UKC

Starting early for halloween this year. I intend to go as good old Indy, but i'm planning on pulling out all the stops for this one - battered and bruised, torn shirt, bullwhip etc. What i need to make it complete are a few 'props'. I've started work on a grail diary and a cross of coronado, but what i'd like is a set of glowing sankara stones. I was thinking of using a mould for the basic shape into which i'd pour coloured pvc glue which dries clear (so in this case it should have an amber effect)

My question is, is there anyone who knows of a way that i could embed a small bulb or L.E.D. within each stone (there will be three) that will only activate when two or more stones are in close proximity to each other?

Thoughts and ideas would be greatly appreciated.

In reply to martyrocks:

Definitely not an electrical genius, but I can't see a cheap way of doing it automatically. Best I can think of is to conceal a button underneath, so that you can trigger the lights as you move the stones together.

In reply to martyrocks:

I can think of a couple of ways for starters.

But a few cheap magnetic relays, commonly known as the magnetic door contacts you get for alarm systems.

Around £2 a pair from RS Supplies. Obviously you'll need to put the stones together in the correct alignment, but you could do this with a mark on the outside so you can line them up.

Alternatively something involving a cheap radio key fob might work so (unknown to your audience) you turn them on yourself.

In reply to martyrocks:
Some sort of magnetic switch?

My wife has a shoulderbag whose cavernous black interior is illuminated by a tiny LED torch when you open the magnetic clasp at the top of the bag. In this case the magnet turns the light off.

Nifty, but not sure how you would replicate it.

In reply to martyrocks:

Cheers guys. I don't suppose, Paul, you'd be able to explain a bit more about the radio key fobs. Are they basically like a remote control for the lights?

In reply to Kevin Forde:

Name the shoulderbag, as that system certainly looks as though it could be adapted - although he might have to buy and destroy the shoulderbag to salvage the parts.

In reply to Dominion:

You'd be better off casting them in polyester resin. You can buy resin for repairing boats or for filling holes in car bodywork. Its already amber coloured too and won't take as long to set as PVA glue. It's also really solid but needs a bit of work to get it out of any mould (use a latex mould and spray the inside of the mould with wd40 before you start). To make the lights turn on near each other you could arrange a reed switch (the magnetic switch described above). The bit I don't get is how you'd get a magnet to turn on the lights near it, but not to turn itself on. I think you'd need to figure it all out on paper first. You can definitely get batteries with solder wires sticking out the ends as well as reed switches the same and orange led's and a resistor should do the trick. shouldn't be too difficult to do and using an led would be the quickest. If you want a simple circuit to do it then let me know and i'll knock something up for you.

PT

In reply to Kevin Forde:

Name the shoulder bag because I want one!

Ali x