USING A BATTERY, LED, AND PRE-PROGRAMMED MICROCONTROLLER, MAKE A FLASHLIGHT THAT LIGHTS UP WHEN HELD Step 1. Gather Materials. From the box: battery, battery holder, LED, microcontroller, copper tape, wood You'll also need: hot glue, double-sided tape, scissors Step 2. Glue battery holder to wood. Note the orientation, as we'll need to connect + and - in the right way. Step 3. Bend out the legs of the microcontroller. Step 4. Glue the microcontroller to the other side of the wood. The little dot on the microcontroller should be in the upper-left corner. Step 5. Adhere pieces of copper tape to two legs of the microcontroller. Both pieces should wrap around to the other side. The lower left leg of the microcontroller will connect to the negative (-) terminal of the battery; the upper right leg to the positive (+) terminal. Step 6. Flip the wood over. The strips of conductive tape from the previous step should be oriented as shown. Step 7. Connect the conductive tape to the terminals of the battery. Step 8. Glue the microcontroller to the edge of the wood. Note that it must be oriented properly. One of the two pieces of metal inside the LED has two little circles in it; that piece of metal should face to the right, the one without holes to the left. Make sure the legs on top are flat against the top of the wood; there will be a gap between the bottom of the wood and the legs underneath it. Step 9. Connect the microcontroller to the LED. One strip of conductive tape should connect the lower-left leg of the microcontroller to the left leg of the LED; the other goes from the lower right leg of the microcontroller to the right leg of the LED.   Step 10. Make the on / off switch. Connect a piece of conductive tape to the second leg from the bottom on the left of the microcontroller. Place another piece of tape on top of that one, bringing it near the back of the piece of wood. Step 11. Turn on your flashlight. Insert the battery into the battery holder. Then, to turn on your flashlight, touch the battery and the on/off switch (the piece of tape at the back of the wood). The microcontroller will sense that you are touching them, and turn on the light.   Back to main giftbox page