Making a Flashlight

To create my first flashlight, I decided to use my old Christmas lights. I aimed to create a box with four walls, each of which would have a hole at different heights. The goal was for the lit tower to emulate a tree or a flower.

Using scissors and a wire stripper, I separated four LED light bulbs from the Christmas light set and exposed the wire ends for each. By varying the lengths of the wires, I planned on aligning the batteries on each wall.

I drilled holes on the wood panel with a 5/16” bit and cut the pieces using a Japanese wood saw.

Shown above are the four wood panel walls for the flashlight. I threaded the Christmas light bulb wires through the holes and taped each end of the wires to corresponding sides of batteries using electrical tape. Lastly, I used wood glue to adhere the four walls together while the lights were on.

I learned several lessons from my first fabrication project. First, I quickly realized that aligning the batteries inside the box was not a good idea, as they would clash with each other when putting the walls together. Similar problems can be avoided with a more thorough initial thought and design process on how the project would come together as a whole. Secondly, with a lack of knowledge about electricity and lights, I was only able to create the most basic form of light by taping wires to batteries. The flashlight therefore has no on/off state and is often flickery based on how well the electrical tape adheres. Lastly, I learned that these projects take a lot more planning, attention to detail, and dexterity than I had expected. I am excited to garner the knowledge and improve my skills for fabrication!