i'm also guilty of ripping your idea

my solution: because the outlet is actually behind the detolf and the wires cant be accessed, i hooked the two sets up to a Clapper Plus

it has two outlets, so each detolf (i only have two) can be turned on/off individually...either by claps or by the included remote control.

hope that helps! it makes life a lot easier when youre lying there in the dark at night and want your display to light up (clap on! clap off!)

hope no one gives your collection an ovation. there will be mass hysteria!

Or a sweet vinyl disco party! I bought a surge protector to make turning it on a one-switch operation.

One of my foamy discs lost it's stickiness and I used these to remount it.
http://www.amazon.com/3M-Scotch-Brand-M ... 897&sr=8-1

If you have an arts and crafts store you can find these in the framing/mounting section. The individual squares are kind of big but if you cut them down to rectangles and stick them in a "+" shape to the back of the puck it works like a dream.

Let's see some pictures!

after the mess i posted the other day, i am still working on what exactly needs to go where in my detolf.

i just dont have the room for a second one, but at the same time i hate having toys that have to live in the closet simply because i have nowhere to put them otherwise.

So I had a Detolf hell weekend. Decided on a spur of the moment to drive an hour to the Burlington IKEA in Canada. Kim was mad at me so I had to lug this giant 6 foot 100 pound box from IKEA to the car and upstairs to our apartment.

While there I decided to get a set of Dioder lights to try. Since I now have 4 Detolfs and just got the one set, I thought the best attempt at lighting (till I one day have the other 3 sets) would be to drape it over the top 4 shelves on each Detolf. I decided against using the sticky strips that permanently attach and just rigged them by dropping them in, pulling the slack, and securing them on the top with a small strip of packing tape.

So here is my question finally: How hot do LED lights get? I ask because my shelves are still stacked high and some of the toy heads are close to the light/top of the shelf. I just turned them on so I'm going to monitor the heat and see if they make the toy heads hot. EDIT: I checked again while writing this and the lights themselves seem to be a little warm but not radiating much heat the toys still feel cool (I think) Here's two pics so you can see what I mean (rushed and shitty sorry):


P1020474 by Beautification Syndrome, on Flickr

P1020475 by Beautification Syndrome, on Flickr

I'm a paranoid fuck when it comes to toys. I've already isolated a late afternoon light source that may let a direct sun ray to one shelf and taped my blind to the wall to prevent it happening again! Oh and yes I moved all 3 older Detolfs without taking the toys out across the apartment. Can you believe only 2-3 minis fell but the arrangements basically held in place?!!

I had this as my 1st display setup heh. LED lights are super fine and frankly the best lighting source for vinyl and plastic collectibles. As long as it's not in direct contact with the light source and some small gap away it will be fine. Ikea has another form of dioder light strips that u can fix along the height of the cabinet, then you can have a fully illuminated display from top to bottom , takes some work though and the strips are pretty pricey.

Yeah, like what cheapo said. LED are the best. You could actually touch it and won't get burn.

Now, how did you manage that, Chirs?! Guess they're so packed they ended up propping each other, LOL!

That's 100% true! Strips were pricey but I'm still happy of the final result!


image ru

OK well I'm sold (on just the plain white lights- strips are a little too tripped out for me). Hopefully i'll get around to getting the other 3 sets soon.

Choon- My g/f was laughing at me and kept saying "You're going to have to just suck it up and redo all those shelves!" I said no way I'm not doing all that work, so I just kind of bear hugged them and rotated them clockwise and counter clockwise back and forth all the way to my room. Only the Charactics Matango's shelf dived. I was amazed!

I'll get some proper pictures up soon.

That will be really something when you put the light on all the shelves Lixx !
You JUST have one week of toy handling ahead

When you do get more sets and make the installation more final, I would recommend putting the lights closer to the fronts of the cabinets, rather than back by the holes. You'll hit more figures with light that way, and if they do ever start to get warm, they're not inches away from the topmost figures.

Your display looks great Lixx, looking forward to some full on shots. As has already been said most LEDs are fine, but I would caution cheaping out on any light source, this is definitely a case of you get what you pay for - quality is key to safe lighting and a good heat dissipation by ventilation and proper wiring is important if you can manage it.

I'm also a big fan of the Ikea LEDs, and second James' suggestion to mount them as far forward as possible for better coverage.

Wow. Looks great Scott.

I really like that cabinet, is it an ikea one? setup looks killer as well dude

Thanks Hams!



Thank you.

And the cabinet is indeed an Ikea Billy, with extra white and glass shelves (at 10$ a piece).

Very nice!

I was going to ask pretty much the same thing. Now that you post pictures of the entire cabinet it does look like its a nice size. Looks like its twice the width of a regular detolf? Really like the frontal visibility, despite it lacking side glass. I may need to look into getting one of these to replace what i currently have.

Also, did the glass doors come with it or did you buy them separately? Looking at the website i don't see glass doors that resemble yours.

They are extra. They come with a white decorative insert, which I removed.

I also used black gorilla tape to hide the LED cords.

Well more Dioders are on my xmas wish list so hopefully I'll get some. Thanks for the suggestions. When I permanently get them in I'll move them forward a bit.

I finally got the last 2 sets of Dioder lights needed to go full tilt and permanently install all 4 while visiting an Ikea in Conshohocken on my vacation. Hey, I finally didn't have to drive out of the country to do it! For some reason my sis gave me her Ikea Family discount card and two $40 sets of lights turned into just $40 altogether. Don't know how I managed that- must have been on sale! Anyhow I'm dreading doing this because I know full well it means I'm going to have to empty out the detolfs one by one.

Any tips for doing these (the puck lights not the strips) that will make my life a little easier from you guys that already did the job? I get that I have to start from the bottom, pull the slack of the cords and hide them behind the metal framing of each shelf. What do you guys use for that? Tape? Twisty Ties? Thanks in advance.

Ah, it won't be such a big job - just split the toys in half and drop the others in a box with my address on it. Trust me, it will make it much easier.

Not that I have done the set up, but I think for a simple I might use some thin, high quality elastics if you can find them, to secure the cords. Is the frame black or metallic? It would be nice if you could match the colours. The best, but probably most difficult method, I think is to use some zip straps. The hold will be the most secure, completely permanent (until you want to remove them), won't slide on the frame, and are fairly easily applied. Using tape or something else will weaken over time, could leave a residue, and is just a messy job when you are applying it. Also, the heat will not be as influential on the hard plastic straps vs. tape/rubber bands/sticky pads/etc.

Ha! well i think the most annoying part will be just getting the tops of all he detolfs cleared of toys. Where they are located in my apt is a tiny room so there is just zero space for me to put them somewhere while I'm doing all this wiring. Also I have to move the bed in front of the shelves out of the way- again no place to put it. Probably should work on it today while the humidity is nil. My room usually gets up into the mid 80's when the sun is beating down on it (I have no AC).

I think someone mentioned before to just save all the ties that come with the packaging- not sure if that will be enough to hold though considering that I'll probably need at least 3-4 per shelf to really secure the wiring behind the metal frame (it's the gun metal gray color for the frame btw). Where do I find gray ties?!

These are the type of things I was talking about, in case my 'naming' wasn't clear. You can probably find them at most automotive or hardware stores, but if you want nice grey ones to match you might have to buy a bag online.



Another alternative which is quite qood (but not as tight) is to use velcro. You can find long strips at most fabric and hobby shops, which you can just cut to whatever length you need. Again, getting grey might take a little more doing, but it's out there.