This Instructable will take you through the steps on making a magnetic LED valentine by which one can convey their feelings through a thought-felt message and glowing red LEDs. ;) Send your loved one one half, get a puzzled look, and the unite the two to form the one Valentine to RULE THEM ALL!
Please rate this if you like it! Thanks!
Please rate this if you like it! Thanks!
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Signing UpStep 1: Gather Materials And Cut Out Your Heart (from cardboard)
What you need for this project:
~Four (4) red LEDs, any size/shape
~Four (4) small magnets
~Cardboard to cut the heart from
~A 9-volt battery & clip
~One (1) 330-ohm quarter watt, 5% tolerance resistor
~Wire
~A soldering iron
Start out first by cutting out your two heart halves from the cardboard or other material you obtained. I just cut once by duct taping the two halves together and sketching a heart on one side.
~Four (4) red LEDs, any size/shape
~Four (4) small magnets
~Cardboard to cut the heart from
~A 9-volt battery & clip
~One (1) 330-ohm quarter watt, 5% tolerance resistor
~Wire
~A soldering iron
Start out first by cutting out your two heart halves from the cardboard or other material you obtained. I just cut once by duct taping the two halves together and sketching a heart on one side.
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Just a heads up for others who are interested, if you can't get the magnets like the kind he has there (my Radio Shack only had ceramic ones that have no continuity in a circuit), you can wrap them in aluminum foil to create the connection. I did a quick test without any wires (just touching one 150 ohm resistor leg to the + side of the battery, the other trapped between 2 foil-covered magnets, the + leg of the LED touching the magnets, and the - leg touching the - battery), and it worked fine.
I plan to have 2 circuits (and a 9v on each half to power them) on my heart though. The first is with bright red LEDs (3000 mci) set up like your's on the outter edge.
My second circuit is tied into the idea to have interchangeable messages on the heart. I'll have "So Happy Together" instead of "You Complete Me" and they'll be held on via magnets. I'll have other magnetized messages that can be substituted in too (Happy Valentine's Day, Be My Valentine, etc.). When all 3 message spots have a magnet holding a word in place, 6 other LEDs will light up (dimmer ones from the Radio Shack assorted bulk pack). There may be an easier way to have continuity depend on the messages, but my plan is to have 2 magnets on the underside of the heart close to each other but not touching. The message will have a longer magnet on it, connecting the 2 under-magnets. Sorta like this:
[====] <-- Message with magnet on the bottom
- ----- ---- <--poster board or cardboard or whatever I make the heart out of
[==] [==] <-- Magnets underneath the card
It'll take some work to keep the 2 under-magnets from snapping together long enough for the hot glue to hold them in place, and to make sure that a connection is made when the message is put into place, but I think it's doable.
Anyways...again, thanks for this idea! Excellent Instructable for this week!