Introduction: LEGO Brick LED Lights

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About: hobbyist with a wandering imagination, but without the technical knowledge to carry it out so what better motivation to learn how. moving into the big scary and complex world of engineering has given me a who…
in this instructable i will show you a simple but creative use of your LEGO bricks.
the possibilities and applications are almost  endless, just let your mind go wild. this will even leave the LEGO bricks still in a usable state. 
im going to just get on with it so you can enjoy the applications for this project ASAP
have fun. 
p.s. next time i will use a better camera, but the one i was going to use is Kaput 

Step 1:

OK the first step will be to order the LED's with the colours and brightness you want. i have found that 5mm LED's fit best for this project.
Next will be to get together the other materials you will need such as LEGO's (any size you want!), electrical wire, a drill and a 4.9/5mm drill bit, a soldering iron and a hot glue gun.
  • as many LEGO bricks as you will need
  • plenty of 5mm LED's 
  • a suitable battery for your LED's
  • a drill/dremil  
  • 5mm drill bit
  • small file or similar or small grinding head for a dreamil (see picture below if confused, the grinders are below my dremil to the left of the drill bits)
  • hot glue gun
  • electrical wire 

Step 2:

mark and drill two holes into both ends of the brick 5mm from the bottom and 4mm from either side of the brick (see first picture)
now drill 5mm holes though the tube like structures on the bottom of the brick (see second picture)


Step 3:

now to reduce the height of the tube structures so that when the LED's are in the brick it can be stuck on top of another brick.
using the grinders or a file cut down the tube structures to about 5mm high. the best way to test the right height is to push the LED in to the hole and see whether it is flush with the top of the brick. 

Step 4:

important!! make sure that the positive (long lead) side of the LED's are all on the same side facing towards the holes in the brick!

now take one LED and bend the leads out to the side with the positive on the left hand side and cut them short so that there is about 3-4 mm sticking out either side. now solder two short pieces of wire 10mm long onto the ends pointing 90o out from the leads. (1st pic)

now insert the LED with the leads in one end, with the leads poking out through the holes in the end of the brick, now  insert the other LED's into the brick with the positive leads on the left (all the same side). 
now solder the leads together, being careful not to burn the plastic. you may chose to do this out side of the brick but make sure that you have the spacing correct. now test your connections. (2nd pic)

Step 5:

the final step is to make the wire brushes in the back of the brick so that you can link more than on brick together in a circuit.
cut a small piece of wire and strip off the insulation and fold up the wire strands into a oval shape. now put two of these ovals on either side of the back of the brick by the holes in the back and solder each individually to their respective lead on the back LED.

you may want to put a small amount of hot glue between the brushes so that they don't come into contact an don't fall out.

also make sure that the brushes don't expand too much higher than the top of the LED's otherwise you wont be able to stick it onto another brick.

using the rill bit used to drill the holes in the back just poke a small opening into the back of the brush so that the wires from the other brick being connected will be free to contact the brushes.  
 

Step 6:

congratulations you have made the first of many LED LEGO's!
now you can bring light to your leg creations or anything you like.
I would love to see your inventive uses for these LEGO's so why not make your own instructable showing what you did.