How To Make LED-lit Action Figures
- May 21, 2010
- 1,768 Views
from
Dennis Thomas
(and 3 others) Subscribe
-
Director
Dennis Thomas
- Camera Operator Teri Thomas
-
Writer
Brandon Potter
Bring those tired old action figures back to life with nothing but a little creativity and a few light emitting diodes.
You Will Need
- Plastic action figures
- Utility knife
- Bench vise
- CR1025 lithium batteries
- Glue
- Drill (optional)
Children under 10 should not use a utility knife.
Step 1: Gather action figures
Gather several plastic action figures. Get a variety and experiment to see which ones work best.
Yard sales and flea markets are great places to find inexpensive action figures.
Step 2: Behead them!
Pop the heads off of your little plastic people, or cut them off, and use the utility knife to make the opening in their head the appropriate size for an LED.
Step 3: Carve the face
Use a bench vise to hold the head securely. Then, carve or drill holes into the figure’s face to create an expression.
Step 4: Put the LED in
Put the LED in the head. Bend and position the leads coming from the head so that they’ll make contact with the battery in the body cavity.
The negative lead is the one nearest the flat spot at the base of the bulb.
Step 5: Prepare the body
Prepare the body by trimming any neck pegs that might interfere with the LED and creating a hole for the leads to enter the body. Carve out a niche for the battery in a place where the leads can make contact with it.
Step 6: Put it together
Put the pieces together, using glue to hold them in place. Position the battery either inside or outside the body so that the negative side connects to the negative lead, and the positive side connects to the positive lead.
Step 7: Make more
Make more light-up action figures. Position several together for a quirky, decorative scene.
In 2009, the 78-year-old co-founder of KB Toys auctioned a portion of his private antique toy collection worth more than $4 million.
Something wrong? Report this How-To
How to Build a Tabletop Catapult
- 859 views
- dbourla
How to Build a Mousetrap Car
- 501 views
- Todd_Breijak
Comments (2)
u cant turn them off
about 1 year ago by crafty25936
I am trying to run between 6-8 LEDs on an Action Fleet Millenium Falcon to light it up for my 7 year old. I am completely ignorant when it comes to setting up these LEDs from one power source, which has to fit inside the Falcon, basically 1/2"; in it's deepest portion. Right now the plan is to use A23 battery to power 4-5mm ultra bright Blue LED 30s for the thruster, 2-5mm ultra bright White LED 3s, and up to 4 other 3mm lower brightness leds for running and landing lights. They were 10 cents each in loose in a box, so not sure of the specs on them. I have a switch to mount in the ship for on off, but as for coming up with a schematic for where and how to run the lights from power to switch to lights etc,,, I am clueless. I can do all the cutting and mounting, but just want to cut once and make light set up work as opposed to cutting setting up, only to find I can't do it that way....
Any advice, or pictures of how to???
Thanks in advance,
An Eager Dad
about 1 year ago by trayvice21
Sign in or create an account to post a comment. Or, sign in using your Facebook to comment
and share your activity with your friends