Introduction: Light Up Goggle Mod

So, as any good steampunk devote, I started out by purchasing some goggles. I got a pair I love (thanks eBay!), but something occurred to me: being basically blind without my glasses, I could never wear them on my eyes. If they're just going to be hanging out on my forehead, why not spice them up some. Solution: LEDs. I've more or less simply mounted a throwie in each eye cup.

I think this is an original idea - I've never seen this treatment before, and a quick google search doesn't turn up any. Even for those of us with fully functional eyes, this mod has value: I'd say 90%+ of the goggles I've seen on steampunks have stayed firmly on the forehead anyway.

EDIT Hey, featured! Awesome! Added an extra step to address some of the "Hey you can't see with those on" complaints.

Step 1: Materials and Tools

Bought the electrical components at Radio Shack, so they were over priced and in many cases not ideal.

Materials: Goggles
LED (3.3v clear white. Diffused would probably be better. I used white because my goggles had a blue filter in them already, go with whatever color you like.)
Battery (CR2032 3V Lithium)
Battery Housing, for CR2032
Wax Paper (for diffusing. Probably not really necessary, but I figured it couldn't hurt.)
Tin Foil (for reflecting. See above.)
Bottle Cap (Vitamin water, in my case. Mine fit perfectly, if that hadn't been the case, I'm betting making it fit would have been the toughest part of this. As that will be custom to each set of goggles, I'll leave that as an exercise to the reader.

Tools:
Pin vice
Scissors
Pen
Pliers
Hobby knife (you could almost certainly get away with just the hobby knife. I used the other tools because I had them.)


Things I should have used/will eventually use (not pictured)
Switch
Solder
Soldering Iron

Step 2: Cut the Wax Paper and Tin Foil

Stack the wax paper over the foil. Trace around the bottle cap, pressing hard. Cut out the wax paper circle. The foil may well just pop out from the pen pressure, if not help it along with a knife.

Step 3: Drill the Setting for the LED

There was a little dimple indicating the center of my cap, I drilled on one edge of that. Set the longer lead on the LED in the hole, and make note of where the other lead hits. Drill another hole on that spot. Flip the lid and drill through from the other side to open the holes.

Step 4: Install the Wax Paper and Tin Foil

Center the cap over the foil, and use the holes to mark the center. Cut out a square to keep the leads from shorting. I also cut some 1cm slits in the edge to make it easier to fit in. Push the foil in place, then set the LEDs in their holes. Cram the wax paper in on top. It holds itself in place pretty well.

Step 5: Attach Battery Holder

Bend the leads on the LED down flat to the bottle cap. Here's where I should have soldered, and probably will eventually. I was just eager to put this together to see what it looked like. Also, I'll add a switch, so I don't have to keep taking out the battery to shut this thing off. Again, I was lucky in the fit of the bottle cap in the eye cup, didn't even have to tape them in. Your mileage my vary.

Step 6: Done!

Pop em on and glow it up. With them over my eyes like this I can't see a thing, but that's not all that different for me given my non existent non-enhanced vision. Enjoy! I hope this inspires someone to attempt this, I'd love to see some more of these out there.

Step 7: Goggle Mod, Supplemental

To silence all the non vision impaired haters, I mocked up a quick version that you could potentially see through. Cut a hole in the middle of the bottle cap, mount two LEDs, one top one bottom. This here looks pretty lame because I was out of decent LEDs, but it gets the point across. Using white ones, and diffusing them correctly it should come out OK. Also you'll have way less room to hide the batteries. Might consider an external battery pack, attached to the strap.

Or, just wear them on your forehead, like you were going to any way!