LED Bookmark

In this Instructable, I will teach you how to make a bookmark that glows and can help you read in low light situations.

It will still function as a bookmark, but it will have about an inch of it sticking out of it.

This Instructable is for the Make it Glow contest.

For this Instructable, I created this project using:

• Acrylic
• Makerbot Filament
• 2 Superbright 5mm LED's
• Wires
• Solder

Tools that I used:

• Makerbot 2 3-D printer
• Laser Cutter
• File

To make the acrylic part that will make up the most of, I started with a sheet of 12"x24" eighth inch clear acrylic

I drew up the shape of the part on Autodesk Inventor

I then exported that file to Autodesk AutoCad

Then, I changed the line color in that software to red in order for the laser printer to print it rather than engrave it.

Next I pressed print and the laser cutter cut out the pieces

If you don't have a laser cutter, you can cut the acrylic using a band saw and drill. The sides may not be as clear, but it will be effective.

For this part, I created it with a 3D printer. It holds the LED's snug enough so that hey will not move once they are in position between the top and bottom.

I added the 2 large holes so that I could 3D print the pins that would hold everything in place.

To create the electronics, I used 2 pieces of sheet metal, wires, and the LED's.

I wired the LED's in parallel as to ensure that they would receive the proper voltage at 1.5 volts

The negative leads were soldered together and wired to the negative terminal of the battery holder

I had the positive split coming out of the battery to go to each LEDI used heat shrink on all of the LED connections to avoid any accidental shorting

Put the battery in the mark and watch it work. Enjoy the bookmark for nighttime reading.

If I were to make this again, which I probably will, I would make some changes.

I would make the inside of the electronic holder more spacious so that I could fit a larger battery

I would make a retention point on the end of the electronic holder so that I could keep it from separating with the other part.

Overall I felt is sucessful and I enjoyed making and designing it.