Iron Man Corky -- with Working Arc Reactor!

Pretty soon then new Iron Man movie will be coming out, so now that people are getting excited about Iron Man again I thought it would be a great time to make an Iron Man Corky.
When I planned my Iron Man I didn't want to make him ordinary like the others Corkies. Iron Man doesn't have any special item, so I wouldn't have to worry about making an accessory.
I then realized that the most obvious thing to do was to make the arc reactor actually work.
Here's how I did it.

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Step 1: Materials and Supplies

Supplies:

Hacksaw or breadknife
Tape
Woodglue
Red sharpie
Fine black permanent marker
Ballpoint pen
Gold permanent marker
Craft knife
Solder and Soldering iron
Work mat
Metal glue (I used UHU metal)
Pencil

Materials

Disposable aluminium food tray
Champagne Cork
Concave LED (a regular convex LED will work too, but won't have the same effect)
Battery holder contact plate
1.5V button cells
Miniature 3-pin switch
Some sort of dowel or stick to make the battery cover.
Regular tin foil

sjroth (author) says: Dec 7, 2012. 10:29 AM

Post a picture of your own Iron Man Corky! Best one gets a Pro Membership!

Mr. tony stark says: Jan 15, 2013. 8:37 AM

just finished my fourth one, this one is war machine. however, i have now run out of watch batteries and have to stop. hope you like this new one!

sjroth (author) says: Jan 15, 2013. 9:07 AM

Nice one. I was thinking about making the War Machine.

Mr. tony stark says: Jan 14, 2013. 9:08 AM

now there's three of them! one has a white led, and the other two have blue. the big one is a champagne cork and the others are wine corks.

Mr. tony stark says: Jan 4, 2013. 2:18 PM

even though I have posted to already, here is my good one with thick foil and an LED. the first is with it on and the second off.

Mr. tony stark says: Dec 17, 2012. 4:10 PM

You have the name of the LED wrong. It is a convex shape, not a concave one.

sjroth (author) says: Dec 18, 2012. 4:24 AM

Nope, it's right.
Convex means outward, concave means inward. The LED I used is curved inward, therefore it is concave. While the regular convex hemisphere LEDs emit the light in a narrow cone, concave LEDs are really useful because they spread out the light evenly. That's why they are often used for Christmas lighting.
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/groundup/lesson/glossary/term-full.php?t=concave_vs_convex
http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/2089/what-is-the-advantage-of-a-straw-hat-led
And here's a closeup image of a concave LED, so you get what I mean: http://www.jjwgroup-led.com/UploadFiles/20108101702995.jpg

Mr. tony stark says: Dec 19, 2012. 9:31 AM

oops! sorry, my bad.

hertzgamma says: Dec 12, 2012. 3:52 PM

Very creative!

hertzgamma says: Dec 12, 2012. 3:53 PM

Oh yes, you have my vote. I've always wondered what the corks can be reused for. And there is one more idea from you!

Mr. tony stark says: Dec 11, 2012. 12:31 PM

here's another one! this time I used foil, but still no LED. I had a little trouble with the mas, but it turned out alright.

sjroth (author) says: Dec 12, 2012. 5:45 AM

Great! Hint: you might want to use some thicker foil next time, like the foil from a disposable food tray.

Mr. tony stark says: Dec 12, 2012. 8:08 AM

thanks!

Mr. tony stark says: Dec 11, 2012. 12:52 PM

I just noticed that the flash made the pics all washed out so here is a better one

Mr. tony stark says: Dec 11, 2012. 12:31 PM

trouble with the mask, i mean.

jdrushton says: Dec 10, 2012. 7:41 AM

Can you make all the Avengers? I think most would be easy, except maybe Thor? Maybe Black Widow might be hard too, how would you make sure it looked like her?

sjroth (author) says: Dec 10, 2012. 7:48 AM

I was thinking about making all of them, but I realized most of them wouldn't work out. The Hulk would look way too small with only one cork, and using several wouldn't really work out either. Hawkeye doesn't really have any trademark besides the bow, quiver, and blue eyes (unless I made the Marvel comics Hawkeye, but I'm guessing you're talking about the movie). And I can't make Corkies female. I'm not being sexist or anything, it's just that they look way to fat, and too masculine. It would also be really hard to get the hair and the face right.
However, I am planning on making Captain America, Loki, and Thor, so you can look forward to those.

rashoot says: Dec 9, 2012. 3:02 PM

what a genius! last time l got corked l couldn't find the cork for my favourite brew.l looked on the floor under the bed and even in the toilet. Nope no corky anywhere. Once l sober up l think I'll spend a few hours making a flashing cork
But mine will be NAKED. That always gets the chicks hopping

momm says: Dec 9, 2012. 8:36 AM

really cute - makes a great pencil topper keychain OR imagine a string of them for christmas lights using LED lights.

sjroth (author) says: Dec 9, 2012. 8:37 AM

Oh I like the pencil topper idea. I could use that for some of the other corkies. Thanks!

Mr. tony stark says: Dec 7, 2012. 2:20 PM

here's mine!! it's not as good as yours, no LED, paper instead of foil, and the wrong cork , but here it is anyway!