El-Cheapo Flashlight hack

I really needed a UV flashlight for my radioactive materials because they look 2000000 times more cooler under UV than anything else. My parents went to a party and they gave these cool little flashlights away for party favors. I had the UV LED's so I decided to mod them for less than 5 cents!

Step 1 Materials

1 Small screwdriver
1 Pair of scissors or wire snips
1-2 ultraviolet or any color of led you want
1 something to test your UV light on (optional)

Comments

[zapper067]

uranium is radioactive it is very dangerous!!!

[hintss]

and uranium ore isn't

[zapper067]

huh????????????

[hintss]

uranium ore just looks like rock, is slightly radioactive, and I think it is flourescent. uranium is a metal that is refined by crushing uranium ore and centrifuging it.

[dagenius]

jeez, Uranium, how come you are still here? That is soooo dangerous

[chickenlinux]

Uranium glass, about 10 plates worth, only increases the count on the counter by ~.08 mR/h, generally speaking. Mind you, the plates in question are thin and contain little uranium, sometimes, a VERY doped butter dish will make it go up ~3.5mR/h, and, as long as ya don't walk around with it taped to your head 24/7, you'll be fine. That's really not much radiation. They (legally) sell boxes of uranium ore *guaranteed* to go to over 100mR/h, but that's _only_ beta and gamma radiation. That's what should be worried about, not his uranium glass.

[dagenius]

late? look at the date on my comment.

[hintss]

not as late as this!

[conrad2468]

Low cpm so my chances of getting cancer are REDUCED.....

[maruawe]

when I changed the light on my light like this ,I used a piece of tape t hold the switch button on until I reassembled the light. I needed a strong led also for another project that I was working on .. haven't tried to use a UV light in the old one But radio shack is on my way home from work .... neat Idea

[Numb-Nuts]

What is that that is glowing in such an awesome way?

[Sparkington]

I think the crystal is fluorite, that reacts to uv light.

[conrad2468]

It is doped with uranium........look it up on www.unitednuclear.comhttp://www.unitednuclear.com/marbles.htm Mine are the same but their the leftover glass that is produced after making these or any other product doped with uranium

[Derin]

I think a similar method is used to combine nuclear waste with glass so that it will be slightly easier to (SECTOR CONTAINING DATA IS CORRUPTED) the waste.

[eight]

Micro-encapsulation... I had a client which did that to toxic waste. It actually works, but not sure about radioactivity, though...

[conrad2468]

URANIUM!!!!!

[Derin]

You could build a small................ I should shut up right now.The Radioactive Boyscout may be replicated by somebody.

[conrad2468]

Ive read the book! I also extracted some americium from a smoke detector......you would need a S*** load to build your neutron gun? I forgot its been so long ago.

[Rotten194]

Dang, I SOOOOOOO want a copy, but my mom would go nuts.

[conrad2468]

Ha ha ha I'd be glad to send u my extra copy but I can't seem to find it.

[bbear4]

I read about it in readers digest. my parents got me that subscription

[maruawe]

what she don't know won't hurt her ,But when she finds out , I'm glad it's you and not me........ MOM WAS A HOLY TERROR WHEN MAD.

[chickenlinux]

naw, just get some americium (a few microcuries is actually probably plenty), and stick a relatively thin beryllium panel over it. It'll cause lots of secondary radiation, which is, in fact, neutron radiation :3 (for informational purposes only)

[beehard44]

just buy it off ebay or amazon
some sell without hazmat fees

[marshman19]

uranium glass? what's that?

[conrad2468]

Back-n-the-day they used to add (or dope) uranium to the glass to make a greenish color. It wasn't until recently that they realized radiation was bad for you so they stopped putting it into food ware. If your an antique collector who is afraid of cancer you should bring a Geiger counter to the shop and stay away from the "hot" stuff.

[beehard44]

lol microwave on  a plate! put your food on the plate and the plate will cook it!
cooking time may vary from 1 hour-∞

[ElectricUmbrella]

actually, I'm pretty sure that the radiation in uranium glass is too small to hurt anyone (generally). They stopped using it in food ware because uranium wasn't available during the Cold War.

[fallenspirit123]

do you keep it in a lead container? i dont want a feller 'ibler dying

[bbear4]

Celestial solar radiation beats out terrestrial decomposing elements like a trillion-billion-million to one on how much radiation you're exposed to in your lifetime. It's like a brine fish ordering it's french fries without salt to cut back on his sodium.

[conrad2468]

Cancer is completely random....i may get it and i may not...it could be from "background" radiation or it could be from those glass things.....but i keep them in a cardboard box in a drawer somewhere...

[fallenspirit123]

well yeah good point

[fallenspirit123]

wasnt that rock, flourite???

[conrad2468]

I doubt it....unless flourite is radioactive....tested with my Geiger counter from Russia.....

[fallenspirit123]

O ok nevermind then because flourite glows under UV also

[lemonie]

Very short though, I've not been able to find a LED at the right wavelength (yet) L

[conrad2468]

EBAY!

[lemonie]

Go on then, link one. L

[conrad2468]

Well, anything can be found on EBAY...i wasn't meaning anything specific......I thought u hadnt checked there yet...

[lemonie]

Specifically - well under 400nm is hard to find. EBay is full of torches and bundles of the usual. L