DIY 555 Timer Blinky Toy!
As a simple middle school student, I end up getting entertained very easily. If a burp comes out of someone, I'm entertained. Same with many other people, the simplest of things will entertain. I decided to make a 555 blinky inside a little altoids smalls. I turned it on, and I just stared at it for 10 minutes. It is a fun beginners project, so if you are a beginner in the world of electronics, try this out. It is a pretty fun project, but you really need to be careful. Make sure you know where the front of the IC is, which side of the capacitor is + and which is -... So, if you think you want to do this, read on!
Downloads
Grab Some Parts!
What you will need is:
- 555 IC timer
-22uF capacitor
-10K resistor
-33k resistors (2X)
-Wire
-LED
-LED bezel
-Soldering Iron
-Solder
You can get all of the components at Tayda Electronics website
Also, get some wire strippers and some wire cutters.
Solder in Your 555 IC
This is simple, all you have to do is solder in the 555 IC. Put it in the middle of a PCB/Perf board. If you decide to just do tip-to-tip wiring, it will be MUCH HARDER.
Solder Your Capacitor
Take your capacitor and solder it to pin 1 and pin 2. Google up a pinout of a 555 timer. Pin 1 is ground, so put your negative side in that. Positive goes to pin 2.
Connect Pin 2 to Pin 6.
Take some wire and hook pin 2 to pin 6. Easy, right?
Connect Pin 4 to Pin 8
Take some more wire, and solder pin 4 to pin 8.
Solder the 10K Resistor
Solder pin 6 to pin 7. Use a 10K resistor or really any resistor.
Solder Pin 7 to Pin 8 With a Resistor.
Take any resistor and solder it to pin 8 and pin 7. Make sure you have another of that resistor, you will need an extra later on...
Solder Your LED to Pin 3
Take an LED you have lying around, and solder the positive to pin 3... Don't solder your negative yet.
Solder Resistor to the Negative Input of LED
Remember the resistor I told you to keep a hold of before? Well, we're using it now. Take that out and solder it to pin 1 and to the - end of the LED.
Give Power to This Circuit!
Take your 9V battery clip and solder the black wire to pin 1.
Wire Everything Up to the IC
Before anything else, make sure your connections are hooked up to the IC.
The Switch
Solder your red wire of the clip that hooks up to your battery to a switch so you can control your current. Solder the wire going from the switch to pin 8.
Flip the Switch!
Flip the switch and (Hopefully), the LED will blink!