Lantern LED on Barrel

thingiverse

In this project, I created a barrel that holds a switch,battery and wiring to light an LED inside an old mining lantern. I wanted to give some atmosphere to the board game Shadows of Brimstone and this hit the mark! From design phase to completion it took me about 2 weeks. I used Fusion 360 to model the barrel and 3DCprinting for the Lantern and textures. This project is based on my prior Lantern project. You can look at that project if you need a reference for putting the lantern together or printing. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3116330 Tools needed: Wire Cutters Soldering Iron Flux 22 ga stranded hookup wire Mini File Superglue Hot Glue Gun Shrink tubing and heat gun - optional It utilizes a CR2032 Vertical Coin battery socket. Example below https://www.amazon.com/Shapenty-Plastic-Vertical-Battery-Sockets/dp/B071F3HW8J/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1539499710&sr=8-4&keywords=vertical+coin+battery+holder It also uses a small WGCD .5A 50V DC slide switch. If I could do it over, I would get the ones without the screw holes.. Example of what I used below https://www.amazon.com/WGCD-Solder-Position-Panel-Switch/dp/B06XFXWLJP/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1539499856&sr=8-4&keywords=wgcd+50v+dc+slide 3V 5mm Yellow Flickering LED - Example below. https://www.amazon.com/EDGELEC-Flickering-Flicking-Emitting-Resistors/dp/B0785G1SBP/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1539499986&sr=8-2&keywords=3%2Bvolt%2Bflickering%2Bled&th=1 You will need a CR2032 coin battery. You can get them anywhere. Step 1 Print out all your parts. .2 resolution and 20% infill is fine. I did my best to ensure supports wouldn't be necessary. Lantern parts - Handles, Hanger, Top and Top Cap will all need a Brim. Print out the glass in some type of clear or natural filament. Step 2 - Optional Paint everything. Avoid having paint on the areas that will be glued. On the Barrel, I used 3 shades of brown.. starting with dark at the bottom of the barrel and getting lighter toward the top. I painted the metal rings black. I then used Army Painter Quick Shade Strong for a wash to darken the wood grain. Lastly , I dry brushed a very light (Mummy wrapping) brown over it. On the Lantern, I used an avocado green and then used Army painter Quickshade Strong as a wash to make it look grungy and old. I also used Army painter strong shade on the very top of the glass. I wanted to give the lantern, when off, a look of smokey burn at the top. Step 4 - If you bought switches with wings for screws like I did, you will need to cut off the wings with spru cutters or wire cutters. Make sure you cut them at a very slight angle so that the switch will be small enough to push into the hole. Use a file to remove the sharp edge. Step 5 - Wiring and switch / battery holder insertion. You will want to solder the wires to both the switch and the battery holder before you insert them in the model. 22 ga , stranded hookup wire I used blue wire for the positive connections and yellow wire for the negative. Make your wires about 4 inches long. This will give you plenty of room to deal with them after you insert the switch and holder into the model. Once switch and battery holder are wired, your ready to insert them into the barrel. Insert your battery in the holder, ensuring that polarity is correct. Using the battery to help push, advance the holder into the barrel body. Go slow, and look down thru the top of the barrel, if the holder is angled at all, you will need to use a flathead screwdriver to push the offending edge back down. Once the holder is most of the way in, you will need to press firmly on the battery to get the last bit of the holder seated. Insert the switch. This must be done with even pressure on both sides of the switch and slowly so it does not tilt. I used a pair of hemostats and just put a tip on both sides of the switch. I pushed it in until the switch part was just beneath the hole. I could still move the switch, but it would not stick out of the bottom. See pictures for reference. Step 6 - Assemble the Lantern. DO NOT ASSEMBLE BARREL YET Get your 5mm LED. Take note that one leg of the LED should be longer than the other. This is your positive. Apply a small amount of superglue to the bottom plastic edge. Insert the LED thru the top of the lantern base so that your LED leads are sticking out the bottom hole. Wait for the glue to dry. Superglue the glass globe , then top and topcap, then handles. MAKE SURE TOP AND BASE ARE GLUED SO THAT HANDLE INSERTS ARE LINED UP! You can wait to put the hanger on until everything else is complete. Step 7 - Soldering switch to battery and LED. A quick note here. The resistor was not necessary in my build. I had a 2.2v LED and 3 volts was fine without a resistor and much brighter than with it. I will have to see if it effects the life of the LED in the long run. ___________________________________________ For this step, I used shrink tubing. Its not necessary, but it helps to prevent shorts. I placed a 1/8 diameter shrink tubing over the wire going to the positive battery post. Solder the positive battery wire to the 1st blue wire on the switch. Pull shrink tubing over solder joint. Carefully use heat gun on shrink tubing. Step 8 - Wiring LED to Barrel Push your remaining wires, positive and negative thru the bottom of the hole on the Barrel Top. Now solder the long positive LED lead to the positive lead from the barrel and do the same for the negative lead. I used shrink tubing here again to keep the postive and negative LED leads from shorting. Step 9 - Test before gluing it all down. Make sure you switch turns on your LED. If it does not, check and make sure battery polarity is correct in the holder. OR make sure your LED is not reversed Step 10 - Gluing Lid and Lantern. Move the wires so that they are mostly inside the barrel and just the LED wires are still about an inch long. Place some superglue on the bottom rim of the barrel top. Push the barrel top into place. Its a tight fit, but it will work. This is where your the most likely to superglue your fingers. Maybe wear gloves. Now.. I didnt have much luck with superglue for the lantern bottom adhering to the barrel top due to the barrel texture. I used a hot glue gun to secure the lantern bottom to the barrel. I place some hot glue on the top of the barrel, fed the wires into the barrel body and held the lantern in place for 20 seconds. Step 11 Go into a dimly lit room with your lantern and amaze your friends LOL.