Light Up Coin Bank

Materials:

– Coin Bank (in this case a wooden box with a slit on the top)
– 2 jumper leads
– 2 thin strips of 4″ wire
– AgIC Silver Ink Marker
– Epson Photo Paper
– 3 3V LEDs
– 1 9V Battery

– Copper Tape
– 1 1k Resistor
– solder
– wire cutter and strippers
– Needle (if needed)

Step 1: Add copper tape to both sides of the opening, but making sure the two sides do not touch. One side will be ground and one side will be power.

Step 2: using the epson photo paper and the silver ink maker, create a design. In this case I created a rose with a stem and leafs. You can cut around the design.

Step 3: Punch a tiny hole with using the leg of the LED, (using a needle can be faster). After making the hole, put the shorter leg (the cathode) through the hole, and the anode can be twisted and molded so it sits on the path of the design created with the silver ink marker. Using the copper tape, tape down the positive leg so it stays in place. Do this for all LEDs you want to connect, making sure the anode is taped to the design and the cathode is placed through the hole.

Step 4: After placing the LEDs, flip the design over so you can see the ground side. Connect the 1k resistor to one of the cathodes (solder them together), and using copper tape, connect the other cathodes to the same leg of the resistor.

Step 5: Take one of the thin wires and cut and strip it so the wiring is exposed. Solder it onto the other leg of the resistor.

Step 6: Feed the wire through the opening, and connect the design to one of the taped sides of the opening by taping it down. (Photo 6)

Step 7: Take the other thin wire, also cut and stripped, and tape it to the other side of the opening. The two wires should be on opposite sides. As shown in photograph 7.

Step 8: Take the jumper leads and connect them to the battery (in this case the white jumper lead was used for power and the black jumper lead for ground).

Step 9: Attach the jumper leads to the wires, making sure to connect the ground wire (which is connected to the back of the design) to the black jumper lead, and the power wire (which is taped to the opposite side of the opening) to the white jumper lead.

Step 10: Now that everything is connected, the LEDs will switch on when a coin is inserted into the bank, as shown in the last photo.