This is the check engine light lamp (that you might not want to light, hehe) for every car enthusiast! The lamp is designed as a table lamp and you can put in on your desk to lighten up your mood when reading your car service manual.

The lamp is made up of an outer frame (printed black), an inlay/reflector for the led lights (printed white) and a yellow cover/diffuser on top. The inlay drops into the frame and I haven't glued it or anything, it seems to stay in place just by clinging to the frame by friction. The cover also stays in place by friction as you press it down against the inlay edges. The diffuser is a bit tight to push in place, particularly at the corners, so go slow and carefully. The legs and rings are glued in place using CA glue. Adding the covering rings at both ends gives a bit more stability and makes it look better.

You could omit the white inlay altogether, but that will cause a much more uneven light and hotspots will be visible through the diffuser. Using a white inlay greatly improved the light quality producing a nice and smooth light.

The led strip I used was a plain 2700K white 12 volt led strip. The strip was 8 mm wide and it took 70 cm to complete the main loop around the engine body (the led strip runs along the “inside” track). Additionally two separate 10 cm parts were needed for the top and front parts of the lamp and I soldered them to the main loop (see images). Watch carefully that you solder the polarities correct (positive to positive and negative to negative lead). In total you need about 90 cm of led strip. The led strip I had available was cuttable every 10 cm ,which was not optimal because the separate front and top frame parts are a bit shorter. The led strip is also quite fiddly to get in place and there are sharp corners to bend around. To help the led strip to stay in place you can use hot melt glue if needed. Don't glue over or above the leds as it will cause shadows in the light pattern.

To make the lamp extra cozy I added a PWM controller/dimmer to be able to adjust the brightness of the light. I used this type of controller: https://a.co/d/bwFMkJc which has a dimmer and on/off rotary switch. Just search for “pwm motor controller 12v module” and you'll find plenty of options. Adding a female 12 volt DC connector jack makes it easy to plug in the power adapter to the lamp. Also remember to order a fancy knob to make a stylish lamp.

For power I used a plain 12 volt wall wart type power adapter that you can get almost anywhere. (In the images you might see I used a 12 volt motorcycle battery, but that was just for testing.)

The base is made of a block of wood to make it heavy enough so the lamp doesn't tip over easily. I used a block of walnut, but you can use whatever you have available to you. The base I made here is about 200 mm wide, 120 mm deep and 50 mm thick. The legs have an outer diameter of 10 mm (ie. drill 10 mm holes for them) and they are 47 mm apart, measured from center to center. I glued the legs with PVA glue when inserting them into the drilled holes.

I'll leave making the base up to you, so I won't cover it further here :) And if you want to implement some other type of mounting I have provided an optional base without the leg holes.

All parts were printed in PETG/PLA (my available filaments at the time).