Is it possible to wire more batteries up to that size of an inverter, or is the inverter itself not powerful enough regardless of battery capacity?
Thanks for putting your artwork up for us!Looks great! I'm glad that the design worked for you.
I've got some transparent paper coming from amazon tomorrow so I'm going to try printing the design on that to see if it works. I might be able to use the same transparency as the wrap around plastic, depending on how thick it is and what the adhesive is like.
I've got an EL panel which fits the wallet I ordered, but I'm struggling with how to find a place for the inverter and power supply. I want to make the wallet a standalone prop without an external power source, even if it's a little thick, and I have no experience with with wiring or modifying electronics, so I'll just have to tinker with it I guess.
It looks like they are wrapped under and then stitched. My guess is that the stitching was done later, possibly due to the PVC stretching and becoming 'baggy' from use. The only method I can think of for how it was constructed would be to stitch the outer ends of the inner panels to the back part, then wrap the PVC cover and glue it under the inner ends of the inner panels, then stitch the PVC along the top, bottom and inner edges of the inner panels, and finally stitch the top and bottom edges of the inner panels to the back part.I’ll have to wrap the ends on my next one. I was under the impression that they were stitched.
We're did you find the Plastic?Finally got the PVC cover for my wallet sorted out. I went for 0.35mm - I got samples of that and 0.6mm, which was too thick. I did some adhesive tests and found superglue worked well for both PVC to leather and PVC to itself (I also tried E6000 which held both joints and was a bit more flexible but it's not very controllable, and Thixofix contact cement with worked OK on the leather to PVC, but gave way on bonding PVC to itself).
I eyeballed a paper template first to work out the llength and width of the piece I needed to cut to wrap around and tuck in the open ends of the wallet. I then measured the template and cut it out of the PVC I did a dry run to check the length was still OK (it needed a little trimming) and discovered that the static adhesion of the PVC wrap to the inside of the PVC window on the ID side was strong enough that i wouldn't have to glue it. This was fortunate, as it had the potential to get very messy gluing it while tucking it in. That just meant I had to glue it under the badge side, which I did using a professional Loctite CA gel (it comes in packs called Takpak, for glueing mod wires to PCBs). This gave me the chance to position it perfectly before applying pressure to complete the bond.
While I had my ID and badge out to do this, I updated the ID transparency to @warvanov 's latest version, after a bit of resizing and a slight adjustment of some of the elements to make it look right when sized for my backlight. Here's the results:
View attachment 795858View attachment 795859View attachment 795860View attachment 795861
I'm quite pleased with the way it looks. The PVC is wrapped tight enough that it clings to the surface of the leather so it doesn't really need to be stitched. It also clings to itself, which helps keep the wallet closed. The last picture is the best I've been able to get so far of it when it's lit up, and you can see it's bright enough to have effected the camera exposure. Easily a match for the brightness of the real prop in the film.
Thanks! Yeah I was very careful in doing it, only went deep enough to partially recess my electronics. I figured that id sacrifice some space for safety.Well done!!!! I’m kicking around the idea of hollowing out the badge, but I’m new to the dremel and don’t want to destroy it.
Thank you as well! It is the LAPD one.Very nice indeed. Is that their oval cutout or is it specifically LAPD?
Well done! Thew reed switches are avaialble without the encapsulation (in fact, it's very unusual to find a Normally Closed/changeover reed switch in a casing, as they aren't the type used on alarm systems or proximity sensors - they use the Normally Open type). They are very delicate though - I always buy them in pairs, and lost one bending the legs to fit in my badge.So I finally finished mine (at least for now). I kind of destroyed the reed switch that I had trying to get it out of its plastic housing and Im not really wanting to invest more $$ into this project right now, so I was forced to normal button switch which unfortunately is external, (though after I wrapped it up it kinda just looks like a loop to hang it from something) someday I will put in a less visible switch but for now it is ok. I also might work with the ID to get it a better size/more accurate but this one works fine for now as well. The wallet is not perfect, but overall I think it turned out good. If anybody has any questions or comments let me know! Also I wanted to thank everyone who gave me ideas and advice for my project, could not have done it otherwise!
The filler resin (GG uses 2 types - the aluminium-loaded stuff for the front detail, and a cheaper plain resin as a filler) is quite soft, so you can have the tool running quite slowly and don't need much pressure to carefully grind it away. I used a cheap slow rechargable one to cut the channels for the wiring and reed switch and it was far easier than using my speed-adjustable mains powered one that I used for the battery and PSU recesses. If I were to do another, I now know I could decrease how deep I went by maybe 1-2mm.too.Well done!!!! I’m kicking around the idea of hollowing out the badge, but I’m new to the dremel and don’t want to destroy it.
Well done! Thew reed switches are avaialble without the encapsulation (in fact, it's very unusual to find a Normally Open/changeover reed switch in a casing, as they aren't the type used on alarm systems or proximity sensors - they use the Normally Closed type). They are very delicate though - I always buy them in pairs, and lost one bending the legs to fit in my badge.
I'm in the UK, so my sources probably won't be of much use to you. Normally Closed are very hard to find, but Changeover reed switches are easier to come by. They can be identified by having 3 leads instead of two. The input lead is at one end, and there are two output leads at the other:Thanks! Do you have a good source for the reed switches or did you just go off of eBay or something?
I have a badge and I.d. card on the way but need a wallet. I don't care if it lights up. Anything ready made that fits the bill?