LIfe Gear Aerial Signal Mod

The concept:

Attaching a proper lanyard to facilitate spinning the glow stick sufficient to cause motion blur visible from the air.

The Tools:

Toe-nail clippers (yeah, for serial)

Sand paper 600 grit (what I happened to have on hand)

Self-fusing silicon tape 1" wide

1" Hose clamp

2ft-3ft of gutted paracord

(optional) Ribbon saw

(optional) Silicone caulk

Acquisition.

These little dealies can be picked up just about anywhere for just north the cost of a quarter-pounder and are infinitely less likely to cause cancer.

^Evidently meat's a bad thing? Who knew, literally... According to the World Health Organization: "Consuming processed meats can raise your likelihood of certain bowel cancers." Look it up!

Anyway, these little lights are incredibly useful and with Hanukkah and Christmas right around the corner-ish you've got the perfect excuse to pick some up. They'd make great stocking stuffers!

Sidebar: I am in no way affiliated with the Life gear company or anything to that effect. I just think they're nifty.

Authors note: Try before you buy! Due to the "try me" nature of their marketing department and the lackadaisical nature of your common consumer it's not uncommon for you to take home a dud if you don't first give her a go prior to purchase. Also, give it a bit of a whack while it's lit, nothing Gallagher-esque, but a firm tap: it should stay lit. If it doesn't, move on. I don't know what it is, some of the LG glow-sticks can't handle a spot of rough and tumble while others can.

*If you don't know who Gallagher is, I weep for the future...

Trimming Some Fat

So now that you've got it home and, can legally do so. Pop it out of the package and lets do a few things straight away. Firstly get rid of the accompanying lanyard as that thing's a joke! Not so much the "Ha, Ha" kind as the "Where'd that (expletive deleted) flashlight go?" kind. I don't need that kind of headache and neither do you, toss it.

Next, raid the battery compartment, there should be a slip of paper offering "free batteries." Now, being that we all know nothing in life is free, check the fine print: "You're responsible for S&H." If you can't get these batteries in your area it might behoove of you to order them now and wait the "six weeks to never" for them to arrive. For me I just tossed it and moved on.

Before we move on to the next step, go ahead and grab you toenail clippers and do away with that sorry excuse for a lanyard hole. Of course, you could use: a utility knife, side cutting pliers, or any number of other tools... Me, I reached for what was closest, and who doesn't love a manny-pedie! Once clipped, you can either leave it as it or try and shave down the rough edges a bit. Me being me, i sanded it flush before calling it good.

Well That Was Easy

Believe it or not, things can actually end here on step three if you'd like, making this my shortest instructible, bar none!

Take your Self-fusing silicone tape and double it over along it's width (doubling it's normal thickness) and wrap it along the upper portion of the glow-stick above the button (where you cut off the prior lanyard hole).

Next, take your gutted paracord and place it on opposite sides for the upper portion of the light on top of the silicone tape (along either side of the button)

Lastly take your 1" hose clamp and tighten it down atop the paracord running parallel to the self-fusing tape (perpendicular to the cord).

Hindsight tip: The above procedure can be a bit tricky (unless you've got three hands). Might help to cut the paracord a little longer and temporarily tape it further down along the body of the glow-stick so your not trying to hold it and the hose clamp in place while trying to tighten the clamp.

Done!

The silicon tape offers resistance to the paracord slipping out, and having it fastened on two sides eliminates having an SPF (single point of failure). If you're the paranoid type you can tie knots in the ends of the cord prior to tightening down the hose clamp, but I didn't find if necessary.

I went the extra mile and trimmed away the excess tape to pretty it up a bit. Again, not necessary. I just knew I wouldn't sleep at night if I hadn't.

Hey There Shorty! (optional)

An optional mod I made to my LG Glow-stick was to kill the whistle. In my opinion it was a rather rubbish whistle anyway, so it was no great loss. Really, I just needed the whole shebang a bit shorter to fit into a COMs kit I'm working on (Intractable to come!).

I do wish I hadn't been so hasty with the circumcision though. Later, I thought: if you were to cut the whistle off just above the ribbing for the cap retention you'd be left with a nice little tinder compartment. Oh well...

I tried cutting the whistle off with a utility knife before remembering I'd had a ribbon saw from when I made the centerpieces for our wedding, worked like a charm!

Lastly, I used a dab of silicone caulking compound on the threads of the light stick to ensure that it would be able to hold up to the centrifugal force of spinning without the bottom half flying off into the woods.