El-Cheapo Flashlight Hack

by conrad2468

21K2445

Intro: El-Cheapo Flashlight Hack

I really needed a UV flashlight for my radioactive materials because they look 2000000 times more cooler under UV than anything else. My parents went to a party and they gave these cool little flashlights away for party favors. I had the UV LED's so I decided to mod them for less than 5 cents!

STEP 1: Materials

1 Small screwdriver
1 Pair of scissors or wire snips
1-2 ultraviolet or any color of led you want
1 something to test your UV light on (optional)

STEP 2: Unscrewy

Grab your screwdriver and open up the case, it should look something like the image below.

STEP 3: Remove and Replace

Remove the Ultra bright led and shape the UV led the same way as the Ultra Bright one, make sure you know which end is positive and which end is negative!!!! Install your UV LED the same way your UB LED was.

STEP 4: Reassemble

I try and and reassemble my flashlight by sandwiching the 2 halves hot dog wise because that push button falls out easy and so does the actual switch so try and do this swiftly. Once their sandwiched, screw in all of your screws and test it out. You should test it as soon as your 2 halves are together but I felt lucky so I screwed in all the screws and then tried it.

STEP 5: Finished!!!!!

You can now enjoy the full benefits of a UV flashlight (or torch as some of you call it) and freak out your friends claiming that your uranium glass are kryptonite crystals!

45 Comments

marshman19 15 years ago

uranium glass? what's that?

conrad2468 15 years ago

Back-n-the-day they used to add (or dope) uranium to the glass to make a greenish color. It wasn't until recently that they realized radiation was bad for you so they stopped putting it into food ware. If your an antique collector who is afraid of cancer you should bring a Geiger counter to the shop and stay away from the "hot" stuff.

fallenspirit123 14 years ago

do you keep it in a lead container? i dont want a feller 'ibler dying

bbear4 12 years ago

Celestial solar radiation beats out terrestrial decomposing elements like a trillion-billion-million to one on how much radiation you're exposed to in your lifetime. It's like a brine fish ordering it's french fries without salt to cut back on his sodium.

conrad2468 14 years ago

Cancer is completely random....i may get it and i may not...it could be from "background" radiation or it could be from those glass things.....but i keep them in a cardboard box in a drawer somewhere...

beehard44 14 years ago

lol microwave on  a plate! put your food on the plate and the plate will cook it!
cooking time may vary from 1 hour-∞

ElectricUmbrella 14 years ago

actually, I'm pretty sure that the radiation in uranium glass is too small to hurt anyone (generally). They stopped using it in food ware because uranium wasn't available during the Cold War.

maruawe 15 years ago

when I changed the light on my light like this ,I used a piece of tape t hold the switch button on until I reassembled the light. I needed a strong led also for another project that I was working on .. haven't tried to use a UV light in the old one But radio shack is on my way home from work .... neat Idea

Numb-Nuts 15 years ago

What is that that is glowing in such an awesome way?

Derin 15 years ago

You could build a small................ I should shut up right now.The Radioactive Boyscout may be replicated by somebody.

conrad2468 15 years ago

Ive read the book! I also extracted some americium from a smoke detector......you would need a S*** load to build your neutron gun? I forgot its been so long ago.

Rotten194 14 years ago

Dang, I SOOOOOOO want a copy, but my mom would go nuts.

conrad2468 14 years ago

Ha ha ha I'd be glad to send u my extra copy but I can't seem to find it.

bbear4 12 years ago

I read about it in readers digest. my parents got me that subscription

maruawe 14 years ago

what she don't know won't hurt her ,But when she finds out , I'm glad it's you and not me........ MOM WAS A HOLY TERROR WHEN MAD.

chickenlinux 14 years ago

naw, just get some americium (a few microcuries is actually probably plenty), and stick a relatively thin beryllium panel over it. It'll cause lots of secondary radiation, which is, in fact, neutron radiation :3 (for informational purposes only)

beehard44 14 years ago

just buy it off ebay or amazon
some sell without hazmat fees

RuscoSparky 15 years ago

I think the crystal is fluorite, that reacts to uv light.
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