A while ago at Fablab Umeå, we had a 'CrAfterWork' where makers gathered after work on Friday to make stuff. The theme were juwellery, and in this instructable I will guide you through the process of making an Illuminated Brooch.

There are very few components involved, and it is at a beginner level. However, you will need access to a laser cutter and a solder iron.

Step 1: Materials

--- The Illuminated Brooch only neew few components ---

1 - 18 ohm resistor

2 - 3 mm LEDs

1 - Switch

1 - 3V battery CR2032

1 - 3V battery holder

1 - small piece of 3 mm MDF board

1 - small piece of 3 mm acrylic plastic

--- Tools ---

- laser cutter

- soldering station

- basic tools

Step 2: Design of the Brooch

The basic idea was to illuminate a picture that are etched on the acrylic plastic, so that picture would illuminate when turned on. To make the picture somewhat disappear when the LEDs are turned off, a pattern were designed to be etched on the botton om the MDF board.

The MDF framing were design so that the two LEDs would be paced pointing directly into the edge of the acrylic to get the most of the light emitted into the picture.

The design were made in Inkscape which you can find in attachment.

The electronics are simple in this instructable, but I have attached a simple circuit drawing. We parallelled the LEDs, and knew from the data of the LED that it would have 2,3 Volt and 0.020 Ampere, which gave us 0,7 Volts over the resistor and wanting 0,040 Ampereto flow through it. Hence a 18 ohms resistor in series with the parallelled LEDs will give the LEDs the current they need.

Illuminated Brooch.svg
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Step 3: Create the Brooch Frame and Picture

The backside and frame were etched and cut on the laser cutter in 3 mm MDF board, and the acrylic plastic got the same treatment. We tested different types of portraits, and choosed to do the prototype with Coco Chanel in orange acrylic.

For the best effect you should mirror you image and flip the acrylic when mounting it, read the note in next step for further explanation.

Step 4: Assemly of the Brooch

The first layer of frame were glued to the backside and two diodes were placed in their positions, and the acrylic were set in place. The final layer of framing were the glued to keep the acrylic in place.

Note: In one of the pictures, the etched image is placed on the upper surface, which is the incorrect way to do it. In the picture with the final layer of frame glued on top, the image has the correct placement - the image placed on the bottom surface. This makes the image somewhat disappear when the LEDs are turned off.