire baller grips and I thought he could live without being able to see the LED, but it is his first timmy, previously USED, and we are still tweaking it.

It turns out the virtue board LED is directly under the center point of the baller's crown. I took the smallest drill in my index and drilled through the outer covers and the reinforcing panel (nylon?). I threaded some clear fishing line in a needle and made multiple passes through the hole (first picture). I cut the top line off with small scissors about 1/8" above the grip and put some super glue on the bundle. I let it dry until it was firm, not hard, and pulled it almost flush with the top. After it dried, I took a sharp knife and trimmed the bundle flush on the top and bottom.

I wanted to use fiber optic cable, but of course none of my old scraps were to be found when I wanted them. :mad:

Pretend your over 40 and the photos are very realistic. :rolleyes:

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff138/Spider-TW/fishinggrip2.jpg

Eyes clear red,
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff138/Spider-TW/IMG_0003.jpg

Eyes blocked blue,
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff138/Spider-TW/IMG_0004.jpg

[pbfrenzy44]

i did that to my empire skull grips. except i just drilled a hole straight through with a drill bit. the hole is right where his eye is. its pretty sick.

[pbfrenzy44]

u can see it on the 2nd picture here:: http://www.intimidatorowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=743

[Spider]

u can see it on the 2nd picture here:: http://www.intimidatorowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=743
I like that milling on the classic body.

[crankwalk]

Hey Spider that's a great trick! It looks factory-like. Good job!

[Spider]

Thanks! We wanted to keep the paint and dirt out with the smallest hole possible. We play at night sometimes too, so the regular window was going to be too bright anyway.

[Stan]

Thanks! We wanted to keep the paint and dirt out with the smallest hole possible. We play at night sometimes too, so the regular window was going to be too bright anyway.

Any tips on how to get the hole and the LED lined up? Looks pretty accurate drilling to me:)

(Roughly) how many times did you put the fishing line through?

[Spider]

Any tips on how to get the hole and the LED lined up? Looks pretty accurate drilling to me:)

(Roughly) how many times did you put the fishing line through?

The LED is pretty large and bright, and the rough ends of the fishing line will help gather it in from off angles also, so the alignment is not super critical. If it were just a hole, alignment would be more important. That's another reason for the 'stuffed fiber' approach.

However, I just used a small allen wrench to find the spot. I laid grip on the frame so the screw holes lined up and lifted the right side up and laid the wrench on the frame with the end over the LED. I laid the grip back down and lifted the wrench and grip together and looked at the wrench position on the back. I did this a few times and eye-balled it to see that it was close enough to the peak of the crown and just used that.

I knew I wanted that crown point for cosmetic reasons and was thinking I would drill the hole at an angle if necessary, but it was a good match up.

I put about 8 passes (16 lines) in that hole. I'll have to go check the bit size. It was less than 1/16". You might be able to run a bundle (in clear 1/32" heat shrunk tubing) of fishing line an inch or two. I know glass fiber would work if you stripped it out before bundling, but you probably wouldn't be able to use a needle to get it in the hole. :confused: I tried to use a pin vise to drill at first, but the reinforcement panel must be nylon or similar and it didn't seem to bite. So I got out the cordless drill.

It's almost too bright for night time, except your thumb covers it pretty well. We still need to paint and grime it up though.

[Stan]

That's very useful! Thank you!

[pbfrenzy44]

if the light is too bright, u could put a thin piece of mesh or tinted plastic between the light and grip to dim it a bit.

[Spider]

It's not nearly as bright as the LED by itself, but it has a very wide viewing angle. We will probably just spin a turn of black tape over it at night.

I know it sounds extreme, but I have a B2 loader that blinks constantly. I have to tape it up at night because the green led reflects on me, and I'm like a blinking casper the ghost if it is in front of me. It's like a sign "shoot here".:(