Introduction: Glass Engraved Birthday Card With LED Reflection

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About: I love the whole world of science. I'm doing all these since i was a kid..! ;)

1st of all i would like to say that it's my first instructable, so i am sorry for lack of images and its missing materials!
Well, my friend's birthday was approaching and i was very exited to present her a personalised gift. After scrolling through a bunch of instructables, i was very much moved by the idea of putting LEDs on a birthday card. Then I came up with this idea:- LED+Engraved glass+A few cells= Glassed Birthday Card! :)

Step 1: Get the Materials

1. A glass sheet (Available at any glasswares shop or you can salvage it from old paintings. I bought a 10*5 inch thin sheet).
2. A black electrical/insulating tape.
3. An LED strip of any colour of your choice (Here i used 10inch of green colour strip).
4. A small SPST switch (You can salvage it from any of your old toys or any electronic device).
5. Fevi kwik (As per your need. Be careful while using it as it is a very strong adhesive. It can bond your skin too).
6. A 2.5 or 3 inch bolt of 0.5mm diameter with 2 nuts.
7. A 15mL. golden enamel paint.
8. 4 coin cells, each of 3Volts or of Cr2025 lithium type. So you can connect them in series to get 12Volts.
9. Some wires.
10. A small paper holder, which can at least hold 4 coin cells.
11. Glass engraver (Dremel Engraver. You can get it on ebay).
12. Access to soldering iron.
13. Access to some basic softwares like image editor and font creator..!

NOTE: Glass sheet, Fevi kwik and Golden enamel paint are not covered in image!

Step 2: Editing and Engraving Image

Choose the pic you want to engrave. Now edit the image in 'sketch style'. I used 'Pics Art' as it is too easy to use and there are wide variety of editing. In sketch mode you'll get the basic outlines to engrave the image on glass.

Now get a printout of the image or you can just display the sketched image on your phone. Now clip your phone or the printout behind the glass using a simple cardboard clip. Now start engraving with your machine on the outlines of sketched image from the front side.

If you are new at engraving, i'll suggest you to try and practice engraving on some old glass sheets to improve your engraving fluency and efficiency because some starters may feel the vibration of engraver too disturbing. And once there is a mistake, you cannot undo or erase it. So be careful using this machine on the glass..!

Step 3: Creating Fonts and Engraving It

Use your software and type some message on it. Select its font style, then select font size. Fonts should be big enough so that it will be easy for you to engrave it on glass. Now printout the message or again you can display it big on your phone and follow 'Step 2' to engrave.

Now if you want to engrave something more by yourself, just switch on your engraver and write anything in free hand style as i've done it. See the image.! :)

Step 4: Fix the LED Strip and Wire It

Cut the LED strip according to length or width of glass. I cut it with respect to the length. Now solder two wires to its +ve and -ve terminal. The terminals are indicated on the strip. Then connect the other end of +ve wire to either side lead of SPST switch by soldering it. Solder another wire on the middle lead of the switch. Now the -ve wire of the LED strip and +ve wire from the switch will be connected to the coin cell case.!

Now insulate the inner side of the paper holder using black tape and then put the +ve and -ve wires on the two sides of paper holder. Paper holder will be used here as coin cell case.! ;)

Now hold the LED strip with the glass edge, the LEDs facing into the glass sheet. Then put small pieces of black tape to fix it to the glass sheet. Normally, the tape will become loose after some days, so here we're going to fix the tape's edge to the glass sheet permanently by using Fevi kwik. Be sure and final about the tape b'coz once the tape is sealed it cannot be detached without breaking the glass.!

NOTE: Try not to put even a single drop of fevi kwik on the LED strip as the adhesive slightly burns the surfaces to permanently stick together. I'm sure you don't want to burn the strip after so much of hardwork. Unfortunately, i've already burnt my 1st strip and got a nice lesson.!! :(

Step 5: Fixing and Finishing

Now all you've to do is to fix the remaining circuit components. After covering the whole strip with black tape, put the wires and switch to its place by applying 1-1 drop of the adhesive on it. Your work should be neat or it'll look too ugly! And please do not drop the adhesive on glass or it'll not look nice when it'll light up!

Then you need to cover the entire circuit with black tape and cut a slit for the switch head to make it operational. Now fix the cell case(paper holder) upside down using adhesive. Then let it dry for 1-2 mins.

After that open the jaws of holder and clip the four coin cells in series with correct polarity. Now switch on the LED strip. Looks cool na! ;) You're almost complete, just one step more.!

NOTE: You'll be wondering that why are the LEDs running at 12volts? Actually the LED strips are designed so that it can be readily run on vehicles' 12volt battery. The strip actually have a combination of LEDs and resistors on it.!

Step 6: Making Stand

Your glass sheet should stand vertically to make visible the reflection of light. Though i've salvaged a stand from one of my old showpiece but i'll explain it to you to make one yourself. In this step we're going to drill and paint.

1st of all decide a place to drill a hole anywhere on the bottom of glass sheet, probably near the edge. Now here comes the use of glass drill bits. Simply drill a hole of size with respect to diameter of bolt i.e, 0.5mm. If you don't have access to the machine, simply go to the glass workshop and get the glass sheet drilled. After drilling, i put small pieces of black tape on both drilled sides. You can skip this if you don't want.!

Now put a nut on the bolt very close to the bottom after leaving some space for the glass sheet and the other nut. You need to fix the 1st nut permanently to its place. You can also slightly weld the nut on with the bolt. You're almost done!

Now open the lid of paint and and simply paint it all over the bolt leaving the bottom areas where the glass sheet and the other nut will be placed. Let the enamel dry and you're finished! :)

Your gift is now ready..!
If you find anything confusing, please feel free to ask!