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Flashforge Adventurer 5M (AD5M) LED Light Bars mod accessories - mounts for 5050 LED (2 strips per mount bar) v1.0

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Mount 2 strips of 5050 LEDs to the front and both sides. Recommend non-waterproof, or removing waterproofing from strips
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updated February 8, 2025

Description

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These are printed accessories for adding LED light bars to the Flashforge Adventurer 5 (AD5M) printer.

Printing info:

  • Print as oriented
  • No need of supports.
  • The LED “mount” bars were printed on the AD5M. The longer parts have to be printed at a 45 degree angle. 
  • Note: as of April 13, 2024, I have uploaded my OrcaSlicer file with the LED related things in it. Be aware the printer profile in this file is for my “Klipper-mod'd” AD5M, so if yours is not “Klipper mod'd” then you'll need to make sure you've selected your own printer profile. In the screen shot below, the three highlighted “print beds” are the LED related stuff. The rest are the DIY enclosure (although more vanilla enclosure, not all my latest files for the enclosure, such as the new spool holder, etc).

Print bed with LED mount bars for left and right sides (PETG).

Print bed with LED mount bar for front (PLA):

Print bed with mount for the buck converter (PETG):

 

Which LEDs to use? "Best choice versus making due with leftovers"

If you don't already have some LED scraps laying around, left over from other projects, then you may as well buy some that are 24v (matching the 24v power output of the LED port on the AD5M main board), and spring for COB (chip on board) LEDs, which give more light. These should work great: 

  • https://amzn.to/45Q6esR - COB LED Strips Lights Waterproof, IP65 led Strip, 3000K Warm White, 320LEDs/M, 16.4ft/5M, CRI90+

The above (Amazon associate) link leads to a product that has 320 LEDs per meter, and it is 5 meters long, which is about 16.4 feet, and since this lighting project would only need about 20 or so inches of that type (assuming you do about 8-10 inches per each side, and don't bother with the front of the printer, because these are bright), then you would have over 14 feet of scrap leftover (for future projects?). Since the front of the printer is where the available space is most limited, and since none of this would be used at the front (because they're brighter), then there would be no need to strip off the waterproof coating when using the (above linked) product on the two sides. Also, because these are so much brighter than cheaper 5050 LEDs, you would only need one strip per side, not two strips (one “going” and one “coming”) as I used when I did mine using scraps of “5050” LEDs (see below). 

Practically all the LED related projects I had done earlier, used 12v LEDs that were “5050” type, with waterproof plastic coating on them. Because “5050” LEDs are father apart (fewer per meter) than “COB” LEDs, the 5050 type are not as bright. Because of this, I added LED strips to the front of the printer too. For the same reason (not as bright), I ran two rows in every place they are needed — one strip (“going out”) which was wired with power coming in at the back and then power continuing out the front, soldered to the next strip that was turned the opposite directing ("coming back") — and the two strips were attached side by side into my printed mounts. Again, the front of the printer is where the fit is tight and that's where I advise peeling off the waterproof coating from 5050 LEDs. REMEMBER: If you don't use 24v based LEDs, then you would also need to install a buck converter to convert from 24v (from the board) to some lower voltage (12v in my case) for the LED. 

As you can see, springing for 24v COB lights has many advantages over 12v 5050 LEDs. For me, the only advantage of 5050 LED strips, was I have lots of scraps of them on hand, so they were “free” — but saving money meant added work. Sometimes you have more time than money. :-) 

Installation info: 

Use these printed mounts to add two strips (per mount) of 5050 LEDs to the front and both sides. I recommend use of non-waterproof LEDs, or removing the waterproofing layer from the strips, especially on the front. The space allowance on the front is very tight. The waterproofing layer can be OK on the sides. I've provided two variants of the “LED Strip Clasps” for the sides: one is for LEDs with the waterproofing layer still in place, while the other is for non-waterproof LEDs, or for waterproof LEDs that have had that layer peeled off.

The side mount strips have sockets for magnets. They can be attached using magnets, or if you could choose to use double stick  tape. The front needs to be attached with double stick tape, because there is not enough space for magnets in the printer regarding the front. If using magnets on the side mounts, CA glue in 16 round 2 mm x 5 mm magnets per mount.

Note the orientation for use is not the same as for printing. For use, wider part faces to the top, and narrower part faces to the side.

Also, the side bars here are probably a little longer than needed. I actually cut off some of the side bars on mine. They work as shown, but the "interval" at which the LED strips can be cut, meant some of the bar length was not needed on the sides.

Also check out my related part design, the Flashforge Adventurer 5 (AD5M) LED mod accessory - buck converter MOUNT for inside back of printer (24v -> 12v inline, etc). Photos of this other part are shown below, at the bottom. 

 

FAQ:

  • Q: How do the LEDs get wired in?
  • A: The AD5M has an LED port (24v) on mainboard. On mine, it is yellow in color, and identified as "LED." In the attached image, I circled it in yellow. 



    Note: that LED socket on the board is a standardized type known as JST-XH 2.54mm 2-pin. The board socket is male and the connector plug on the wire should be female. Here's an affiliate link to a nice set I bought on Amazon that works great for this and for many other uses, including 2-pin, 3-pin, 4-pin, 5-pin, and 6-pin needs. It comes with both male and female pieces. https://amzn.to/40MfrBE

    Also, here's an affiliate link to a super nice Wire Crimper Plier with Connector Set that I used to add the connector mentioned above, to the wire used for my LEDs: https://amzn.to/4aAFxuL   
      
    Again, it outputs 24v, so if you buy a 24v LED strip, such a Chip On Board (COB) strip like the ones I linked to above (again here: https://amzn.to/45Q6esR ), then you don't need any buck converter to change the voltage. 

    The wires bringing power for the lights (from the main board) can pass through slender gaps/openings between the outer frame and the inner workings. Look at how the cable strip wires etc are already passing. 

    For COB (24v) that only burn one color (usually white or warm white), there are only 2 wires, and they should be connected to the two pins on the main board, + to + and - to -.

    If you have multicolor LEDs (RGB, or “Red Green Blue” LEDs), then you need to get power to all the "color" lines simultaneously. In the paragraph following this one, I will copy and paste from my assembly tutorial I made for building an IKEA Lack-based enclosure for 3D printers, citing a section I wrote about how to reuse leftover LEDs you may already have on hand:

    "How to get a leftover strip of LED to burn all white: you want all three colors of RGB to be fully powered, and if it is a "warm white" version with an additional set of warm white LEDs, then that extra “line” needs full power too. To accomplish this (full power on all wires) you simply connect your "hot" (live or "+") wire to the "12v" wire on the lights (it will be labeled as such, “+”, right on the LED strand, every few inches or so) and then
    connect the neutral or "-" wire to all the other leads. That gets full power to all, and you get white light."

Also check out my related part design, the Flashforge Adventurer 5 (AD5M) LED mod accessory - buck converter MOUNT for inside back of printer (24v -> 12v inline, etc)

 

Other cool options for the AD5M

 

You may also like my other AD5M related design work:

Use Klipper stuff on AD5M stock hardware,

Check out other cool AD5M related options here:

 

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Model origin

The author marked this model as their own original creation.

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