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Step 9Making Jacks Eyes Glow - LEDs
Materials Used:
2 LEDs
1 Resistor
1 Battery Connector
1 Switch I used a "clicky" switch mostly because it made a fun click noise when turning it on and off. Pretty much you'll want a switch that stays in either the on or off position and doesn't require content pressure to keep on.
Wire
This being the first thing I have ever soldered together, I was pretty excited that it worked and didn't catch fire. I am by no means an electrical expert, this is all I did and it worked. There are many great resources on the internet to help you out, though if you are not comfortable doing it yourself you should get someone that knows what they are doing to help you. That said, here's what I did.
Using an Ohms Law Calculator I was able to determine what size of resistor I needed to keep my LEDs from draining the battery. The LEDs are soldered together in series.
With the LEDs working, the next step was getting the in Jack's head. Using sewing pins, I was able to position his eyes before cutting holes. I did this so I would inadvertently give Jack a stupid expression due to poor eye placement.
Once you have the eye placement figure out, use something pointy (screwdriver, icepick, etc) to first poke out the hole to break through the plastic/latex coating on the foam. In Jack's left eye I used the drill first to make the hole, the latex stuck to the drill bit and pulled up off the foam. Which then needed to be cut away. On the right eye, I first poked a hole through the latex, and then drilled it out to make room for the LED and had a much better result. I was able to repaint the left eye to match the right one, but it was additional steps that could have been avoided.
2 LEDs
1 Resistor
1 Battery Connector
1 Switch I used a "clicky" switch mostly because it made a fun click noise when turning it on and off. Pretty much you'll want a switch that stays in either the on or off position and doesn't require content pressure to keep on.
Wire
This being the first thing I have ever soldered together, I was pretty excited that it worked and didn't catch fire. I am by no means an electrical expert, this is all I did and it worked. There are many great resources on the internet to help you out, though if you are not comfortable doing it yourself you should get someone that knows what they are doing to help you. That said, here's what I did.
Using an Ohms Law Calculator I was able to determine what size of resistor I needed to keep my LEDs from draining the battery. The LEDs are soldered together in series.
With the LEDs working, the next step was getting the in Jack's head. Using sewing pins, I was able to position his eyes before cutting holes. I did this so I would inadvertently give Jack a stupid expression due to poor eye placement.
Once you have the eye placement figure out, use something pointy (screwdriver, icepick, etc) to first poke out the hole to break through the plastic/latex coating on the foam. In Jack's left eye I used the drill first to make the hole, the latex stuck to the drill bit and pulled up off the foam. Which then needed to be cut away. On the right eye, I first poked a hole through the latex, and then drilled it out to make room for the LED and had a much better result. I was able to repaint the left eye to match the right one, but it was additional steps that could have been avoided.
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