I was planning on building almost exactly that design, but then I found a project box at Radio Shack for a few dollars, and with an assortment of other stuff, here’s what I’m starting with:
That’s a Post-It note on the lid of the box to estimate the cut-out for the screen. And I found the flashlight at a Dollar Tree store. I really liked the “ruggedized” look of the flashlight and decided to go with as much of that look as I could. So the antennas are going to be two Bic pens that have rubber grips, and I got a bunch of knobs at electronics stores.
Here’s what it looks like with everything lined up:
And after twenty minutes with the Dremel, I had a hole for the base of the flashlight:
Here’s how the handle of the flashlight fits:
I’m going to use epoxy to hold it in place. There’s lots of room for the two electronics boards that will go inside. One is the board from this thread:
And the other is the chaser light kit mentioned in the thread at the top of this post.
wow! dude, if I ever make one, i’m stealing your design..flashlight kills two birds with one stone, a handle, and makes it light up..not sure if you’re using the flashlight to light it up…are you?
The test hood is part of a “For Sale” sign I bought for a few bucks at Home Depot. Someone here mentioned that those signs are really cheap ways of getting styrene plastic. You can practice with it, but it’s not really thick enough for a final build. But I learned to work with styrene, that’s the second hood I made. The first was a bit lopsided.
I didn’t even think of making the flashlight light up the inside, I just liked it for the handle. But for a last-minute build, it’s a great idea…flashlight plus a plastic box, spray paint the plastic box and cut a hole in it for the screen. Glue a CD case cover inside the hole, add some cheapo blinking led gadget and you’re done.
Instead, I seem to have taken the hardest way possible! I started with a mini circuit board like the one on the bottom of this picture and have ended up with a blinking, beeping circuit at the top. This picture was taken moments after I got it working for the first time. I thought I was finished, hooked up power, and NOTHING. Then I found I had missed one tiny connection, added it and it worked perfectly!! I linked to the circuit earlier in the thread.
There’s two there because Radio Shack sells them as a pair, part number 276-159.
pretty neat..i admire you circuit wizards..i end up using found light sources(road hazard blinkers/ mini lights off random walmart displays etc.) I’ll be checking your thread.
I played around with electronics a bit when I was a kid, but haven’t done anything with it for years. But now we have all kinds of info on the net and I’ve taught myself everything I need to know to do this in the last year. What made this challenging is it was the first time I built something on a board from a schematic, instead of just assembling a kit. And it worked!
I was soldering the final parts to the board this afternoon when suddenly it stopped working. Nooooo! I realized that if I couldn’t figure this out today, I wouldn’t have this at all for the party on Saturday night. I finally traced it down to the cap that snaps onto the 9V battery…so it wasn’t anything I built, just a cheap part. Whew! I was back in business after spending almost an hour undoing a bunch of work.
Here’s the real hood in progress. I bought some heavy styrene plastic from Talbot’s (local toy & hobby shop), I know if I did a big project it would cost too much to buy it this way, but this is all I needed. Notice I’m using the block of wood to keep the piece upright at a 90 degree angle, by taping it to it. I eventually added a small piece on the inside edge to strengthen this, the two pieces touching like this don’t create a good enough bond.
I also used a piece of styrene for the back of the display. I plotted on a piece of paper what shape I wanted the LEDs to follow and then drilled holes for them. This looks cool already. I think I’ll spray the piece black. I’ve also got to shorten the wires the LEDs are on. There’s eight of them so that will take some time.
Here’s my solution to holding the antennas in place…plastic bottle caps.
And here’s the Goop drying. I’ll run the LEDs down the pens later.
Brilliant…just brilliant! I need to teach myself some electronic know-how. I just bought an Iona shoe polisher on ebay that I would like to eventually convert to a full-on PKE meter.
Another update. Got a cold the other day, haven’t had much energy to do much until tonight. Got a few things done…
Spraypainted the hood, back of the display, and I made a small piece to act as the raised area for the buttons. I don’t think I want to have the really raised one as in the cartoon, that may get in the way of mounting the switches, this is more of a “slimline” version.
Sideview of the hood. Built from scratch using styrene. Notice the little extra reinforcements at the corners - that’s so there’s enough surface for the glue to bond.
And a test fit, just to see how it’s all coming together.
I am finally over my cold, it really took me out for over a week after Halloween. I didn’t get this done in time, so I’ll be finishing it up and posting more pictures as I go. Should help me find that annoying Ghost of Christmas Past and put him away for good.
Yeah, can’t have that ■■■■■■ running around freely. This is an amazing PKE build, I applaud your patience with this project and your attention to keeping it structurally sound. I’m really looking forward to seeing your completed PKE, is there any chance you could post a video so we can see/hear it in action?
Thanks. Way to bring a thread back from the dead! If you want to make something simple, don’t do what I did. Plenty of other threads to look into for simpler plans.
