Magnetic Leather Flashlight Bracelet

I keep a heavy collection of scrap materials around. I decided to make a flashlight for emergencies / power outages.
While I keep a flashlight handy, this is just cooler.

I have to admit, I am not used to working with a needle so my stitch work is quite sloppy.

Materials for this project

• 1 Leather Belt
• > 1' Thread or String
• 4 Small Magnets
• 1 LED
• 2 Short Wires
• 1 Battery (capable of powering the LED)

Tools for this project

• A Sewing Needle
• Scissors
• Soldering Iron (not required)
• Razor Blaze

Safety First

Using the razor, slide underneath the stitching keeping the buckle on. Remove the buckle

Trim off any extra threads.

Wrap the bracelet around your wrist. Find the length where the belt meets itself and cut about 1 inch extra from there.

If the circumference of your wrist were 5" your belt should now be 6"

Where we removed the belt buckle we are going to place our strongest 2 magnets. I got these magnets from old optical disk drives so chances are your magnets will be stronger.

Stitch the magnets into the buckle-loop. Tightly thread around the magnet so it can not be pulled toward the second magnet we insert or spin around while we are making this. Attach the second magnet the same way on the other part of the buckle-loop.

On the opposite end of the belt cut open the belt so there is room to insert the remaining 2 magnets.

Next we need to line up the magnets so they attract. Line them up on the outside of the buckle-loop.

Once you have their polarities matched insert them into the other end we split open and begin stitching them in.
Like before we should be sure the magnets are snug in place so they don't end up spinning around and not closing the bracelet.

Try on the bracelet. If you are using thick leather or other material you may need to bend it a little to shape. Again my magnets were not the strongest.

In my project I used an LED the I salvaged from an old marquee. This LED was on a board and I was able to twist the wires onto the LED without soldering. I need a new soldering tip.

Soldering the wires to the LED is a much better solution.

Once you have the wires on the LED you can poke a hole through the center of the band and push the wires through the hole.

Just to make sure everything is working attach the battery to the LED wires.
(be sure to get + with + and - with - if your LED is not protected!)

Now that we know the LED is working we can install the battery.

Find a place on the band where your wrist is comfortable with the battery and stitch it in as well.

Attach your wires again and your Magnetic Leather Flashlight Bracelet is done!

Keep Making!

comment your thoughts
vote for my instructable if you liked it