Cwalker935
Member
Here is some additional information on how I made my entry for the ultimate slimline contest. I started with an LED ballon light which is powered by 3 watch batteries.
i trimmed the tab on the bottom of the light off and gently pulled off the clear dome. I turned a clear tube to the diameter of the ballon light and hollowed it to replace the dome. I then turned a tiny "roof" for the upper lighthouse section and made a lower housing section to slight over the upper chrome portion of the LED light and a portion of the clear tube. The two housing sections, the clear tube and the upper part of the light were then glued together with CA glue.
I then segmented slices of black and white blanks for the lighthouse tower. I drilled the glued up section for the 7mm tube and drilled a larger hole as a recess for the bottom of the ballon light. I used an opaque white blank so that the recess would not show through the thin wall surrounding the base of the ballon light. I then turned and polished the "tower" and glued the bottom of the ballon light into the recess.
I step drilled the nose cone, glued in the lower tube and turned it to shape.
If figuring out how to hold, drill, turn and polish all the pieces weren't challenging enough, getting the proportions right for the components so that I had a useable pen that looked like an actual lighthouse represented another challenge.
