LED Lamp with Test Tube

We will make a lamp with led`s inside the test tube. You can use the lamp in the room, desk or for ornament.

Step 1

The materials are:
LEDS, Piece of Wood, Switch, Battery, Electric Cable, Liquid Silicone, Test Tubes.
First of all, the form is drawn in the wood piece. Different kinds of designs can be selected. (animals, geometric shapes, etc.)
Then, the form is cut.

Comments

[SterLuMan]

Damn! I was thinking of doing the exact same thing, a test tube with blue water and an LED under it... guess you beat me to it... :)

[snotty]

Nice project! I was thinking of doing the same thing except I wanted to use ultraviolet LEDs to illuminate florescent ink. I was thinking of using red, green and blue highlighters as a source of florescent ink and dissolving them in mineral oil because it is non-conductive. But I like your idea of transparent glue even more because it's stronger and won't spill.

[hassiimperatoretorres]

good idea ! if you use this color the proyect will be nice and more beautifull

[ownemall]

the circuit digram is a bit fuzzy, do you have them in a series, parallel? and do you use any resistors?

[hassiimperatoretorres]

in a series, no

[snotty]

Yup. The LEDs would be in series. This is because the source voltage is two AA batteries. AA batteries (non rechargeable ones) are 1.5 volts. 1.5x2=3volts. And white or blue LEDs generally need 3 volts. If the batteries were NiMH rechargeables (at 1.2 volts), then you'd need 3 batteries.

I would also recommend an appropriate resistor in series with each individual LED or at least one resistor in series with the power source.

Just google "LED resistor calculator"

[iminthebathroom]

neat-o, makes me wanna sacrifice more lab equipment

[dberg1]

where can i get LEDs?

[shreyas.mv072]

nice project...where can i get this liquid silicone.....??

[hassiimperatoretorres]

in a librery, is that the gluu

[dawsonj]

what is a librery? and what is gluu? and what do you use it for? and why is this project such a good idea? and why am I asking you all these questions?

[Nawaz]

I think he meant "Library" and "Glue"
Just use transparent paper glue...Shake it thoroughly to make more bubbles :P

[ownemall]

a typical hardware like home depot should have it, or a hobby store

[ranjit kumar]

its really nice and simple

[usLEDsupply]

This is a very creative idea ~ good job!!

[janw]

very nice lamp!!!

I like it

[shreyas.mv072]

nice project...where can i get this liquid silicone.....??

[trofimka]

You can also use highlighter ink and water mixed for a more flourescent look to it. www.torrenzz.ru

[yusuf786]

woohoo great !!!

[bvc2093]

I would really like to make this for someone for the holidays, but I am new to building circuit boards, so instructions for that would be much appreciated.

[walid1974]

merci

[darkside3131]

would regular hot glue work too? i mean just fill the tubes with it?

[mjawed]

I really like this cool idea, the LEDs in various colors will be a great impact. BTW, the silicon gel could also be used, but has to be careful for the spill.

I will definitely try this next holiday. Thanks for sharing!!

[hassiimperatoretorres]

you're welcome

[hassiimperatoretorres]

thank you very much for your comments and sorry for grammatical errors

[foxwoodfarm]

Where does the color in the test tubes come from?

[hassiimperatoretorres]

is the color of the LEDs

[mgbarotto]

I assume LEDs used in the pictures were blue, and that's where the color comes from.

[legendx]

nice

[firefox24680]

yes "cilicona líquida" means "Liquid silicone", and i think the bubles comes when you fill the tubes with the silicone... it could be a nice efect using hightlighter ink mixed with water ande the silicone to have a fluorescent efect in the lamps, using diferents colors on every tube would be great... nice project!!

[panks]

oooh! this is a fiver!

[PACMAN7]

Search for "wire pulling gel" at your local hardware/home depot store. That's what I used for mine and it turned out great!

[natman]

Where do you get test tubes???

[inkstainedheart]

My folks ordered some from ebay for my sister's chemistry kit.

[PACMAN7]

Wow! I literally did this exact thing for a school project once. We had to make a color wheel, and I made mine with leds covered in different clear plastic cellophane to make all the colors on a standard color wheel. I found that a good substance to use was wire pulling gel; it had a good consistancy and had 100s of little bubbles in it that caught the light really well. Excellent rendition, though! Much better than mine was :-)

[frodobot]

How do you put the bubbles in or do they form naturally???

[robbied]

In Miss Betsy's Steampunk Keyboard 'ible, she uses hair gel as the fluid inside the tube (although a pen in that case) to get a nice bubble effect. Looks very cool though :)

[TheBlackSharpie]

would mineral oil work? I heard its non conducting and available from your local pharmacy.

[ndjalva]

mineral oil is baby oil with no fragrance

[target022]

Mineral oil should work, but you'd have to seal it well. It will absorb into the wood and leak through and spaces.
Maybe use the liquid silicone as a cap.