What you need: EL Wire Panel Wire Cutters/Scissors Electrical tape Scotch tape Sharpie Design File for Arc Reactor and backing Acrylic Laser Cutter Soldering Iron Solder You don't need, but it is nice to have... - Hookup wire - Extra 4 prong short button How to do it: 1. Laser cut the design file. I used extruded, black, non-see through .111in acrylic, but also did a test cut with mat board, which seemed like it would work, but I wanted it to be able to get mildly sweaty (delicious, I know, but it is a consideration) without getting gross. 2. Trace the top of the reactor onto the EL panel. 3. Watch this video to cut EL panel. The highlights are, only cut when the power is off, and tape all the edges with scotch tape so that when you do turn the power on, you don't electrocute yourself, and don't cut the copper tape on the back of the panel - doing this cuts the power to the panel. 4. Tape the backing, arc reactor face, and EL panel together with black electrical tape 5. Wear it around, like a badass. Pro Tips/ What I would do next time to make this better - A friend of mine also made one of these, but cut two rings about 3mm thick, glued on top of each other, to create a 4-layer tall reactor, lined it with tin foil, and soldering blue LEDs together. It also looked really cool, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures. - I noticed that when I stuck the inverter down my shirt, my boobs kept turning it off. So, I took apart the inverter, desoldered the button that looks like Abraham Lincoln's hat and replaced with a shorter one that looked like that of a well respected pilgrim. I then replaced the top of the inverter without screwing the screws back in, so it would gently pop on an off. - The wire connecting the panel to the inverter was also really short, so I cut the wire, and soldered a little bit more wire, and individual heat-shrinked them.
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January 2018
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