Xmas Elk

What you will need:

1. plans
2. foam rubber
3. plywood (e.g. 4mm)
4. wood for the stand (prefer a piece of a tree branch)
5. battery pack with switch (e.g. via ebay)
6. resistor (15Ohms works fine)
7. LED bulb (~2cm in diameter) - cut from a LED light chain
8. thin cable / multi-conductor cable
9. standard glue

Step 1: Cutting

cut the plywood one time and the foam rubber twice. Note: the nose of the elk looks strang but this is simply because the connector of the LED bulb will be placed into this gap.

Take the piece of wood for the stand and cut a line with the same width of your plywood thickness (for me 4mm). This will be used to hold the elk later.

Drill a hole at the middle of the elk back leg very close to the already cut line. Here we'll later feed through the cable so it's hidden as good as possible.

Maybe add a cut on the bottom of the stand from the hole to the end in order to hide the cable here as well.

Step 2: Preparing the Bulb and Soldering

glue the foam rubber to the plywood.

Until the glue became strong, prepare the bulb.

Cut If you're using the same source as I did, you should cut carefully the plastic covering the LED without damaging the bowl itself

Solder the cable to the buld LED and on the other side on one side the resistor. I recommend to isolate, e.g. with some shrink tube

Step 3: Glue the Second Side

Add the bulb into the gab of the elk nose and try to fix the cable tight to the wooden body form the nose to the back leg. Next glue the second foam rubber on this side and cover the cable and surround the end of the bulb.

Step 4: Finalize

cut the foam rubber to the deepness of your cut in the socket and push the whole elk into the socket. The cable of course needs to be feeded throught the drilled whole. Solder the cable to the battery box. Note: take care on the porlarity of the LED and battery - it needs to match otherwise your LED will not light up

Now your elk should have a shiny nose once you turn on the switch.

Merry Christmas!