2DIN to 1DIN Stereo Mounting Adapter

This part is designed to allow you to mount a 1-DIN car stereo into a 2-Din slot. DIN is generally defined as 180X50mm, so a 2-DIN is 180X100mm. Many cars come with a 2-DIN sized manufacturer radio, while many aftermarket radios are 1-Din, necessitating a part to fill the gap in the front panel. In my case the car in question is a 1996 ford explorer with a 2-DIN radio slot. After the stock radio broke a few years ago I got a new radio that came with a mounting kit. After that radio got stolen the insurance sent us a radio that came with a mediocre mounting kit that promptly broke, so I designed and printed my own. The adapter mounts a Pioneer P5100UB head unit into the slot of a 1996 Ford Explorer, however DIN sizes tend to be standardized, making it possible that this unit will work for other vehicles, which is why I decided to post it.

Features:
The adapter has a large opening in the front to allow you to store CDs, remotes, papers, etc. There is a little lip on the front to prevent stuff from sliding out when you accelerate. The coolest feature is the three 5mm holes and channel on each side. These are intended for you to insert 3 LEDs and run the wiring through the channel so as to create a neat lighting effect. I found the coolest effect to be from producing the plastic parts entirely in Nuclear Green ABS: http://store.makerbot.com/nuclear-green-abs-1kg-spool-3mm-filament.html
The LEDs were UV: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3107633
This creates an effect where the lighting comes almost entirely from the fluorescence of the plastic and is thus much more diffuse and less likely to glare into your eye while driving at night. It's also just very unique looking.

Note: In the third image from bottom the apparent double image of the 3 LEDs is caused by reflection off the top plastic surface, showing how shiny it is after treatment with acetone.
The bottom image is how the radio/lighting setup would appear from the vantage point of the driver looking down at night.
The top image of course looks straight in and is far brighter than the driver would see. Still it is important for safety reasons to wire it to an external switch rather than just wiring it to the ignition or the instrument light control so that it can be switched off manually if it becomes too bright or distracting.

Print out all the parts except for the one labeled "assembled". This part is for reference only.

Attach the parts together in the manner shown by the "assembled" file. Most types of glue should work, however I strongly recommend using ABS (of the same color) dissolved in acetone. I also recommend lightly brushing the interior with this paste to cover up any seams, as well as applying a thickish coating to the outside of the part for strength (you won't see that part anyway)

Once the parts are assembled, acquire your LEDs of the chosen color and wire them up so that they can run on car voltage (12V w/engine off, up to 14.5V with engine on). The wiring you choose will depend on the type of LEDs you use. In my case I used UV leds with a voltage rating listed as being from 3.3-4.0V. I wired each side of three in series and the two sides in parallel with eachother. The desired forward current is 20mA, so I used a series resistance in each strand of 168Ω as follows:
voltage drop of 3.7V*3LED (series) = 11.1V
14.5-11.1=3.4V Volts that we need to drop to protect the LED
Forward current in LED=20mA
so R=3.4V/0.02A=170Ω
I had 100Ω and 68Ω resistors available at my local radio shack, so each series string of LEDs consisted of 1*100Ω resistor, 1*68Ω resistor, and 3*UV LED. Two of these strings are run in parallel off of the supply to the car battery and a switch breaking both circuits wired to the outside and mounted under the dash. I recommend wiring the resistors some distance from the LEDs so that you only have to run two wires through the little channel that leads to the back. Be sure to use lots of electrical tape and/or heat-shrink tubing to insulate all the wiring to prevent any risk of shorting and fires. The total current draw is 0.04A with the engine running, less when running off battery. That means it uses only 0.48W of power and can be left on for quite awhile if desired.

Once the lighting and wiring is succesfully attached and tested, place the radio on top of the plastic piece and slide both into the radio slot of the car where they should lock in place/hold in place with friction. The cross-braced portion faces up, and the opening out. Some radios have screw holes for attachment purposes and it may be advisable to design small adapters to allow these to screw to the plastic unit.