How to Make a Water Bottle LED Flasher!

This instructable will teach you how to make a fairly cheap multi-colored LED flasher out of a water bottle, that looks really cool. I wanted to do this, because I don't get to learn cool stuff like this in seventh grade, so I did it myself. This is my first instructable so please comment.

Step 1: Materials

Materials you need:
- a 555 timer ic
- a toggle switch
- a 1m potentiometer
- a 100k resistor(brown black yellow)
- a 1k resistor(brown black red)
- 24 LEDs. It looks cool if there are lots of different colors
- a 4.7 uf capacitor(electrolytic)
- a 4AA battery holder
- a 2 liter water bottle
- wire, it's better if you have about three different colors
- a pc board or a bread board. I used a bread board so I can change the design of which LEDs flash

Tools you need:
- soldering iron
- a sharpie
- a craft knife
- needle nose pliers
- a needle or something thin and sharp

Step 2: Cutting the Bottle Down

For this step you will need the water bottle, the sharpie, and the craft knife. First with the sharpie make a line around the curved part of the water bottle. Then with the craft knife, cut on the line and cut the drinking part off of the water bottle.

Step 3: Making Holes for LEDs

For this step you need the big part of the water bottle, the sharpie, and the needle. First what you do is make dots on the water bottle. Make them even, because it will look better. I found that when using a 2 liter bottle with 24 LEDs, you should make a dot every 2.5 inches across and 1.5 inches down. Then with the needle make two holes on each dot so the LEDs will go on the dots.

Step 4: Soldering the LEDs

For this step you will need the water bottle with the LEDs in it and the soldering iron. First start with the row that is the farthest away from the opening. Take all of the LEDs out except that row. Then solder wires onto the different leads of the LEDs. Use red for positive and black for negative. In case you don't know, the longer lead on the LED should get the positive electricity. After you have finished the first row do the next one, until all of the LEDs have two wires connected to them.

Step 5: The Circuit

For this step you will need the breadboard or pc board, all of the components and switches, soldering iron, and your needle nose pliers. Solder the positive wire of the 4AA battery holder to one side of the toggle switch and then another wire to the other side of the toggle switch. Then solder on a wire to the right part of the 1m potentiometer and another to the middle part of it. Then build the circuit using the schematic. Once you have the circuit put together with all of the LEDs in place, you use the toggle switch to turn it on and off, and the potentiometer to slow the flashing down and to speed it up. See the film to see how it works.