Just in time for the NHL season, celebrate every goal in style with your very own goal light!

The inspiration for this project originated from the NHL's iconic goal light, but it can be adapted to nearly any sport by simply substituting your favorite team's logo.

This instructable will describe how to turn a rotating warning light into a celebratory goal light for your favorite sports team.

Step 1: Materials

The bill of materials for this project is very straight forward.

Materials:

Goal Light - These can be purchased from numerous sites online, but might be difficult to find at a brick and mortar store. The light I used was originally some kind of warning or hazard light that I already owned. Otherwise I would have preferred to have a red light to more closely depict a goal light from the NHL.

12 or 14 gauge electrical wire

Electrical switch - one that will work with AC current

Electrical power cord - with a male end

Base material(s) - I used 1/2 inch plywood, but this could be almost anything from a coffee can to plumbing fixtures.

Small screws or bolts with matching nuts - to attach the light to the base

Tools:

Soldering Iron
Solder
Screwdriver
Wrench set/adjustable
Other tools required for constructing a base

Step 2: Creating a Base

The warning light didn't have any base so I was forced to make one. I wanted to make a relatively tall base to help the light stand out. To make things even and easy I decided to make the base a symetrical cube. Wood glue was used to secure the base together to avoid having unsightly screwheads sticking out. I left the bottom of the cube open for easy access to the wiring.

Two holes were drilled once the base was constructed, one in the top for the light's wiring and one in the side for mounting the on/off switch. At the bottom of the base a small cutout was made to allow the power cord to exit while allowing the base to sit flush on a flat surface. Hot glue was used to keep the cord in place. The cutout was made on the opposite side of the hole for the switch to hide the power cord as much as possible.

Before attaching the light housing to the base, I made a small spacer and painted it black to hide it. I needed a spacer to allow the light cover to be removed.

Step 3: Electrical Wiring

Wiring for this project was pretty straight forward. I soldered one wire from the power cord to the POWER tab, which is for power coming into the switch. ACC usually stands for accessory and that directs power out to the device or load so one wire was soldered to connect the ACC tab on the switch and one of the wires from the light. The remaining wire from the light and the remaining wire from the power cord were both soldered to the GROUND tab on the switch.

There is no mention of positive or negative wires for this project because this light is connected to a wall outlet which provides alternating current. A wiring diagram has been included for additional support. If you are not using a toggle switch for your light, you may need to modify these instructions based on the type of switch chosen.

Step 4: Logo Application

Initially I was hoping that the application of a logo on the light cover would shine a shadow of the logo on the wall as the light reflector rotated around similar to a projector. This didn't work at all. The light from the bulb was not focused so it diffused too much before hitting the wall, creating a blurred shadow.

Despite the goal light's inability to project my team's logo on the wall, it still works great as its own center piece!

There are several ways to apply a logo to the light cover. I decided to try to print the logo on a transparent sticker sheet. Transparent sticker sheets can be found at most office supply stores. You might even be able to find some at craft stores. Sizing the logo correctly before printing turned into a guessing game, but eventually the logo printed to the proper size. After carefully placing the logo sticker on the orange light cover, I realized I didn't like how it looked. The transparent portion of the sticker wasn't as transparent as I had hoped. I wanted the light cover to look like it naturally had the logo on it.

What I really wanted in my logo was to have the black sections as black as possible and the clear sections as clear as possible. To accomplish this, I thought about painting the logo on the light cover. However, to properly paint the logo on I knew I'd have to trace a template on the light cover. I decided it'd be just as easy to skip the painting and tape an image of the logo on the inside of the light cover.

I started by printing the logo on a standard sheet of office paper using only black ink. Then I used a utility knife/razor blade to carefully cut out the logo. To keep the spacing and alignment between the inner logo and the outside boarder, I left several thin sections of paper keeping the two connected. Coloring the logo with a black marker made the black stand out even more and waiting to color it after cutting it out meant that I didn't have to worry about coloring outside of the lines.

I cut three pieces of clear packaging tape to a length that was a little longer than the logo was wide and laid them with the adhesive side up slightly overlapping on the long edges to make a large rectangular piece of tape that the logo could be laid onto. This can be visualized in the close up view of the logo and razor blade. Then I applied the logo to the large piece of tape and carefully cut out the thin paper pieces that were connecting the inner logo and outside boarder.

Applying the packaging tape with the logo on it to the inside of the light cover was very tricky. I couldn't confidently apply the logo using my hands because the light cover was too small so with the light cover laying on its side, I used two pencils to hold the logo and slowly mate it to the inside of the light cover trying to push out all of the air pockets. There were still several air pockets so I reluctantly peeled it off and tried again. Most of the air pockets were removed during the second application and I was really pleased with the result. The clear packaging tape is hardly noticeable and the black logo stands out very well through the light cover.

Step 5: Painting and Assembly

I painted the base as an afterthought because I wasn't quite satisfied with the natural particle board look. The black makes the light look much more professional. Once the paint was dry I put the light cover on, plugged it into the wall, tuned into the hockey game and filled the living room with an orange glow every time my team scored!

Step 6: Additional Possibilities

Now that I've had this goal light for some time, I keep coming up with alternative design ideas that would be fun to incorporate in a future version. Here's a list of some other ideas with a short description of each. I think ideas number 2 - 4 could be effectively accomplished by utilizing an Arduino micro-controller.

1. Mount the light above the television. Just like goal lights sit above and behind the nets in hockey, setting up a goal light above the television is a natural location for it.

2. Add a timer. I used a simple toggle switch to turn the light on and off which works well enough, but it would be cool to use a push button switch and have the light turn off automatically after a predetermined amount of time.

3. Wireless activation. Setup the goal light above the television and turn it on from the couch with a wireless remote.

4. Add noise. A flashing light is nice to have, but adding a blaring goal horn to the equation would take this project to the next level.

5. Pair this goal light with a Removable Hockey Jersey Wall Mount and show your dedication to the team!