Last Event to work on the Scrap Build Space Ships.May 17 at 7pm

We will have the last class for doing some final edits to the space ships. This will include finishing adding details, adding LED lights if wanted, and painting the models.

Here are some pictures of our progress.

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Have you seen the “throwies” Brady left sticking to door jambs around the space several weeks ago?

Because of the internal resistance of lithium coin cells, an LED lamp can be made with only an LED and a cell; no ballast resistor needed. I did not know that before.

What this means is that we can make what looks like miniature tea lamps with just coin cells, LEDs and some electrical tape. These can be stuffed into almost any fake nozzle or whatever as some of the coin cells are very small.

Unfortunately, coin cells are not dirt cheap, but doing this will be much easier than wiring up LEDs, resistors and a battery holder like we did last time.

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I don’t recall seeing what you are talking about. I’m guessing we’d still need an on off switch or disconnect one wire to keep from draining the battery.Otherwise If you think we can add these to some exteriors of the ships and still look good I’m willing to go for it!

I don’t think I’ll be able to buy the batteries today before the event but will try. I have a limit but I’m not really worried about the cost. Can you tell me what size/voltage of batteries I should look at getting? If I’m unable to get them today I’ll get them over the weekend.

Coin (or button or watch) cells come in many sizes.

I have in front of me a cell Brady gave me. Its size is CR2032. The 20 is the diameter in mm and the 32 is the thickness in tenths of mm. Common diameters range from 9mm to 30mm and thicknesses from 1.2mm to 3mm. The big flat side is the positive terminal.

The long lead of an LED is the positive terminal.

Taking care not to short the two terminals of the battery, if you touch the short lead of the LED to the button side of the battery and the long lead to the flat side, the LED should light. You can use electrical tape to secure the leads to the cell while you are using it as well as for insulating around the edge of the cell. If the leads of the LED are long enough, you can bend them so that the cell can sit flat and the LED stands up from the exposed side. This is what I meant by “miniature tea light.” This assembly can be easily stuffed into fake nozzles. If your LED has long leads, you can bend this assembly into many different shapes.

Green and yellow LEDs draw less power used in this way so the cell will last longer than a red one.

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