Single Tower Light Upgrade

[CarGuy]

When I picked up a 3.0 single wide it made me notice just how underlit the old school towers are- in my case a couple of core towers.
I was thinking about selling them to get another 3.0, but the cores are awful damn sweet and I figured that I would try to improve on the existing lighting situation.
My cores have a single halogen light in the top and I think that a big part of the reason that the 3.0 lights up so well is the light source in the bottom- in addition to the 4 MR-16's in the top.
Wandering around Costco I noticed some 18' rope lights ($23.00) and figured that I would give that a whirl.
I used a versa bit to put 2 holes in the top of the core display- one in the front left top corner of the display and another directly behind that towards the rear. Then I notched the shelves in the front corners to secure and provide space for the rope light.
I ran the rope down the backside of the left front support to the bottom shelf, around the edge of the bottom shelf and up the back of the right support. Where the rope faced directly forward I blacked it out so that it wasn't directly in the eyes.
I'm not totally done and totally happy yet but the improvement is what I was looking for- to increase the amount of light, the color temperature of the light and get some light all the way to the bottom shelf.

Whaddya think?

Before:


During:


After:


You can see the rope lights' reflection in the back glass but they are all in the front and around the sides.

 

[doowutchyalike]

Looks freakin sweet man, good idea!

 

[Oakster]

That's great. For many of us on here, we display boxes, cards, cases, etc and those gobble up all the light that comes from the top.

 

[qtrain23]

Looks about 1000% better. :thumb:

 

[Oakley-olic]

Looks great, nice upgrade. Keep those cores, I wish I would have come across one before I picked up the 3.0.

 

[xmetalmaniac]

Dont know if anyone knew this, but the original lights that are used on the top of the older style cases are "miners" lights for underground mining, and they are freaking heavy!!!!

 

[Gecko]

You mean these right?

Your lighting job is very good looking. Great job.

 

[CarGuy]

Dont know if anyone knew this, but the original lights that are used on the top of the older style cases are "miners" lights for underground mining, and they are freaking heavy!!!!

You mean these right?

Your lighting job is very good looking. Great job.

Thanks!
Those lights are what I thought XMM was talking about- like the ones that have been on ebay for a while.
I would think that even with those Klieg lights in a tower you still may not get much light to the bottom.
Or if they could throw a decent amount to the bottom, that at the top it would probably be hot enough and bright enough to be a bad enviroment for rubbers and flex couplers.

 

[KillerCollector]

So I've seen 3.0 single wides with both tube and LED. When did Oakley change over? Or did they? I doubt anyone is cutting custom round LED holes in the top. Or are they?

 

[OakleyFrankFMJ]

So I've seen 3.0 single wides with both tube and LED. When did Oakley change over? Or did they? I doubt anyone is cutting custom round LED holes in the top. Or are they?

3.0 and then 3.1

3.0 has the 4 holes in the top
3.1 has the white plexi in the top