First attempt Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury's Toolbox

[Jwave]

I know this is an incredibly simple thing to make for any/most/all people here, but this is my first attempt at building my own prop from scratch and any and all input is greatly welcomed!

For starters, I'm trying to make Director Fury's Toolbox from Agents of Shield. I realize its rudimentary, but I've never worked with LEDs before. What would be the best stand alone light source I could put into this thing for maximum brightness? My electronics experience is also as lacking as my crafting so I may need it broken down barney style with the best way to get a portable light in here. I've been suggested to hot glue an LED to a round battery but I'm not even sure which type of LED, where to get it, properly installing without somehow setting everything on fire, etc the basics. Measurements are 2.25" cube. Thanks again!

 

[renaissance_man]

I've made one of these myself (thread in the Junkyard with pictures) and as a little heads up before you go any further the 2.25" is a bit large. I'd say you would be looking at more around the 40mm mark.

I wouldn't hot glue a battery to an LED, go for something a little less permanent as when the battery runs out it could leak and ruin your hard work.
How about one of the small LED pocket keyring/keychain lights? They are pretty cheap on e-bay or in £/$ shops.

Good luck with your build.

 

[DRG]

If you want it bright and have limited electrical skill (meaning for don't want to mess with resistors and all that), I'd suggest using one of those SMD LED Discs for auto use. I used these for my Iron Man hand repulsors.


Search Ebay for 'blue g4 5050 smd cabinet light' and they have some from China for under 4 bucks. To get it to fit into that small box you'd probably have to bend the two power connections downward with pliers or something.

You'll also need to connect it to a power source. An A23 would match the voltage perfectly, but you'll get short life out of it. I used a 9V on mine and there was only a slight drop in brightness. So you'd need to get either a A23 battery holder (cheap on Ebay) or one of those 9V snap connectors (they used to be easy to get at Radio Shack, but with a lot of those shut down you may need to turn to Ebay again, but you can get them for under a buck from China again) and whichever battery. You'll have to connect each wire from the battery holder/9V connector to the correct lead on the light... you'll probably have to learn some soldering for this.

If you absolutely don't want to solder, you could probably get away with buying a G4 base for the LED disc, then stripping the wires on that and twisting them around the corresponding wires for the 9 volt connector wires, then wrapping each with electrical tape.

 

[Jwave]

Thanks guys! I like these ideas

I'll have to look at your previous build renaissance_man, and it sounds like I'm better off with one of those mini stand alones like you suggested.

And DRG I haven't thought about those but considering how common ish these props are now I imagine there has to be a smarter way to do this than reinventing the wheel as you suggested! I may need to make friends with one of the engineers at my university I work at in order to get some assistance in the technical part of connecting everything but atleast you have given me a set of guidelines to work towards to find a solution, thank you!

Will post progress!