How to make LED sticks - Glowsticking.com

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Wednesday, 20 February 2008 09:41

Maybe you can't afford to keep cracking open sticks to practice tracing with, or maybe you're just looking for something different to wow the Candy kids at the next rave you go to, or maybe you've just always wanted a thin blue torch to play with? Either way, This article will teach you how to make LEDsticks - the solution to your problems!

This tutorial started on the boards of this site, and has ideas included by some of the people who frequent said boards ? most notably Ender, who gave me the idea in the first place.

Step 1:

Ingredients:

? Three Hi Brightness LEDs (Blue seems to be brightest) with 30 degree viewing angle if possible (ask assistant if in doubt)

? Thin insulated wire

? a soldering iron (Don't go for a gas one- they get too hot and melt stuff

? Solder

? a small 12v alkaline battery (about 7.7(wide)x28mm(long) )

? an alternate switch- should click on, click off, and be thin enough to fit in the thick end of a stick

? A Resistor (See section on resistors for what resistance to get)

? Some insulating tape / sellotape

? An old dead six inch glowstick

You should be able to get all this stuff from any electronics component shop... except the glowstick, but you should be able to find one of those lying around, nawmean!

Step 2:

Cut off the thick end of the glowstick (only about 3mm, so it's open) and wash out all the gunk well - be careful, there are shards of glass in that puppy.

Dry the inside thoroughly. Any liquid left could short-circuit the LEDstick when you ram all the bits into it?

Step 3:

Understanding LEDS:

Have a look at one of the LEDs. In the clear plastic you should see a thick bit of metal and a thin bit, both of which come out as metal prods. The Thick end is normally the NEGATIVE; the thin end is the POSITIVE. This is important, because you have to connect them the right way round or else the current won't flow and you won't get any light.

When you're connecting them together, you must connect positive to negative. Got it? Good...

Ok, you?ve got three LEDs, right? Now imagine how you're going to fit them into the Stick. One will go right at the end of the stick pointing at the end, one will go about an inch or so behind it, pointing at the side and one will go about an inch behind that, pointing at the other side. (See Figure A)

You can see the LEDs on the left of the gutted image. Sorry, picture is a bit blurry.

Step 4:

So now bend the metal arms of two of the LEDs so they're pointing away from each other (make sure they're not too wide to slide into the stick when you're done).

Take the unbent LED and connect it directly to one of the others using the soldering iron and solder (Remember POSITIVE to NEGATIVE).

If you've never soldered anything before, it's probably a good idea to practice on some bits of wire first... don't use too much solder, and try not to burn the crap out of everything.

Cut off a length of wire about two inches long and strip each end of about 1cm of the covering, leaving the wire exposed. Give the strands a twist to keep them all together.

Now take the other end of the unbent LED and solder it to the bit of wire...

And solder the final LED to the other end of the wire (Positive to Negative remember!)

Step 5:

OK, you're about half way there... go get yourself a cup of tea and some chocolate and have a break for a bit...

Back? OK good. So we have the LEDs all connected up. The total length should be about 4 - 4.5 inches from unbent LED to other end.

Step 6:

Next for the resistor:

To find out what resistance you need to have, refer to the table below?

It doesn't matter which way round to connect the resistor.

Firstly cut a little of the resistor wire from each end to make it a bit shorter (We want to get everything in the glowstick, so tidiness is of the essence, right?).

Solder one end to the shorter LED, and the other to one of the terminals on the switch (You might need a bit of wire between the Resistor and switch)

You should now be left with the battery and enough space between the longer LED and the switch... See figure A and the photo above.

Solder another small piece of wire to the other switch terminal.

Take the end of this wire without any insulation (about 1cm should poke out from the plastic wire coating) and wrap kitchen foil around it a few times (just a small bit, so it's tight. Then bend half of it (the last 1/2 cm) back on itself and give it a flatten with something heavy and flat. Like a hammer. Do this with the other wire that will connect to the battery as well.

Tape up each exposed metal and solder area separately so it's not touching anything it shouldn't be which might cause short circuits.

Now's a good time to test that everything is hunky-dory, so touch the positive end of the battery to the positive end of the bits (will either be the foil-covered wire from the switch connection or the longer LED leg) and the negative end of the battery with the other terminal. Have you turned the switch on? Is there a bright glow from the LEDS?

If there is:

Now you can just tape this to the end of the battery with a couple of thin lengths of electrical tape. It should have a good tight connection, and should be easy to change when the battery wears out.

If not:

" Double check that you have the battery the right way round,

" Check that the LEDs are connected positive to negative all the way round

" Check that there are no metal parts touching anything they're no supposed to be touching

" Make sure all the connections are in good working order, and not falling apart

" Check that you haven't accidentally got too close to one of the components with the soldering iron and accidentally fried it

Ok, so it works... Tape the battery to the bits you were touching (Maybe via some wire for the LED leg so it'll move about a bit) and test it again.

Still working? Niiiice! Push it all into the glowstick and tape the hell out of the end and switch so it won't come out.

Press the switch... Ahh, bask in the warm glow of success!

Points to think about:

It took me quite a long time to make my first one of these, and I have a bit of electronics knowledge... so don't expect it to be a piece of piss to make.

If you don't know what Current is or anything about why electronics circuits work, then get someone who does to help you... It'll save time and be more likely to work.

Don't bend the LED tongs more than once... they break easily- I know.

I'd buy extras of all the components in case you accidentally break, melt, fubar etc the bit you're using when you start, again, been there.

*About the battery - it NEEDS to be 12v. You CANNOT do this with an AAA or anything else. You can see the size of it in the gutted stick picture above. These batteries are available from Radio shack (US) or Maplin's (UK) along with everything else.

I've thrown them around a bit and they seem quite rugged... but I'd use them more for tracing and stuff rather than bouncing and kicking - they're electronic devices after all...

I'd say it's definitely worth making a pair - as they're completely unique, and the colours are different from normal glowsticks... let me know how you get on. I'm on the boards as 'Ian'

Peace,
Ian