Making an LED illumination setup for a microscope

I wanted to use LED illumination for my Nikon Labophot microscope. With help from members of the Yahoo Groups, Microscopy as a hobby or profession, and Amateur Microscope Club I was able to create a functional LED illumination setup. Although made for a Nikon microscope, the concepts and components involved may be applied to almost any compound microscope. I needed four items: the LED itself, a source of DC power, a means of varying the brightness of the LED, and a heat sink for the LED. And I needed to buy and learn to use a multimeter. What follows is a description of each item and where to find it. The LED I chose was a Cree XTE neutral white. Search eBay for Cree XTE neutral white I tried two sources of DC power, both having 12 volts and 2 amps. I first used a Wall Wart (search eBay for 12V 2A adapter ). I also used an inline power supply (do an eBay search for 12 Volt 2A 24W DC Switch Power Supply Driver For LED Strip Light Display ). If using the inline power supply, wire a small c