HAND CRANK GENERATOR FLASHLIGHT

INTRO:

This DIY project takes on a gadget that can easily be bought in a store, but instead lets you use materials you already have to make something useful. It's also a great way to build your maker skills.

You will need:

Two LEDs, with their silver led holders.
An unipolar stepper motor with its reduction gear.
One or two broken PC motherboards, to remove the capacitors.
Two 220 ohm resistors.
A sheet of cardboard.
A small piece of plastic.
Plastic spacers.
Four rectifier diodes.
Spray paint.

Prepare the capacitors:

The key to the lantern is to put capacitors in parallel to be interpreted as one large-capacity capacitor. I used 40 capacitors of 1000uf 10v. If you use more capacitors, the torch will stay lit longer.

Solder four rows of 10 capacitors each one. Then solder the rows together.

Make the cardboard case:

Draw the box on the cardboard. Trim the excess parts and fold by the lines.

Paste a strengthening in the areas where the motor will be attached and use double-sided tape to close the box. If your cardboard is very hard use scotch tape to keep it closed.

Paint the cardboard:

Paint the cardboard to make it look better and be more resistant to moisture.

Prepare the motor connector:

Solder the four diodes to the contacts of the individual coils of the motor in the male connector and a small piece of wire to pin cable, which connects the common of the four coils.

Finishing the inside:

Solder the output of the four diodes to the positive of the capacitors and the wire to the negative. Solder two pieces of wire on the opposite side of the capacitors.

Then insert it into the box.

LEDs:

Cut the plastic to about the size of the top. Drill two holes for the led holders and paste. Insert LEDs, solder two resistors in the positive terminals of the LEDs. Solder the negative together, then solder the wires coming out of the box and paste the plastic to the cardboard.

Attach the motor:

Use a zip tie to attach the motor to the cardboard box. Remember to connect it to the capacitors.

Make the handle:

Use a small piece of plastic and the spacers to make a handle and paste it strongly to the motor gear.

FINISHED: