Silver Legacy CD/DVD LED Light

CD's and DVD's are going the way of Beta and VHS tapes. Your old discs can be reused by making them into a colorful little light.

1. CD's or DVD's
2. electric drill
3. 3/16 inch drill bit
4. three 8-32 threaded rods 5-7/8 inch length
5. hacksaw
6. six acorn nuts for 8-32 rods
7. six washers for 8-32 rods, 6S size
8. box knife, scalpel, razor blade, or X-acto knife
9. plastic tubing from empty pump bottles cut into one inch lengths
10. protractor
11. ruler
12. battery powered micro string lights

Prepare the discs for drilling holes. Trace around the disc and the central hole or use a compass to draw a circle the same diameter as the disc. Draw a horizontal line from the center of the circle extending outside the circle a couple of inches using the ruler. Align the protractor along the horizontal line and mark the location of 120 degrees. Using the ruler, draw a line from the center of the through the 120 degree mark extending outside the circle a couple of inches. Make one more line by using the protractor to create the last 120 degree line. There are now three lines 120 degrees apart, dividing the circle into thirds.

Now the locations for the holes to be drilled through the discs will be performed. Place a disc over the circle and lines that were drawn in the previous step. Align the disc with the drawn circles. Take the ruler and align its edge such that it passes through the center of the disc and along a line drawn in the previous step. Measure in one inch and mark this spot. Do the same for the remaining two lines being careful to keep the disc aligned with the previous marks.

Place the discs on the holder that a stack of discs comes with. This will help keep the discs in place while drilling the holes. Drill the first set of holes and place an 8-32 bolt through the discs to further keep the discs aligned while drilling the next two sets of holes through all the discs.

Paint the label side of the discs using silver spray paint.

Cut the tubing from the pump bottle into one inch pieces. These will be used as standoffs separating the discs. You can also use the barrels from used ink pens and cut them with a coping saw.

Cut three 5-7/8 inch lengths of the 8-32 threaded rod. Place a washer and an acorn nut on one end of each of the three lengths of threaded rod. Insert the rods through base disc and slide a piece of the one inch tubing standoffs over each rod. Insert the rods through the next disc followed by another set of standoff. Have the shiny disc sides all facing in the same direction. Continue until all discs are in place. Attach washers and acorn nuts on the top disc.

The bottom of the stack will be such that the shiny disc side is facing up. Thread the LED light strand up through the hole in the bottom disc and around all three rods. Then run the strand up through the center of the next disc and around the three rods. Continue until you have reached the top layer.

As mentioned previously, you can use old ink pen barrels cut into one inch lengths if you don't have enough tubing handy. There are an infinite number of LED lighting methods that could be used besides what is shown here. You can also skip the painting if you use two discs sandwiched together for each layer such that the shiny sides are facing out. If you do this you will need to add about 5/16 inch to the length of the threaded rods.