LED Patchie

An LED Patchie is like an LED Throwie, but you can write your message with this object.

It is a acrylic glass, witch is illuminated by an LED. You can engrave something and tape it everywhere you want.

I don't know, if somebody has had allready the same idear. I like this projekt and it should take not more than fife minutes to finish it up.

It is inspired by the cool work of the Graffiti Research LabGraffiti Research Lab.

Step 1 Cut the acrylic glass

Nothing spezial. Just take a cutter knife and cut a piece of 10 x 4 cm out of the plate. I took a 2mm thick acrylic glass and cutted it four times on both sides. Than you can break it quiet easy.

Comments

[deadinsect]

if you want to make more, a lot faster, you needn't drill a hole for the button battery. just drill the hole for the led much nearer the edge, and have the battery outside the perspex. doesn't look as neat, but it means you don't have to drill the large hole. Driliing acrylic with a large hole like that is tricky and you have to do it quite slowly. great idea for an instructable. How bright are they at night? how far can you read them from?

[yalmog]

I used a soldering iron to melt a small hole through the sheet.

[Stefan_Hermann]

Very nice idea! Well not placing the battery outside – and you are right, the production is much faster. They are not that bright. You have to go quiet close in the city, but it is new and I think, people will look at the patchies, because it is new. I guess, it is better, if you place'em, where it is realy dark.

[wadadli]

Does anybody know if there would be a way to do this with the UV-Sensitive markers and UV bulbs and make it like a dry erase type of thing. It seem like this would be pretty cool if you could write and erase different things on it. I think kids would get a kick out of it. By kids I mean myself....lol

[JohnJY]

Look at Kiteman's "invisible" costume.

[karlakr8]

very nice idea! thanks!

[littlechef37]

The mythbusters should make a sign like that ! cool idea !

[gck24]

what do you guys think the best markers to write on this is?

[PKTraceur]

for a more permanent way to seal the UV marker in, and maybe room for a button, couldnt you have two layers of acrylic?

[the_better_nacho]

you could, but the UV sensitive marker is used for the purposes of being able to wipe it off and write a different message on it.. if you want something more permanent i suggest etching, like i did (see photos, also UV LEDs) the word is 'sikie', a friends nickname.. i plan on making several more for siblings and other friends with other colors and styles of framing

[the_better_nacho]

make that like *we did, since Stefan_hermann did the etching as well lol

[IkilledKenny]

anyone know of a good supplier (cheapest) for LED's??? I tried www.abctronics.com but no one ever answers the phone or returns emails...

[the_better_nacho]

ebay indeed! buy in bulk.. 'Asia Engineer' and 'it-sz' are your best sources for minimum lots of 25 LEDs, and you get free resistors for whatever voltage you want! you can get 50 LEDs for $.99 if you bid well!

[IkilledKenny]

Thanks, thats great.

[sensoryhouse]

ebay, baby, ebay!

[Kiteman]

http://www.phenoptix.co.uk

[menace]

http://www.buy-leds-online.com/Throwie.html
Here's a better sight with LEDs as cheep as 9 cents each (super bright red)!

[FullyInvolvedScientist]

This is really cool! I can't wait to try this. Do you know any place online for small acrylic squares or other shapes?

[the_better_nacho]

ive seen them on ebay if you search for 'craft plexiglass', 'craft acryllic', or 'craft lexan' - i bought small sheets (12"x24" is the smallest) at a typical hardware store; but since they are oil-based it will run you $9-$12 depending on where you are.

[Stefan_Hermann]

I don't know, but I think, you can go to your local advertising office where they produce displays for stores or something like that. They can give you the rests of their acrylic glass.

[dhorneff]

Acrylic can be obtained at most good Arts and Crafts Shops. Great Instrutable!!

[Artificial Intelligence]

Wow this is really cool. I think I'm gonna make one of these. (added to favorites)

[Mack_ire]

Cheap leds: http://www.ledshoppe.com/ Bought pack of 50 uv/violet ones a few months back now I have a project to use them on... :)

[Artificial Intelligence]

Wow that's cheap, too bad, that they don't have more to choose from.

[fastback570]

that lettering looks cnc'ed to me, hahah but if not , then nice handy work!

[12Gauge]

It certainly looks well done. I like the idea of the UV-Sensitive marker/led combo.

[Kiteman]

Excellent idea. You could also fit a small box around the "throwie" section, and add a switch to make the display slightly more permanent.

[pixelrider]

The fun part is that you don't have to engrave your message - simply write it with a marker pen - especially those UV-sensitive - and use blue/UV LED ;)

[Stefan_Hermann]

A very nice idea. I wrote this comment in the instructable. I think, this will work very good and make the whole think more easy. Thanks.

[GorillazMiko]

AWESOME! Truly an awesome Instructable. Though it doesn't go into the category for the LionBrand Yarn challenge (because it is not in Slideshow format, and it doesn't do anything with yarn), it is still awesome. +1 rating.

[Stefan_Hermann]

This could be. I'm new here and just clicked on a checkbox, not knowing, what it really means. I'll take more care the next time :) Anyway, thanks for your nice comment.

[ry25920]

Nice! +1

[impulse94]

Simple and very cool. I bet this could be used for ID badge holders as well.

[tiuk]

Excellent idea.

[hay_jumper]

That's rad!

[Brennn10]

This is really neat! Nice job!

[joejoerowley]

Thats really cool! Great Instructable!!