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LED Silhouette Christmas Cards

2024-12-12 | By Kitronik Maker

License: None LEDs / Discrete / Modules

Courtesy of Kitronik

Guide by Kitronik Guide

For day eight of our 12 Makes of Christmas we made some LED Silhouette ‎Christmas Cards. Follow our step-by-step guide and make your own.‎

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We've included all of the DXF files so that you can cut out our designs with a ‎laser cutter. If you don't have access to a laser cutter, you can easily cut out your ‎own designs by hand and still follow along with the instructions below.‎

You Will Need:‎

‎‎LED Silhouette Christmas Cards:‎

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Create your own LED Christmas cards using a copper tape circuit! Use our ‎detailed laser cut designs, cut out the simpler designs by hand or design your own!‎

Step 1:‎

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Cut out your chosen card design from some black or dark coloured card. The ‎cutting files have been colour coded to indicate cutting order. For best results they ‎should be cut in the following order.‎

Red Lines - First.‎

Green Lines - Second.‎

Black Lines - Third.‎

‎Step 2:

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Use some coloured tissue paper and rip up the edges to create the background for ‎your scene.‎

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Don’t use too many layers or the LEDs may not be visible – 3 to 5 is usually ‎enough.‎

Step 3:‎

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Begin glueing the layers of tissue paper to the rear of the card.‎

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Glue them one layer at a time.‎

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Until all of your layers are in place.

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Step 4:‎

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Plan out where you want to place your LEDs and cut some small slots, just enough ‎for the pins to fit through.‎

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Push the LEDs into place and spread the pins out, with the positive and negative ‎pins facing opposite directions.‎

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For this card I used some RGB LEDs – I cut the red pin and used the others ‎together to create a turquoise colour.‎

Step 5:‎

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Plan out your circuit, starting with the position of the battery (a CR2032 3V battery ‎is recommended). The circuit needs to be laid out in parallel for all the LEDs to ‎work. Place the copper tape down where the battery will be and create a loop ‎passing over all of the negative pins.‎

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For corners, fold the tape the opposite way and then back on itself as shown. ‎

Step 6:‎

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Create another loop of tape covering all of the positive pins, leading back to the ‎battery.‎

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Fold the tape back on itself to make a tab to go over the battery.‎

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Create a loop of copper tape with the sticky side out to fix the battery in place. ‎

Step 7:

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Press the tab down over the battery and test that the LEDs turn on. If some of the ‎LEDs are struggling to light up, add some extra tape to give a better connection.‎

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Cut a small door into the back of the card as shown to allow access to the battery ‎before gluing the inner piece of the card with the LEDs in place.‎

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Use some more copper tape to fix the tab of the circuit to the door on the back of ‎the card.‎

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Use a paperclip to hold the circuit shut and light up the LEDs. If sending in a card, ‎place a small piece of paper over the battery to break the circuit so the battery is ‎not wasted.‎

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This concludes the eighth of our 12 Makes of Christmas, we'll be back ‎tomorrow for the last in this series of festive making activities. You can check out ‎the other Makes of Christmas, here.‎

©Kitronik Ltd – You may print this page & link to it but must not copy the page or part thereof ‎without Kitronik's prior written consent.

制造商零件编号 3544
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