So I completed my first frontlight! I tried backlighting, as have many before me, but destroyed my calculator. So here it is.
This was the LEDs I used. 10 LEDs in a string, for $1. It was bought at the Dollar Tree, and was really an excellent deal for the purpose! If you cannot get them at Dollar Tree, here is a link to an eBay listing for $7.



Here, I sanded the LEDs down, for they were large and unwieldy (I used a belt sander):


Then, I cut off the plastic casing, desoldered all 20 joints, trimmed the green wires shorter, and relodered them together more tightly:


The finished product, before taping the paper box together (hot glued to it):


I'll get a pic of it in the not-dark in a bit, but until then, here it is in operation (very ritzy! ):

Sounds exciting! Also nice job on sanding down those LEDs to be slimmer. I look forward to seeing how it looks in action, and more details on the construction of the frontlight.

I really like this idea; I have tried to come up with something like this in the past for the TI-82 and TI-85 (most TI-81s' screen contrast varies with lighting angle) with the lighting module fitting inside the recessed area around the display. Their tilted LCD makes this a bit more feasible. One idea I had would to be adding a small mirror to direct the light down onto the LCD instead of over its surface. Making this fit would be very difficult, however, and it is probably easier to mount the LEDs higher. For their blue-on-green screens, red LEDs provide exceptional contrast.

Nice Caleb! This is pretty easy and removable if need be. Also, the copious amount of hotmelt is pretty snazzy

Forgot to update this topic! Here, at last, are the final updates. I am not going to pursue this idea any further, because as can be seen below, the diffusion is simply not good enough: it's more efficient as a flashlight than anything else. But here it is:
Close up of the screen:


Full completed assembly:


My TI-84+CSE posing for it's port openings:

Wow, that looks pretty awesome! Great job! Do you think that there is any way to fix the dispersion of the light? Nice!

I think using white paper strips would work for preventing that icky light from leaking to your eyes, while still lighting up the screen.

Overall, I think it looks fairly nice, Caleb. Great job!

I would love to see this done with color changing leds. Now I do understand that that would be bulkier but it would be worth it in my mind.