Hide LED strips
Simple and cheap solution to hide LED strips.
If you are blinded by direct light from your strips, or are about to spend a fortune on aluminum profiles, here is a cheap alternative.
I have designed a simple and cheap way to hide LED strips by reusing slats from an old blind. The solution consists of a discarded blind and a small 3D printed mounting bracket. The slats can be easily mounted on the bracket and used as a shadow strip that hides LED strips. The solution provides more indirect lighting.
The bracket is made so that it can be mounted with a small nail gun, which makes installation easy and quick.
Installation instructions
Print a suitable number of the bracket, preferably a little extra.
Shorten the slats from the blind. They should be cut, so that there is only a short section from the end to the hole at each end (2-3 cm). In corners and where two stretches meet, adjustment can be made by making a longer section at the end of the slat - save some slats so you can adjusted the length if you need it.
It is important to ensure the correct distance between the brackets.
Prepare for assembly by attaching a bracket to the same side of the slats that will be used.
Start with a slat where brackets are attached at both ends. When the first section is mounted, click the slat with the next bracket into place in extension of this. This ensures the correct distance when the next bracket is mounted.
Continue until all brackets are mounted.
Now pry the slats off the brackets so that the LED strip can be attached. Then attach the slats back on.
To mount the brackets, I used a small nail gun (Which explains why I only put up the LED strip after the brackets were installed - I didn't want to risk hitting it with a nail.).
The bracket is designed to be mounted in a corner, when mounted it is supported on two sides, which keeps it in place. A long version is designed for a greater distance to the wall. Both versions have a tapered channel for the nail, so there is less risk of the bracket cracking. The top of the bracket is designed with a ridge to help the nail gun hit the channel in the bracket.
When slicing the file, you need to add appropriate strength to the bracket, print a few brackets to test the strength before starting mass production
When the slat is clicked onto the bracket, the hole must be attached on the side closest to the LED strip. Here the edge is a little higher.