Since this was an "On-the-fly" sort of project, I didn't put a lot of effort into it, or much money. Fortunately I came in slightly under my budget of $0 by using stuff from the trash and end-bits bin.
First, I decided to re-insert the little inverter back into the clips that kept it secured to the light carrier/housing originally.
This whole project was pretty loose, so I didn't bother generating a proper pcb printout to transfer onto the board. At the size and simplicity I was working with, it would have been more cumbersome to do so. As it happened, drawing the circuit on the board with a sharpie worked pretty well, and also gave me the chance to adjust the component layout a couple times so that everything fit better.
Just rubbed it off with some steel wool (It was super scratched from sitting at the bottom of the bits-bin) and started doodling. The board was both my template and final product.
With a workable circuit drawn on, it was time to etch. I don't like Ferric Chloride. Aside from the marginally higher cost than my own home brew, it is just plain depressing in colour. So, I use a mix of Hydrochloric Acid in Hydrogen Peroxide. Works rather well, is a pretty green, and is fairly reusable with a minor top-up of juice. Not to mention; CHEAP.
While this was etching, I could have been productive and started on the housing for the whole deal... or...
Break Time!
When I returned, I found that my trusty lab assistant had failed in his task of watching the board etch and removing it before the undercutting began to occur. Indeed, he was fast asleep!
All was well, however, the board was a little thin in spots, but I had large areas of pour drawn in, so there was plenty left to make good, solid contact. A little acetone, and we are ready to start drilling!
Now that my messily hand-drilled holes are bored out, we go on to the component placement and soldering.
Ready to roll!
A generous dollop of hot glue (my new favorite lazy technique) and the power and switch assembly is nestled tightly next to the inverter.
I slathered on a bunch more glue. Then a bunch more. And then some more... and then I realized the trigger was stuck and that was why it kept coming out. So, I ended up sacrificing a handy business card to catch and scrape up the dregs of the glue stick that had been heavily forced into the gun by the stuck trigger and carried on.
By the way, if you are wondering why the switch looks like it's on the wrong side of the board, well... it is. The pins were oddly bent from the previous gizmo that it was attached to, which is why it was in my Bits and Junk Bin. But it actually worked out nicely for placing the switch on this project. I have it surface soldered on the copper side, and it is surprisingly solid, and should stand up to some serious switching.
Now, onto the housing and supports:
I used an off-square, miscut of 2mm acrylic that was sitting at the bottom of the pile. It had a bunch of scratches too. But, that doesn't really matter for this project. A quick form of scrap wood and aluminum served to make the shape that the heat gun softened the acrylic into.
Yep, looks terrible. I like it!
I had to make a notch to bore out for the switch to stick through. Spot heating the acrylic with the heat gun and wedging a corner of 3/4 pine into it while still soft worked very well!
Once it was all cooled off, I slid the light and all it's bits into the housing and clamped it down with a pair of folded scraps that were welded with methylene chloride.
Now, I could have just screwed this to the underside of the shelf above my desk, or to a long piece of scrap, but I couldn't find one! So, I worked with what I had and actually came up with a handy articulating(ish) sorta thing.
Finished unit, and final test. It ain't pretty and it wobbles, but it took a half hour, excluding the etch and break time, and cost zilch -1.
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