Glow in the Dark Projects and Mods

[tango_down]

barrells from cheap pens

Man that is a good idea

 

[Rob M]

Here are some lights that I have added quality GID paint to:




This is the first LED torch I ever bought, it runs off three AAAs. It's still quite useful, the GID effect is really good, good enough to light up a forest path once your eyes are darkness-adjusted.




This is the next LED torch I bought, it has a nice drive circuit that makes it quite efficient, adjustable brightness, a mod so it can tail-stand, and GID paint in the reflector. Filling the reflector with GID paint like this does not seem to make much difference to throw or flood at all. It must make some slight difference but it's not perceptible to my eyes. I find GID stuff fascinating and useful. I bought some nice glow-cord from the US to make lanyards with, most of my torches have them now.




Here's my Ultrafire Luxeon torch. I painted the black part of the LED with bright white paint before just painting on glow powder in the normal clear lacquer. The heat generated by the LED doesn't seem to have affected the lacquer at all, I did this mod about eighteen months ago and it's still great. This glow powder, if you use the torch last thing at night, it will still be glowing the next morning, easily visible if your eyes are darkness-adjusted and it's not yet light outside. A good useful mod.

Finally, here's a little light I made myself, it was designed from the beginning with GID features. The ten millimetre LED had a good thick layer of GID powder in clear lacquer applied to its rear before fitting into the brass body, then the three small windows around the front of the torch had a small amount of GID powder dropped in before the clear acrylic windows were fitted permanently with superglue. Then, some more GID powder was brushed into the slight gap between the brass and the LED before being sealed in with clear lacquer. The clear acrylic button also has a chamber in the centre that is filled with GID powder. I am really really pleased with this, it is the first light I ever made from scratch, and it's ideal for the purpose I intended it for (domestic). It's really easy to find on my bedside table...





This next shot is a close-up of the button and one of the three little 'windows' around the front of the light:



I hope you like my GID stuff!

 

[Moe]

Another GID-Project from me.

Almost 9 " fixed blade made of K110 (improved D2) with acid wash finish, G10 handles and 3 different GID-dots.
Did i mention, that i love this stuff?

 

[greenLED]

Since we're talking knives, I was playing with a Fenix KM1 knife and some GID colors:

 

[bridaw]

glow sticks

I was at home depot and this water line looked promising for glow sticks. I think the coil was $2 and I have a few of the medicine syringes so I cut the end off one for better flow. It fits in the end of the water line perfect.

I have never worked with this 2 ton epoxy before but the warnings sound like it is nasty stuff until it cures. I'm waiting for my wife and son to go to a movie before I mix up the glow goo later. I hope this stuff isn't too thick during the working time. I also happen to have a couple of those funky ikea ice tube trays if I need to abort the vinyl tube attempt.

click if you want larger pics
​

 

[IsaacHayes]

Hehe neat idea for injection. Watch out for air bubbles. Let the stuff set a bit in the syringe before putting the plunger in and keep it pointing down..

I need to get pics up of my mag glow bezel. I plan to do my 3C mag with the new glow PLUS powder...

 

[Genes]

Why use epoxy? Use clear silicon rubber. It works fine and stays flexible. I have been using it with glow powder for years and it works great.


Gene

 

[IsaacHayes]

Silicone is a bit hazy and isn't as clear. It's more translucent at least when thick. I guess with enough powder it wouldn't matter too much.

Here is a project I did a while back. GITD Mag bezel. I took off just the bezel and mixed up the 2-ton epoxy and powder and let it setup as I rotated it in my hand until it was thick enough to sit down and let cure. The light charges itself well. I will do around the emitter too (going to swap led first). 2-Ton does not seem to yellow like the 5min stuff.

 

[COMMANDR]

Cool glow mag mod. I have had some good results with wind shield repair epoxy from Farm and Fleet stores here in the midwest. Sets up in a reasonable time and is ultra clear. Dying to try the new Green Glow Powder Plus I just recieved from Glow Inc. on some flashlights.


Gary

 

[bridaw]

Why use epoxy? Use clear silicon rubber. It works fine and stays flexible. I have been using it with glow powder for years and it works great.

Gene

Depends on the need. This epoxy makes cool glow stuff, I used up 25ml last night. I will try silicon next. It will be perfect for the vinyl tube. I squirted enough pure blue glow epoxy into the vinyl tube to get a little over a foot of pure blue 1/4" fiber optic glow tube. I managed a few bubbles but the interior surface of the tube is still coated with glow particles so it doesn't matter much. I'll try to be more careful next time but I'm making the flexible vinyl glow tubes for my 4 year old.

Unless you are going to mount the tube like forming a glow sign, the tube will bend when you play (my cat loves the thing) and the cured epoxy snaps inside the vinyl. You could pound a nail pattern into a board and weave the tube to shape until cured and make firm glow shapes, letters, or words like neon signs. I want flexible glow tubes so I will cut this one to shorter lengths and fill the rest of my clear vinyl tube with silicon based glow goo next time. I also used my ikea ice tube tray to make one pure blue epoxy stick. I think it would be more fun to play with one made out of silicon.

I filled the ends of drinking straws with epoxy goo. The vinyl glow tube looks and feels about the same width as the stick formed by the straw but you use less product due to the fiber optic nature of the clear tube. I left 3/4" of clear tube ahead of the glow goo when I made my cut and I wish I left more clear tube. The clear tube edge gives a neat blue glow.

Another thing I tried was a sheet of aluminum foil sprayed with teflon silicone spray lubricant. I drizzled some clear blue glow goo onto the sheet and let it cure as a puddle shape with a super smooth top edge. I worked with my first small batch of ultra plus green epoxy too long because my first mixing container ended up being too small. I scraped the mixture that was getting too firm and maybe a bit too full of powder onto a sheet of silicone foil and put another sheet on top. I rolled it out like dough using the silicone can. I peeled the stuff off the foil and played around with it before leaving it alone to cure flat. It was like dough and would be easy to mold the stuff into shapes or cut with cookie cutters. You could layer a couple sheets of colors then roll them up or twist strips like a candy cane.

Drinking straws are great for scraping up all the glow goo out of your mixing container or molds. I didn't want to waste a single particle of glow. I managed to get several nice short tube shaped glow nuggets that would have been wasted glow goodness. I also saved all pieces I trimmed off the molded parts. I'll use it as glow glitter or speckle in other projects. I'll try to post some decent pictures of the stuff I made last night.

 

[IsaacHayes]

I have a container with scrap glow epoxy shavings that I will some day use for something

 

[LuxLuthor]

That is a funny picture. He looks like he is also testing out his new electric cattle prod rod. !!!

 

[LuxLuthor]

Cool glow mag mod. I have had some good results with wind shield repair epoxy from Farm and Fleet stores here in the midwest. Sets up in a reasonable time and is ultra clear. Dying to try the new Green Glow Powder Plus I just recieved from Glow Inc. on some flashlights.


Gary

Tell me more about the windshield repair epoxy? I have a rock crack that is pissing me off.

 

[COMMANDR]

Tell me more about the windshield repair epoxy? I have a rock crack that is pissing me off.

Try this link
http://www.ippnet.com/EN/main/products/plastics/5498/5573/5576.html

Gary

 

[DUQ]

Here's my first projects with my new ultra green plus powder. Never done GITD stuff before. Strider Buck Tarani and my Fenix L2P's lil' bud.

 

[dyee]

I just made some glow tubes using polyester resin (fiberglass resin/casting resin). According to one of my older posts no one has tried this resin. I had some clear resin from a craft store, the stuff for cars has a brown tint. It seemed to charge the powder and flowed easily, but have not tried anything else.

 

[Moe]

Just to keep this thread alive:

L1T, L2D-CE, Huntlight

 

[bridaw]

Vinyl tubes with silicone glow goo

I finally tried a silicone glow goo project. I realized I bought the wrong silicone when I opened the tube. It was "clear" silicone but I guess only after properly cured because it came out of the tube white. Oh well, since I was all set up I mixed in some glow powder anyhow. I decided to make flexible glow tubes instead of my original project. I went easy on the powder since I didn't know how it would work out in the vinyl tube. I used 2 parts pure blue to 1 part ultra blue.

I purchased these giant syringes from an online animal supply store. :twothumbs



Lab stands and clamps to hold while I fill.


The first thing my 4yo did was start twirling it around and I realized the ends of the tube had to be sealed. The tube stretches and gives and so does the silicone. The silicone will come out if you don't cap the ends so I used a hot glue gun. The next time I do these I will have the camera recording a movie when I use the glue gun to seal the tube. The heat of the glue gun tip contacting glow particles in the silicone was so cool. The particles go super nova! It was surprisingly bright and I remembered reading about that here. It isn't pretty in the macro shots but the proof of concept worked and the glue gun sealed the tube great. My 4yo loves to play with the glow tube but my cat loves it more. I play with the cat at bedtime and the glow outlasts me. Eventually I give up and I have to hide the thing from the cat or he'll chew it in half.

In this macro focus you can see where the inner glow silicon tube and outer clear vinyl have stretched and no longer have contact over 100% of their surface. Those aren't air bubbles in the silicone, the clear vinyl acts like a lens. They don't really look like that to the naked eye in the dark and they are usually being flung around and not sitting still anyhow. The short tubes in the photo are the ends of the long tube that contained a bit of air. The stub is because I don't waste any glow goo. I tried flashing a light on a nearby wall during both exposures so you can see the tubes.

 

[IsaacHayes]

Re: Vinyl tubes with silicone glow goo

Here is another glow bezel I did. The epoxy around the emitter does not cover the wires or the LED. This allows me to change the LED to a new one when the next best thing comes out.

Pretty bright!!!

 

[greenlight]

Re: Vinyl tubes with silicone glow goo