Building a makeup mirror with integrated lighting

For a long time my wife wanted a makeup corner. Indeed, For starters, We bought some furniture from IKEA and created a makeup corner. However, Even though the corner was ready, She continued to put on makeup in the bathroom. When I asked why – She said the lighting there is better for makeup. So I wanted to create a makeup look for her that would illuminate the face optimally for makeup, But do not dazzle ,Include flattering surround lighting and most importantly, You will not be ugly.

I was looking to buy mirrors with interior lighting, And although such mirrors exist, I did not find anything reasonably priced (Neither do express owners). If not – So do!

I started by designing the look – I wanted the mirror to be without a frame that envelops it, I therefore decided that it would be placed on a wooden frame that would fit her in the external dimensions. Also, I thought about the issue of lighting. I initially considered adding a capacitive sensor so that the mirror would light up by touching the glass. Eventually I decided to go for an IR sensor that will turn on the mirror when approached with the hand – This is to prevent fingerprints on the mirror in the area of ignition.

The mirror chosen for the process was an IKEA FULLEN model mirror. You can of course do the process with any look.

https://www.ikea.co.il/catalogue/Bathroom/Bathroom_furniture/60189027
מקור (ikea.co.il)

After I chose and bought the mirror, I jumped into the carpentry shop and cut the frame from poplar wood beams in section dimensions of 20X20 m”From.

After infection, Closing the frame and sanding the frame in preparation for paint.

מכאן, Dyeing with white chic spray

Now for the tricky part – The production of the frosted glass element in the mirror will transmit the light and also soften it.
The technique I used is to spray sand to lower the reflective material on the back of the mirror.

Make the look , Mark the area required for download, And screens around using thick airlirband.

Now, Using sand spray – Removal of the reflective material is performed. Sand spraying also produces glass “Frosted”

A few words about the sand sprayer. Sand sprays are available for purchase. They can be used and they will probably do a good job. As you can see the sprayer I used is also handmade. Take a standard air nozzle tube and drill a side drill of about 3 m in it”From. Insert a metal tube at an angle and connect the algae with propoxy glue (plasticine). on the other side, We inserted the tube through a stopper and glued again with propoxy glue. Now, The container is simply a half-liter bottle for which we have cut the bottom.

After finishing downloading the reflective material, Remove the masking, Rinse the mirror with water, And get the final look.

I glued the mirror to the frame using super silicone glue 7.

Now, For lighting.
I took a piece of food I found and cut it to the size of the back of the mirror.
I measured and placed LED strips I bought on AliExpress. The LEDs are placed in a tiered manner to create uniform lighting.

I connected all the LED strips in a column, Through the driver (transformer) Of LEDs – And I turned on for testing

The next step was to connect the e sensor- IR. I created an opening in the wood at the bottom of the mirror to store the sensor.

The sensor in the opening in the wood at the bottom of the mirror

At the principle level the system worked when I connected the sensor directly on the line between the driver and the LEDs in the following connection form:

But this connection Not recommended Because in this situation, When the LEDs are on, All current passes through the sensor (Not sure he knows how to deal with such a current over time and may cause a safety issue.

so, On the advice of a dear friend, I decided to use a relay to move the current safely, When the sensor only gives command to the relay. The relay model M4-12H (His data sheet can be found here)

The connection scheme through the relay looks like this: