Shake It Like a Tic-Tac!

Rechargeable led flashlight powered by magnets housed in the obligatory mints container.

Step 1: Parts

PARTS:

150 ft. 30 gauge enamel-coated magnet wire
4 1/8" rare earth magnets
4 rectifier diodes (IN4007 MIC)
Resistor (22 ohm)
White led
Switch
Some sort of small rechargeable batteries

Ballpoint pen
2 plastic washers or doodads
Tic-Tac container
Hot glue
Epoxy

Step 2: Make Magnet Tube:

This part could really be made from anything (i.e. stiff paper), I used the pen because the magnets just fit inside the tube.

Cut your tube a little smaller than the length of the Tic-Tac box. Find some washers or plugs to use as end caps, these could also be made out of paper. Mine were plastic gears with the teeth sanded off.

Stick all 4 magnets together and put them in the tube. Glue on your endcaps being careful not to get any glue on the magnets.

Step 3: Wind the Coil:

Cut a slot down one of the endcaps.

Leave 3" of wire hanging out of this slot and begin carefullly winding the coil. Winding this coil is probably the biggest pain in the ass of this project. I had many failures. There is a ton of information on the web about coil winding, but my best advice to you is go slow. The neater and tighter the wire is wrapped the more effective it will be.

When you get to the end of the coil tape your wire off and leave about 3" hanging off the end.

Step 4: Modify Top:

Remove label from the Tic-Tac container and take out the top.

Cut off about 1/4" of the bottom leaving 1/8" lip. Save the scrap.

Drill a hole big enough for the led to poke through.

Step 5: Make Mount for Switch:

Cut off enough of the scrap to make a plate for under the lid. Use little pieces of scrap to shim the plate so it is level.

Cut out a slot for your switch in the plate.

I used super glue to tack these pieces in place.

Step 6: Glue Switch in Place:

I just hot glued the switch to the plate. I also glued the led in place at this point, but it's not in the picture.

Step 7: Circuit:

This is the circuit:

Step 8: Solder It Together:

This is all free hand soldering, hopefully yours will turn out less messy than mine.

Step 9: Attach Top to Case:

Now just slide the top along with the circuit into the case. I think it helps to epoxy the top on, but you could probably just superglue it.

I ended up painting the inside of the case white for that crisp look, but I think I like it better clear.

Shake for 60 seconds and enjoy!