spotlight-dark-200.jpg
BatManWallShadow-425.jpg
spotlight-computer-dark-425.jpg
Batman-spotlight-425.jpg
You saw Batman Begins, you've now seen The Dark Knight, and now go on admit it, you want one of those mega spotlights with which Commissioner Gordon summons the help of the Caped Crusader. But you don't have a gigawatt three phase power supply, all you have is a measly little 5V USB... don't despair, that's plenty to work with, and if you follow this instructable you'll be casting the most wicked bat shaped shadows all over your bedroom, living room and office walls.

It's dead easy if you have even the most basic making skills and great to try if you've never done any electronics before. Plus there's a little bit of fun hacking apart a Series A USB plug and using the guts!

You'll need

  • A couple of old packaging bottle caps (shower bottle and single serving drinks bottle, or something similar)
  • Some thick tin foil (take out tray, or aluminum roofing / flashing tape) although thin foil will work
  • A cheap USB Laptop light (or the appropriate LED, wire, correct resistor and USB Plug
  • A small piece of clear plastic sheet (OHP sheet or bit of old packaging)
  • Some cardboard and or foamcore (not necessary but nice)
  • Some low value loose change
  • Soldering iron
  • Hot Melt Glue gun
  • Black and silver paint (spray or markers)
  • About 1.5 to 2 hours to spare doing this project
 
Remove these adsRemove these ads by Signing Up

Step 1: Find a couple of suitable bottle caps

shampoo-bottle.jpg
shampoo-closure.jpg
drink-bottle-cap.jpg
Actually you only really need one, for the spotlight itself, although the other cap is useful for the base, the base could easily be made out of cardboard. here you can see the top that I used for the main part and the bottle it came from.

Given the shampoo only cost about 50p for 750ml, it would be worth buying a bottle just to use the cap and then keeping the shampoo as hand wash or shampoo refill.

Note the fact that the cap is translucent, this is quite important, because in the real spotlight there is quite a bit of light leakage through the cooling vents at the side of the lamp, and the translucent cap lets us mimic this effect rather nicely.

The single serving drinks sports cap is nice because the push pull closure also rotates, which means that the finished spotlight will be able to rotate, although this is not really necessary, of course unlike the real one, your USB spotlight won't need a crane to turn it round.
1-40 of 275Next »
traumaissexy says: Mar 20, 2013. 8:10 AM
I'm planning on making this for my boyfriend this weekend so I'm thrilled to start the project! Thank you for sharing this!
Niraj.Deshmukh says: Jan 24, 2013. 9:33 AM
My Make Batman For Led Please see my make - http://www.instructables.com/id/Batman-Projector/
DSCN3695.JPGDSCN3680.JPGDSCN3696.JPG
jmray says: Oct 4, 2012. 3:12 PM
Thanks for the detailed drawings/etc., very nice.
anghellix says: Feb 18, 2012. 6:46 PM
Very creative and professional.
Jijital says: Feb 16, 2012. 8:28 AM
Hi,
I would like to thank you deeply for this nice little project of yours, which was just what I was looking for, for my Batman-ized Scalextric slot car track. I made some tiny variations when I built mine: skipped the aluminum background of the lamp, because I did not want the blurry effect (more similar to the movie, I know) and used a pre-built base, which I got from a LED head-lamp that I bought for 3 euros. Incidentally, this base has a batt-ish shape and also gives me the chance to rotate the signal quite easily. Finally, I took the liberty to glue some black paper inside the cap and also made the bat covered with a piece of black darkening fabric. That's because I like the almost completely-black effect that you see when the signal is off.
Anyway, here's some pictures of the signal and track and thank you again for your creativity!
Luigi (Rome, Italy)
KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to JijitalFeb 16, 2012. 9:48 AM
Thanks for your kind words, but I can't see your pictures, which after that great explanation I am very much looking forward to seeing.
Jijital in reply to KaptinScarletFeb 16, 2012. 10:05 AM
Oops, sorry! Maybe they were too big. I just resized them and hopefully, here they are:
20.jpg21.jpg24.jpg25.jpg28.jpg30.jpg17.jpg29.jpg
Jijital in reply to JijitalFeb 16, 2012. 10:14 AM
Oh, I forgot: I also replace the LED in your original project with a 4.8V mini-lamp.
Thanks again for your inspiration, you rock!
Luigi
zigzagchris says: Jan 12, 2012. 4:56 PM
It doesn't look to be completely in focus.
Iv been wanting to make a batman symbol Gobo for my schools lighting for fun for a while, hopefully ill find time soon
Rehmatullah says: Dec 14, 2011. 1:08 AM
oh my god i like lamp its mini and very original....
rsrizwanz92 says: Oct 19, 2011. 9:11 AM
MY SPOTLIGHT
IMG130.jpg
rsrizwanz92 says: Oct 19, 2011. 9:09 AM
I MADE ONE LIKE THIS BUT WITH SOME OTHER MATERIALS 
http://www.instructables.com/id/EASY-BATMAN-SPOTLIGHT/
Goodhart says: Oct 18, 2011. 12:08 PM
rsrizwanz92 says: Oct 11, 2011. 8:16 AM
awesome
KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to rsrizwanz92Oct 11, 2011. 9:12 AM
thank you!
dodo91 says: Aug 24, 2010. 1:24 PM
black wire isnt ground, as usb doesnt have grounding. pin 4 is negative, and pin 1 is posotive
Callum Snowden in reply to dodo91Aug 1, 2011. 4:18 AM
Ground is another interchangeably used term for the negative wire
devinda in reply to dodo91Sep 3, 2010. 2:07 AM
Ur wrong, cuz there is ground and the power supply . check out http://www.instructables.com/image/FZN6CJYFMMD5IFI/USB-Preparation.jpg
dodo91 in reply to devindaOct 21, 2010. 7:01 PM
oh ok.
chicken22 says: Apr 12, 2011. 10:19 AM
you have to sell them, they are very good!!!
TerminalDragon says: Apr 9, 2011. 3:33 PM
Surely, correct me if I'm wrong, you could just have drilled a larger hole at the bottom of the cap and just threaded the light through and then filled the hole in with a putty of sorts instead of cutting it up?
KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to TerminalDragonApr 9, 2011. 11:52 PM
you could but the metal tube from the book light is too strong and springy and the batman light won't stand up properly because it is so light.
cerealkiller1 says: Mar 13, 2011. 9:29 PM
now that...is cool
egabashvili says: Mar 8, 2011. 3:26 AM
God, this is so awesome, I can't bear it
Flying_MashedPotatoes says: Feb 24, 2011. 4:47 PM
i can't find any bottles in my house with that transparent cap D:
St Jimmy says: Feb 23, 2011. 4:29 PM
I used a piece of polystyrene from an office dumpster. Found materials FTW!
St Jimmy says: Feb 23, 2011. 3:43 PM
I used one of those translucent film canisters. This is awesome
Flying_MashedPotatoes says: Feb 20, 2011. 11:05 PM
wow, that's pimp; too bad i used up the cheap usb cable i bought for the xbox controller to usb.

Respect
KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to Flying_MashedPotatoesFeb 23, 2011. 7:29 AM
Fab
boudreau-inventor2 says: Nov 20, 2010. 1:28 PM
Do I really have to join to get the batman template, and mounting yoke????
KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to boudreau-inventor2Feb 23, 2011. 7:28 AM
Thing is, I spent about 3 years building up dadcando and designing things on their and the cost of running it was too much, so I decided to charge a small fee to join or 95p to download a single project. The revenue from this hasn't aded up to the cost of creating the site just yet, but the weekly money that comes in covers running the site and keeping it up there. ^_^ There's loads more on dadcando than just this template!
Flying_MashedPotatoes in reply to boudreau-inventor2Feb 20, 2011. 11:32 PM
imma use this one: http://www.photoshopstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/batman-logo.jpg
KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to Flying_MashedPotatoesFeb 23, 2011. 7:28 AM
Good idea
Jerminator in reply to boudreau-inventor2Dec 15, 2010. 5:12 PM
Joining has no cost. You just need to have an email, and its very easy!
KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to JerminatorFeb 23, 2011. 7:29 AM
Sorry it used to be free about 2 years ago, now there is a £10 joining charge and that lasts forever or a £0.95 per project download cost.
Crushinator says: Feb 21, 2011. 3:53 AM
That is sssoooo awesome.
KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to CrushinatorFeb 23, 2011. 7:25 AM
thank you, glad you like it
wobbler says: Feb 23, 2011. 6:45 AM
Fantastic! This ible definitely deserves the number of comments it's getting.

However, doesn't Batman get pee'd off about being called round every time you turn your computer on?
KaptinScarlet (author) in reply to wobblerFeb 23, 2011. 7:25 AM
yeah, but I always make him a cup of tea and that seems fine!
chicopluma says: Feb 20, 2011. 5:31 PM
awsome
1-40 of 275Next »
Pro

Get More Out of Instructables

Already have an Account?

close

PDF Downloads
As a Pro member, you will gain access to download any Instructable in the PDF format. You also have the ability to customize your PDF download.

Upgrade to Pro today!